Beijing Restaurant Review: Amaze
By Oscar Holland
Images by Holly Li
Beijing’s Yunnanese restaurants are normally desperate to remind us just how Yunnanese they are. More than any of their provincial counterparts, they cling to the long-held orthodoxy that says authentic food is best served in ‘authentic’ surrounds.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with playing the ethnic card. We love patterned cloth drapes as much as the next Beijing-based English-language food critic. But can fried goat’s cheese be enjoyed away from the photographic gaze of beaming minority elders? Will pineapple rice taste just as sweet without the distant jangle of wind chimes?
The answer to these facetious rhetorical questions is, of course, yes. Yet there is a tried-and-tested formula that few dare stray from: folksy wall paintings, intimate decor or even some hats if you’re lucky. Maybe it’s because restaurateurs are insecure about their food. Or maybe it’s because – and this is far more likely – diners need wind chimes to feel as if they’re having a ‘genuine’ culinary experience. The market dictates, after all.
But the Shunyi market is a law unto itself. And so it proves, with the opening of a rare beast in Beijing’s dining scene: a contemporary Yunnanese restaurant.
Set around a curved bar (behind which the restaurant’s name is lit up Broadway-style) Amaze is unapologetic in its modernity. The entranceway houses a rotating miscellany of artwork which, at the time of our visit, includes some twisted rabbit paintings. Inside, sleek black table-tops and curiously shaped furniture sit beneath a ceiling of asymmetric wooden beams. The spoons are square.
This may not sound particularly avant garde, but in the world of Yunnanese restaurants it truly is. There may be flashes of Southwest China – on the hanging light fixtures and in private rooms, where we find images of glistening rice paddies. But the decor doesn’t shout about how Yunnanese it is. And when the food is this good, it doesn’t need to.
Vietnamese and Burmese flavors are subtly woven through the well-considered menu. And while the influence of Yunnan’s Dai ethnic minority is absent from Amaze’s interior design, their culinary heritage shines through. In fact, two of the standout dishes both hail from the Dai heartland of Xishuangbanna on the Burmese border: songban pork neck (RMB88) and a grilled tilapia, which deftly combines citronella and coriander (RMB68).
Elsewhere, we find plenty of familiar classics. The beef and mint rolls (RMB52) are simple but exquisite, while the boletus mushrooms (a rare variant and priced accordingly at RMB228) burst with an earthy flavor incapable of being overpowered by the accompanying pepper and garlic.
To finish things off – and as a final reminder that Amaze is not your typical cozy Yunnanese affair – we sample the exhaustive whisky menu. The downstairs bar may be unfinished when we visit, but expect it to be free of wind chimes – and all the better for it.
Room 202, Building 11, Shine Hills, 6 Antai Dajie, Shunyi 顺义区空港街道中粮祥云国际生活区南区安泰大街6号院11号楼202（131 2657 6006）
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