When builders first broke ground on CCTV Headquarters in 2004, few Beijingers would have imagined a day when they could bask in the tower’s reflection while slurping French oysters. Yet here we are, enjoying this most bourgeois of activities in a district that didn’t even exist three decades ago.
Life comes at you fast. Though we hardly need to tell you that – this is Beijing, after all. And while 2017 may be remembered as the year in which the hutong dining scene collapsed, it may also go down as the year the CBD came into its own.
If the CBD is Beijing’s international face to the world, then the China World Mall is its fancy new hat. And if this gargantuan multiplex is a signal that the district has truly arrived, then F Bistronome reminds us that it doesn’t need to be bleak and corporate.
Found on the mall’s seventh floor, this is an impressive new offering from the team behind Maison Flo and Café Flo. On the casual-to-fine-dining scale, F Bistronome sits somewhere between its predecessors – sophisticated enough to dress up for, laidback enough to forgive you if you don’t.
Contemporary tableware is preferred over posh white plates. Low, comfy chairs are preferred over stiff, upright ones. Smartly dressed staff are preferred over those in full-on French waiter garb.
Yet the tasteful bistro retains the design tropes Flo Group is known for: shimmering chandeliers, brass fittings and healthy doses of marble and dark wood. The restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling windows overlook one of Beijing’s most intensely urban scenes, but it does so in a distinctly Parisian manner. Our eyes may see Third Ring bustle, but our ears hear only Edith Piaf and the light clatter of wine glasses.
The cuisine strikes a similarly pleasing balance. You can, of course, indulge in the aforementioned oysters (from RMB118 for three). But this place is more about hearty, unpretentious, home-style cooking, from the divine gratin dauphinois (RMB38) to the perfectly puffed soufflé (RMB78).
From under RMB300 a head, the lunch and dinner sets sum up what F Bistronome does best – small plates to share followed by fish, steak and classic desserts. French food loves to be grandiose, but it’s often better when it isn’t.
So if it’s novelty you’re after, then make do with this: You’re eating French comfort food in the shadow of skyscrapers.
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