Beijing is the word on everyone’s lips and it’s not all good, right now, but whatever the opinions, there’s no disputing that it is one of the key global cities of the future. There is so much of interest going on.

Visitors to Beijing are privileged to experience a developing society: as one Western entrepreneur working in China observed; “I can’t imagine doing what I am doing now (opening three restaurants simultaneously) in any other place in the world or at any other time.”

There’s a sense of pervading excitement and unfolding plans that one imagines existed in colonial days – in establishing Western civilization in outposts of the known world… Shanghai in the 1930’s… India under the Raj…

That coupled with the age-old mystical attraction of the East – the Orient, the ancient Chinese culture, which has influenced so much of the 21st Century world:
French cuisine, for instance, which originated in China.

Philosophising aside, Beijing is beguiling … and addictive…. I didn’t want to leave on my last trip a couple of weeks ago. “This is about to open and I haven’t seen that”… It took me a while to feel my way into the Imperial City. It is built on a far grander scale than Shanghai and harder to get around. Now, on every trip, I discover more hidden corners.

With the ambitious building program prior to the Olympics, there’s bound to be so flack – some hotels or restaurants that don’t work, or have over-extended. The fascination now will be the Beijing of the post-Olympics. Many of the planned restaurants such as the Beijing establishment of Michele Garnaut of M on the Fringe, Hong Kong and M on the Bund, Shanghai, wisely made the decision months ago to wait until after the Olympics to open. Now she has been joined by many others who didn’t make it in time, held up by building plans and other complications.

I can’t wait to see the Beijing of 6 months time – or a year. Chinese American attorney Handel Lee’s redevelopment of the Legation Quarter in the former U.S Embassy to the Qing Dynasty will be completed and the redevelopment of the historic Foreign Legation Street it is on, complete with trolley buses – Qianmen, known as “Heaven’s Passage” during Imperial Times. The CCTV “Trousers” building will presumably be finished, “The Egg” - National Centre for the Performing Arts and “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium will be settled in and many more.

Come to think of it, don’t think I can wait till then – excuse me while I book my flight…I really need another exquisite dinner at Maison Boulud and duck dinner at Duck de Chine in The Hidden City….and all those other places that haven’t opened yet …

Beijing Calling Cards

History is happening by the second in Beijing as the list of global leader visits grows. Beijing was ablaze with the visit of the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, on my last visit to Beijing back in April. Last week my arrival at the grandiose new Beijing Capital Airport was affected by the security surrounding the visit of Condelezza Rice, American Secretary of State and the Thai Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravi. The new Mayor of London has just finished his visit and so the list of dignitary calling cards goes on…

The relentless race towards the August 8 Opening of the Olympics continues with everyone tracking time before and after the event. The new pre-Olympic single entry visa for foreigners is causing havoc with expat businessmen based in Beijing, who are forced to returning to their home country each time of renewal or in one case I’ve heard about, moving their base to Bangkok. The Games Volunteers have hit the city in their spunky new uniforms and the athletes are starting to move in.
The historic first weekend charter flight to Taiwan has taken place this week with much ceremony, heralding the closing of the gap between the countries - an event which could not be imagined fifteen years ago.
And the changes in the city show. There’s more glass in the massive CCTV Tower since April, more landscaping and beautification – and signs in English are plastered around the city with an abandon that no one in the city could have imagined two years ago. In fact, you would hardly recognize the city from two years ago now that the landmarks have changed – with huge building projects dotted all over.

The Olympic Buildings might be finished ahead of time, but the wave of new restaurants is not. The food and beverage scene is caught up in the frenzy and numerous major restaurants scheduled to open months ago are still struggling to open their doors. All construction has now officially stopped, one month out from the Olympics and only one of the ten restaurants I’ve come to review is open – and that’s only a soft opening with no promotion.

As I lounged back in the soft sofas of Maison Boulud, I revelled in the fact that it was worth the trip. This brand new restaurant is the first of the establishments to open in the long-awaited Legation Quarter development by entrepreneurial genius, Handel Lee, who transformed Shanghai with Three on the Bund.
In the same way, he is bringing Michelin-starred restaurants, high-concept art galleries, an underground theatre and luxury retail to the beautiful old former U.S. Embassy, round the corner from Tiananmen Square.
Such a location! And a glamorous, grand-scale, high-end restaurant that could grace any capital of the world. I was lucky enough to enjoy the food of the Grand Master Chef, Daniel Boulud and meet him at work in the kitchen. Beijing is enhanced by the addition of a restaurant of this standard. No visit to this emerging global city will be complete without your finding this out!