French

Flo (Fu Lou)
Cuisine
French
Hours
Daily 11am-2.30pm and 5.30-10pm
Address
Dong San Huan Bei Lu 12
Location
South of the Great Wall Sheraton, Chaoyang East
Phone
010/6595-5139
Prices
Main courses „110-„140 ($11-$14). Fixed-price lunch „88 ($11)
Credit Cards
AE, DC, MC, V

This is a branch of the French restaurant empire described by some Paris foodies as the Starbucks of brasseries, but you can only be so picky in Beijing. The restaurant occupies the front of a rather flashy building, all balustrades and staircases, with an (inaudible) nightclub at the rear.

The menu is straightforward French favorites all done well. Recommended items include the smoked salmon salad with poached egg, pan-fried rib shortloin veal with mushrooms, and the chef's specialty, hot goose liver with apple.

Reliability and good value may be why it's one of only a handful of free-standing Western restaurants to have survived more than a few years.

Justine's (Jiesiting)
Cuisine
French
Hours
Daily 6:30-9:30am, noon-2:30pm, and 6-10:30pm
Address
Jianguo Men Wai Dajie 5
Location
Inside the Jianguo Hotel, Chaoyang East
Transportation
Metro: Yong'anli (121)
Phone
010/6500-2233, ext. 8039
Prices
Main courses „120-„230 ($15-$29)
Credit Cards
AE, DC, MC, V

There is an inverse relationship between age and quality in most Beijing restaurants, with tradition too often cited as a cover for sub-par food. Such is resolutely not the case with this, the city's oldest and most elegant French restaurant. Little about Justine's has changed in the 20 years since it opened. Fully set tables still glitter just so in the soft light of low-hanging chandeliers, service is still impeccable, and though a few head chefs have come and gone, the extensive menu still offers some of the finest and most consistent French food in the country.

The best choice these days is the fricassee of Bresse chicken with wild rice, improbably tender and flavorful in a sauce made of morel mushrooms from Yunnan Province. There's a generously stocked by-the-glass wine cart, and the Chinese staff has been well trained in suggesting the right pairings of food and drink, like a cool sauterne with the silky smooth goose liver terrine. Prices are high, but not absurdly so.

The set-menu "business lunch" is an incredible steal at „138 ($17).