Beijinger restaurant awards unofficial results: Maison Boulud, Da Dong on top
And the (unofficial) winners are...
Here are the unofficial results of the seventh annual The Beijinger restaurant awards, held this afternoon at Joy Luck. I typed them in when I wasn’t yapping with friends, sipping on beer, or giggling at quips by emcees Dominic Hill-Johnson of Plastered T-shirts and Ai Wan of Epic — I’ll list some of their best soon. My apologies for typos, mistakes, and missed categories — I didn’t catch two or three.
The winners are based on reader voting, which can be influenced by everything from the quality of a place to how long it has been in business to how much PR effort it exerts to whether its clientele tends to attract people who would actually take time to vote, so let’s see who the “expert panel” picked as winners. I’ll have more on the awards tonight or tomorrow: For now, here are the winners, subject to revision by the official list from The Beijinger that is due out tomorrow.
Best hot pot: Haidilao
Outstanding: Ding Ding Xiang, Little Sheep
Best Xinjiang: Red Rose
Outstanding: Crescent Moon, My Neighborhood Chuar Place
Best Yunnan: Middle Eight
Outstanding: Dali Courtyard, South Silk Road
Best Sichuan: Southern Beauty
Outstanding: Chuan Ban, Spice Spirit
Best Dim Sum: Jin Ding Xuan
Outstanding: Crysal Jade Palace, Lei Garden
Best Thai: Purple Haze
Outstanding: Phrik Thai, Serve the People
Best Vietnamese: Muse
Outstanding: Nam Nam, Va Va Voom
Best Indian/Pakistani (tie): Ganges, Taj Pavillion
Outstanding: Indian Kitchen, The Mughal’s Resaurant
Best Mexican: The Saddle Cantina
Outstanding: Luga’s Villa, Peter’s Tex Mex
Best Middle Eastern: 1001 Nights
Outstanding: Biteapitta, Rumi
Best Italian: Annie’s
Outstanding: Assagi, L’Isola
Best Japanese: Hatsune
Outstanding: Matsuko, Tairyo Teppanyaki
Best American: Element Fresh
Outstanding: Chef Too, Grandman’s Kitchen
Best Mediterranean: Sureno
Outstanding: Athena, The Olive
Best French: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Brasserie Flo, Cafe de la Poste
Best pizza: The Tree
Outstanding: Kro’s Nest, Annie’s
Best Steak: Meat & Wine Company
Outstanding: Chef Too, Morel’s, Salt
Best: Olas Tapas Cafe
Outstanding: Carmen, Mare
Best Kung Pao Chicken: South Beauty
Outstanding: Bellagio, Xiao Wang Fu
Best burger: Let’s Burger
Outstanding: Blue Frog, Chef Too
Best Beijing duck: Da Dong
Outstanding: Duck de China, Quanjude
Best wine list: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Enoteca, Mosto
Best romantic meal: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Capital M, Mosto, The Courtyard
Best Decor: LAN
Outstanding: Hatsune (Sanlitun), Maison Boulud
Best for impressing visitors: Da Dong
Outstanding: Capital M, LAN
Best service: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Haidilao, Salt
Best family friendly: Annie’s
Outstanding: Element Fresh, didn’t catch this one
Best chef: Ana Esteves of Salt
Outstanding: William Bolton of Chef Too, Daniel Urdaneta of Mosto
Best business lunch: Alameda
Outstanding: Mosto, Salt
Best brunch: Element Fresh
Outstanding: Chef Too, Vineyard Cafe
Best hotel brunch: Bubbalicious, Westin Beijing Chaoyang; Bubbly Sundays, Westin Beijing Financial Street
Outstanding: FIZZtastic, Hilton Beijing Wangfujing; Sunday Brunch, JW Marriott Hotel Beijing
Best Contemporary Chinese: Da Dong
Outstanding: Bei at Opposite House, Made in China at Grand Hyatt
Restaurant of the Year, Chinese: Da Dong
Outstanding: Din Tai Fung, Haidilao Hot Pot, Made in China @ Grand Hyatt
Restaurant of the Year, Non-Chinese: Maison Boulud
Outstanding: Mosto, SALT
12 Comments so far
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Sweet! Proud to have nominated “my neighbourhood chuanr place” and have it make the ballot. Now that is a true representation of Beijing cuisine.
you gotta be kidding me! Nearly the same result every year.
Annie is the worst Italian, so is the Tree.
These businessmen start bribing now! Those people need to wake up and give the award to the restaurants and bars really deserve it.
Of course the results are the same every year.
We’re flooded with info before some of these restaurants are even open to the public. Expat zines make the annoucement that a new restaurant will be opening and proceed to give us constant updates until they eventually do so. Then we get the initial review, debate about the review and then a steady stream of publicity via blog posts, columns, reader contests and interviews with the staff and management.
Tuning out is a bit difficult to ignore. And don’t forget about the advertisements, either.
With all of the overexposure, it’s no wonder why readers flock to these places (instead of say, taking the culinary road less traveled) and vote for them when they’re conveniently listed on the ballot.
what a joke. same as always.
Going down the list it doesnt seem like there are too many howlers- Maison Boulud and Da Dong seem to be a league of their own when it comes to best of the best. Although I’m disappointed not to see Union Bar & Grille as best American- Chef Zach is still flying under the radar in this city- You will find more award winning head chefs eating his food than anyone else’s.
@ Sarahplusone,
I think the awards generally make sense and some nice changes at the top, too.
Cheers, boyce
@ XCY,
A lot of people like The Tree – I voted for it. What is your pick?
Cheers, boyce
@ Pete,
Dude, you usually aren’t so cynical. So you *don’t* think Maison Boulud deserves a nod as the best non-Chinese restaurant? Or Da Dong as best Chinese – have you been to the new branch near Legendale Hotel? I’ve only been once, but was mighty impressed.
Cheers, boyce
@ DJ Chunky,
Agree, it is too bad Zach didn’t pick up an award, but Union has steadily picked up steam all year and I would guess they look good for next year. That Element Fresh got the award irks some, but when I asked a chef at one of the competing restaurants in the “American” category which country he would most closely associate Element French with, he said the United States. C’est la vie.
Cheers, boyce
Vineyard has the pizza and there is a great Italian restaurant in beijing, I forgot the address. I went there 2 years ago, it was quite hard to find, and there is a small western shop nearby as well.
Hey, some people “work” / work for the magazine over reacted to negative comments.
We all know how things work, we all know people can ask their friends to write good reviews for them or they set up different accounts to write reviews of their own restaurant.
No matter how much expats don’t like about the Chinese way of voting or the Chinese awards, some of them just do the same. Those people think they have done a hard work, so they never like to be told they are wrong – they don’t like to lose face.
Thanks for giving us freedom to speak!
Cheers boyce!
@Boyce: My quasi-rant, while cynical, is directed more at the naysayers whispering about conspiracies and problems with the nomination system than anything else.
Read: An attempt to understand the factors that lead readers to vote the way they did; a defense of the Beijinger is hidden in there somewhere and I should have been more clear.
The two places that you mentioned are great.
Evidently it does match last year’s results, guess who’s paying…
Yes Annie is the worst Italian.
Who ever has voted LAN as best decor is totally gay and borderline sadomasochist.
Who ever has voted Muse has never traveled to Vietnam.
We can expect whorehouse Suzy Wong to get best club award.
Worst of it BB, is to advertise The Beijinger on your blog!