www.redcapitalclub.com
Awesome little restaurant/boutique hotel! What a find! And it was really, really tough to find! Down a very dodgy looking little hutong (alleyway in Beijing) with Madame Mao’s limo out the front, this restored Qing dynasty courtyard residence is a magic place to eat. Covered in memorabilia from the days of Mao, including ceramic statues showing him in repose smoking a cigar and with telephones in the bar you can pick up to hear him speak, its all a bit eerie! The best were the tiny waitresses dressed in Mao uniforms that were about 3 sizes too big for them.

The menu is fabulous but presented as a novella! It’s very tricky to glean what the dish is from the description and takes quite a bit of reading to get a reasonable idea of everything on offer. It seemed to be easier to select one of the set menu’s but with dish names like “Xiaoping’s Spice of Life” and “Behind Silken Fan”, it’s a bit of a mystery what you will end up with! What we did end up with was excellent and presented with fabulous little carved food decorations so unless you have some kind of serious alleries or dislike something intensely (like bell peppers for example), go with the mystery order and read the menu for fun. Oh, and when they say ’spicy’, they really mean it!

Brilliant decor with authentic 1950’s furnishings…a bit too authentic in the case of the dining chairs which were missing a spring or 2 in the seats where they were needed and had them in places they definitely were not required!! All up a really funky and unique place to eat and drink. It also has a Beijing hotel attached, Red Capital Residence and a country hotel, Red Capital Ranch, out by the Great Wall. Search this one out but get explicit directions written down for the taxi driver and take the telephone number to call the restaurant when he still can’t find it!