The January issue of That's Beijing is out now – paper-and-ink-form citywide, digital pdf form right here or in your browser here. Editor-in-Chief Oscar Holland introduces the magazine:
A week before our Golden Fork Restaurant Awards I visited a tailor for a new suit. Nineteen hours before our Golden Fork Restaurant Awards I found myself chasing an unlicensed taxi along Andingmen Nei having left my new suit in the back seat. I didn't catch up with it.
It’s a shame – not least because I’d hoped to shout-out my friendly new tailor, Jim Tailor (not his real name, I suspect). But given that his creation was never worn, the only thing I can endorse is his methodical and unobtrusive measuring services. This probably isn’t enough to warrant a trip to the soulless third floor of the refurbished Yashow Market.
So, down on my luck, I cobbled together an outfit (see picture below, far right) and headed to Spark for the awards. I needn’t have worried. While much of Beijing’s F&B world turned out as impeccably dressed as ever, the ‘Golden Age’ hip-hop theme produced some brilliantly casual flourishes. We saw more do-rags, snapbacks and gold chains in one night than we’ve seen in Beijing over the last three years. A salute to everyone who turned out, the That’s Beijing staff who made the event such a success, and An Xianjie for illustrating the cover of this month’s magazine.
Fom page 38 you can find a run-down of all the night’s winners. In the process, we uncover some of the stories behind Beijing’s best-loved food institutions, including Noelle Mateer’s attempt to pull an all-nighter at the 24-hour food mecca, Jindingxuan (Best Chain), and Dominique Wong’s search for the elusive Zhang Mama (Best Sichuan).
Elsewhere in the magazine:
We hear some alternative views on the end of the one-child policy (page 10)
Marianna Cerini explores the growing, and often worrying, use of child models (page 22)
Andrew Chin picks out his favorite Mainland albums of the last year (page 32);
I visit a Thai dessert store called Crack (page 55).
Plus – in keeping with our Awards’ theme – I interview hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff (page 30), while trying really hard not to ask him about a certain Bel-Air-based sitcom.
A Happy New Year (to those of you observing the Gregorian calendar),
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