Beijing Boyce

Couple about town 8 Songs and Ba Songs checked out new restaurant Mosaico (address below) during the weekend. Here is 8 Songs’ take:

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A little place in the new World City complex on Dongdaqiao, Mosaico offers a couple of tables outside, and a nicely decorated inside setting, with the tables far enough apart to allow for conversations not to be inadvertently shared.

The lighting was on the romantic, almost intimate side, which was quite nice for dinner for the two of us, but made it impossible to read the menus. Owner Raoul assured us he will be reprinting the menus, not adjusting the lighting.

Raoul told us he was born in the Canary Islands, and has been in China four years. He spoke quite good Chinese.

We stuck to a tapas meal, initially ordering four dishes, and later topping up with another two. For the two of us, that was a meal and a half. Once our eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, we were able to make out the food choices, but the wine list could only be read by going to the bar, where the lighting was brightest.

We started with garlic mushrooms. The mushrooms were perfectly “al dente“, or however it is said in Spanish, with the garlic not too overpowering. The cheese balls were naturally heavy, but full-flavoured. The Chorizo sausage arrived in Beijing inside checked-in bags directly from Spain in the last couple of days. They were served in a kind of blood sauce. The flavour wasn’t to my Chinese wife’s taste, but they reminded me of some excellent tapas I have had in my trips to Spain. The Parma ham “bruschetta” was delicious, with light freshly baked bread under some tasty ham and cheese.

Later we ordered the garlic prawns (okay, the menu said shrimp, but I refuse to use that word.) They were served in the same style as the garlic mushrooms, but the prawns were light and fresh. The chicken wings were simply delicious. We could have dined on them alone.

The meal was washed down with an excellent bottle of red. I didn’t know any of the wines. The wine list had bottles for as low as RMB138 and up to RMB900. Our bottle, a Convento Alroja, was a well-balanced, complex wine that went beautifully with the tapas. At a little over RMB300, it pushed our meal up to RMB477, but RMB28 to RMB38 for each of the tapas dishes was very good value.

Mosaico has only been open a couple of days. The owner told us he wants to get things running smoothly before he starts marketing, but based on our experience, it’s hard to see what he needs to fix. We suggested candles on the tables for an even more intimate mood; Raoul tells us they are coming. He also told us he is open for business lunches, with three courses and coffee for .

Definitely worth a try. We will be going again, next time for lunch.

(Note: You can find Mosaico at World City, No 10 Dongdaqiao / 8590-7006.)