Oh Josephine, parfois se désapointe…

Beijing: Nadaman – Prominent disappointment

Since 1830, the restaurant group Nadaman has been ‘treating discerning diners to traditional « kaiseki » cuisine’, quite some statement. Not surprisingly, this upscale restaurant sits in a prominent location, the podium of Shangri-la Summit Wing hotel – tallest building in Beijing.

Being a fan of Japanese cuisine, it was very exciting to try the famous Nadaman. And, well, giving the prominent location, prominent name, its history and the stylish interior, I found it’s reasonable to be somewhat pricy.

Their ‘creative dishes’ go from ‘Sea Urchin Pudding with Consomme Jelly’ to ‘Savory Egg Custard with Shark’s Fin Glaze’. We had ‘Gateau Style Crab meat with Organic Tomato’ as appetizer, it was a nice dish, but also an extremely tiny one, about two and half bites, then it’s gone…

This appetizer, unfortunately, also turned out to be the only dish that was OK during the entire meal… The Octopus in Mustard Dressing was incredibly mediocre for such a fine restaurant, the ‘Assortment of Deluxe Sashimi’ was even worse – some fish was way too warm while the salmon still had ice inside it! Our Mixed Sushi was ok, but let’s be honest – it’s almost impossible to make sushi bad. And the ‘Teppan Scallops’ was, really, the worst scallop I’ve ever tasted in my life, both the meat and the flavour was not done right, even the vegetable that came along tasted boring….

Oh well, it was maybe just a bad day, but quite shocking a fancy restaurant with such a name can do all these most basic things so wrong…Not to mention the price… I’ve heard the one in Hong Kong is not too bad, but I’m not sure if I want to give it a try…

Price: RMB 500+ per person.

Address: 4/F, China World Summit Wing, China World Trade Centre Phase 3, Beijing, China. (86 10) 6505 2299 ext 6407 / 6408