In this city, you can now find about anything. I had seen Pinotage in Soho Sanlitun and for some reason I thought it was Spanish. I failed to see the flag from … South Africa. Once I knew it, let’s check it out.
On Saturday 1 March I invited my daughter, always a willing participant to eat out. The restaurant was packed so we had to sit in the bar section, pretty comfy actually. They also sell wine from SA.

We had Farmer’s Sausage, Ostrich Hamburger, some vegetables and desert. I took a red from South Africa, RMB 160 and nice to drink. Valerie took the rest of the bottle home as I was heading to my KTV afterwards (where my bottle of Jack Daniels was waiting!).
The verdict: food quality very good, portions relatively small and a bit pricy but overall a good and different experience. And next time I should make a reservation!

Yes, on Friday 7 March we had our monthly Old China Hands lunch, as usual in Morel’s. With everybody pretty busy getting back to business, we had “only” 25 participants, with several people who could not make it at the last minute. We had one acting ambassador and three retired ambassadors.

I had to urge all to sit down and order – everyone seemed too much engaged in chatting with each other, a good sign.
Next lunch is Friday 4 April.
Morel’s is a great place and next to our monthly lunch my office was having a lunch meeting, and our Chinese friends just loved it…

Well, sort of. I finally got to meet The Beijing Beatles, a well-known group of foreigners playing Beatles songs. The evening was in The Basement, under Caribe and across from Qmex (the Mexican restaurant).

The performance on 15 February was promoted by the FCGroup and attracted a full house.
It was great. They are not only good at singing but are also good entertainers, keeping the audience thrilled. Especially me, I grew up with the Beatles (and The Rolling Stones) and I still have several of their vinyl records. I sing more The Rolling Stones in my KTV simply because the Beatles’ songs are a bit too high for me!
See here more about the group: http://thebeijingbeatles.com/

Despite an unexpected snowfall and the usual traffic chaos in Beijing, as well as the date being a bit difficult – the first working day just after Chinese New Year – the turnout was great: we were a total of 27! See here two of the three tables.

Some new faces, many familiar faces. This time three ex- ambassadors, a famous CCTV host, several embassy people and some other well-known expats.
Looks like everybody enjoyed the formula: no speeches, no fee, pay for your own food and no particular agenda, except having a lively conversation, meeting friends not seen since long and making new friends.
Next lunch is 7 March!