Beijing restaurants

Old China Hands Lunch 4 July 2025

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

Independence Day

Some patriotic Americans chose to go eat hot dogs for their national day instead of the Old China Hands Lunch 4 July 2025. And yes many were away so we ended up with 23 attendants who had to brave some bad traffic hurdles and the sauna weather. All enjoyed the food and the company.

The menu, see the pictures:
•    one local draft OR glass of house wine OR soft drink•    tomato stuffed with fish salad OR cooked ham roll stuffed with Russian potato salad OR fresh daily soup
•    thin sliced tenderloin with black pepper sauce served with vegetables and Belgian fries OR fricandon of beef served with hot cherry and mashed potatoes OR red snapper mediterranean style served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoesz
•    daily desert
•    coffee or tea

Next lunch is planned for 1 August. Expect real sauna weather!

Baby trafficking denied

Morel’s staff denied they were engaged in baby trafficking, despite the suspicious activities going on.

Chef Renaat was kept company by the miniskirt gang.
After investigation it is said to be a preparation for a romantic Chinese holiday in late August. Stay tuned!

Beijing restaurant battlefield

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

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.

 

 

Yves Leterme in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

 

Promoting Belgium

On 13 June 2025 I had the honor to have dinner with Yves Leterme in Beijing. He is the former Prime Minister from Belgium.
The dinner was organized for a group of diverse Chinese business people, to promote Belgium as a potential location to invest and as a trade partner. It is important a country as Belgium maintains contact with the Chinese business world. Event was organized by the Alliance of Enterprises Leadership (AEL).

The dinner was organized in this high-end restaurant: Baijiada Yuan (白家大院), not very far from Beijing University. See here a review of the restaurant.
Their website does not work anymore: www.baijiadayuan.cn.
This was once the home of Prince Li in the Qing Dynasty (清太祖努尔哈赤儿子礼亲王).

250613 Leterme.mov

Short video on Douyin done by a participant

My friend Lydia arranged my participation and helped for the translation of my short speech.
Besides the special Beijing dishes we had a dance and music performance. We also tasted a special Chinese liquor (“baijiu”).
Mr. Leterme has made several trips to China. His tour includes other cities such as Wuhan, Xian, Chengdu, Zhoukou (Henan) and the Jiangsu Week of Grand Canal Culture.
He also has dined in Morel’s Restaurant at the time of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, his picture is on the wall with former ambassador Bernard Pierre and Renaat Morel.
I had a chance to chat with Mr. Leterme and introduce my “China Story”.

About Mr. Leterme

Yves Leterme is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008, and later from November 2009 to December 2011.
Leterme has also served as minister of Foreign Affairs, deputy prime minister and minister of Budget, Institutional Reforms, Transport and the North Sea in the Belgian federal government. He is a former minister-president of Flanders and Flemish minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Despite his French name, Leterme is Flemish. He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.
Yves Leterme was born on 6 October 1960 in the city of Wervik in the province of West Flanders. He is half-Walloon, and grew up fluently bilingual. He studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven where he received a LL.B. degree (Bachelor of Laws) in 1981 and then studied at Ghent University where he obtained a BSc degree in Political Science (1983), a LL.M. degree (Master of Laws) (1984), and a MPA degree (Master of Public Administration) in 1985.
Yves Leterme was born on 6 October 1960 in the city of Wervik in the province of West Flanders. He is half-Walloon, and grew up fluently bilingual. He studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven where he received a LL.B. degree in 1981 and then studied at Ghent University where he obtained a BSc degree in Political Science (1983), a LL.M. degree (1984), and a MPA degree in 1985.
In 2019, Leterme became co-chairman of the board of directors of the Chinese investment fund ToJoy. The appointment was criticized by international relations professor Jonathan Holslag, citing the close relations between ToJoy and the Chinese political establishment. (Note: Jonathan Holslag is well-known to be strongly anti-China…)

Source: Wikipedia

 

 

Old China Hands Lunch 6 June

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

After the Dragon Boat Festival

The Old China Hands Lunch 6 June had a turnout of 25, with many members unable to attend due to travel and workload. As usual lively conversation.

