A long list

As a well-known food vlogger in Beijing I go around a lot and see the scene as a Beijing restaurant battlefield. Many locations open and then close. Rather few survive for a long time. There are many reasons, often the rent being increased dramatically, quality not kept up to standards, poor marketing and promotion, lack of appeal.

Beijing has seen many starting to make Belgian waffles, most went bust, except for Morel’s Restaurant that has them on the menu and Bewaffle, a small outlet close to O’Steak near Chunxiu Lu, Maison Manneke started with a lot of fanfare, they also joined Belgian embassy events. I tried it a few times but the location in SOHO Sanlitun did not have enough turnover. Sadly very few Belgians supported it. It is now a Chinese restaurant.

I liked a lot the cozy American style restaurant in Chunxiu Lu, food was good but it closed recently for reasons not clear. It is now a noodles restaurant.

Cartahge Restaurant was on Dongzhimenwai, operated by our friend Adele – he has gone through some failed restaurant, It was supposed to be North African cuisine like couscous and other. I tried it a few times. Now gone and replaced by some Pakistani restaurant.

East End was a small restaurant and delicatessen place, very nice and good food, that still stayed some time after its related restaurant Apollo next door vanished, a very nice restaurant that seemed to be doing well. We miss both Apolla and East End,

Orbit was a very nice bar restaurant in front of the Workers Stadium, with impressive decoration and wine selection. But it did not attract customers and it is now a Chongqing Hotpot restaurant “Chunying”.

Next to my home, Julong Garden, there has been an endless series of shops and restaurants in the same location. Seems it has bad karma because nothing seemed to survive for long. Last victim was a Xinjiang Restaurant, Ayisha, pretty good, no idea why it closed. It is now Jiangxi restaurant.

I could go on and on as the list of failed restaurants is endless. A restaurant like Morel’s that has been in operation for 25 years is really an exception.

Pushkin Literature Restaurant

As a last example, this Russian restaurant near Morel’s Restaurant was very popular at some point. They also had Russian staff. With COVID the Russians disappeared, Here some media articles.
Thebeijinger: Pushkin Literary Restaurant, a Throwback Hit? We’re Putin Our Money on It. Borscht, breaded pies, blinis and other Russian classics are available at the Yoolee Plaza restaurant.
CGTN:: Russian cuisine brings Russian literature to Beijin
Global Times:  Russian Alexander Pushkin restaurant gains popularity in China, but not just for food.

I visited several times: 10 June 2021, 27 January 2019, 11 February 2019, 6 March 2019. And one day it closed without much explanation.