See the menu, most dishes in the pictures:

  • ham salad andalouse OR puff pastry with chicken curry Indian style OR fresh daily soup
  • veal sausage with curry sauce served with salad and Belgian fries OR sliced roast beef with gravy served with cauliflower and pan fried potatoes OR pan-fried snapper Meunière served with daily vegetables and boiled potatoes
  • daily desert

Next lunch Friday 4 July.

Renaat Morel, the Chef

Morel’s Restaurant and Café has become a real institution in Beijing, the only real Belgian restaurant and with a solid track record of 25 years.
My first visit to the restaurant was in February 2000, just after returning to Beijing after nearly five years in Shanghai.

Renaat is an incredible story teller with an impressive memory. But writing is not his strong point, so I help him time to time to play secretary and to record bits and pieces of his past.
Renaat has an imposing career and I still record new facts about his memorable adventures as a top chef.
See here my latest update: Renaat Chef
Before landing in China, Renaat worked in major five-star hotels in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Holland such as:

  • Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo – Monaco
  • Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes and Sporting Club of Cannes
  • InterContinental Carlton Cannes – Cannes
  • Le Cap Estel – Eze Bord de Mer (between Nice and Monaco)

He served an impressive list of famous people, see the PDF.
On top of his 3 Michelin Stars he accumulated an endless list of titles and awards and he has been interviewed by many Chinese and foreign media.
Before setting up his restaurant in Beijing Renaat was executive chef in Beijing Air Catering Company, Crown Plaza Xiamen Seascape, Henan Zhongzhou Crown Plaza Hotel and Beijing Kunlun Hotel.

Old China Hands Lunch 9 May

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

May 1 holidays

As the first Friday was 2 May, the Old China Hands Lunch 9 May was a week later to avoid the overbooking in Morel’s Restaurant. Still, many of our members were on the road or tight up in meetings. Anyway the 22 participants were happy as always, despite the rainy day. We also had the honor of having our Belgian ambassador joining us.

See the menu, most dishes in the pictures:

  • ham salad andalouse OR puff pastry with chicken curry Indian style OR fresh daily soup
  • veal sausage with curry sauce served with salad and Belgian fries OR sliced roast beef with gravy served with cauliflower and pan fried potatoes OR pan-fried snapper Meunière served with daily vegetables and boiled potatoes
  • daily desert

Next lunch Friday 6 June.

Gilbert, a rising star in the Chinese media

It all started not long ago when I tried to post my restaurant videos as a food vlogger on WeChat Channels, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu (Red Book). The feedback was better than expected and many people I meet talk about my videos.
Just recently I also started posting on TikTok and Douyin. I am also active on Dianping, the famous platform for restaurants, where I am Level 7, one of the highest.
I love food and exploring the cosmopolitan food scene of Beijing is fascinating.
But a very few days ago we had a shock. A new post became a huge hit.

I made a short video about the story of my four “Green Cards”, and a look back to earlier documents for foreigners in China. Posted on Douyin (Chinese Tiktok), WeChat channels and other, the results were astonishing. As for now way over 200,000 hits on Douyin and way over 70,000 on WeChat, and growing. See the impressive progress over time. Hundreds of comments on Douyin, many praising my track record, many digging up stuff about me and posting it. Comments on WeChat were mixed, a bit more silly and many asking me to help to get the Green Card, now officially called the Five Star Card. And none clever enough to identify me. If interested, you can watch the video on TikTok.

Some people ask me, why I do it. Not for money, I refuse payments from the restaurants.
Many are asking to post more about my China stories. I started to make some videos, tried to post on Douyin but all got censured. Welcome to China. The videos cannot mention the names of high Chinese officials, cannot mention the word “Chinese government”, and so on. As such Douyin and Deepseek share the same automatic draconian censorship. I cannot say “This is Beijing Mayor XXXXX giving me the Great Wall Friendship Award. And of course I cannot show his picture.
So sad. The video could not be used. I plan to upload it to TikTok and YouTube. We started making “cleaned up videos”. Self-censorship.
King Kwesi interviewed me in my office with me showing the pictures. That is not allowed on Chinese media. This is the link to the office video.