I Ate My Way Through Sanlitun's New Topwin Center
By Noelle Mateer
On my initial visit to Croissant Village, in the newly opened Topwin Center, customers at two separate tables are drinking Starbucks coffees. This is problematic, and not only because Croissant Village sells its own coffee. There are multiple other coffee shops – including Gloria Jean’s and something unfortunately named Cows Creamery – located between Croissant Village and Starbucks. But most importantly: the nearest Starbucks is in Taikoo Li, the very shopping development the Topwin Center now rivals.
But in this village (Croissant Village!) there is no Adidas store, and no creepy photographers loitering outside. Rather, our aforementioned Taiwanese bakery sits on the ground floor of one colossal building. Or buildings, plural, depending on how you define the word.
Topwin Center has been opening piecemeal since the beginning of the summer, but last month saw the unveiling of countless bars, restaurants and cafes. Call it Sanlitun’s food court. In a rather masochistic move – and instead of our usual reviews feature, Mifan or Mafan – I decided to hit them all in one week. (I considered one day, and thought better of the idea.)
I start high-end, before descending into Topwin’s seven air-conditioned layers of hell. Ease into this assignment, you know? This is how I end up gazing over Taikoo Li, Veuve-Cliquot in hand, at the InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun’s Char.
Char’s terrace is stupendous. It will make you want to commission a painting of the sun setting over Yashow. (For a shopping complex set to rival Taikoo Li, there are a lot of panoramic views of Taikoo Li.)
Inside, Char is everything you’d imagine at a place where you can drink Veuve and look down at the pedestrians below. Steaks are Australian. Wines are specially branded. Foie gras sits proudly on the menu. Best yet, futuristic animations are projected all over the walls, like the backdrop to a fashion show. Next door, but still within the InterCont, is Top Bar, where well-heeled patrons sip whiskey in a geometrically pleasing nest of steel and glass.
This is as Sanlitun as it gets
But this isn’t Topwin, per se. This is an outpost of a luxury hotel chain. And yet, no one knows where the InterContinental ends and Topwin begins. (Well, the InterContinental definitely knows.) From the outside, the two appear to meld into a single oblong metallic structure of wealth and prosperity.
From the inside, however, the distinction is much clearer. Topwin’s basement reminds me of the mall food courts of my suburban American youth. Here, you’ll find a smattering of brands you ought to recognize from elsewhere in the city – Papp’s Tea, Cheers, Panda Brew. (For the record, there are no bottle shops in the mall food courts of my youth.)
There are also places you will not recognize. Unless you’re from Manitoba, you probably don’t know New York Fries – if you’re from New York, you definitely don’t know New York Fries. The shop sells both chili dogs and traditional Canadian poutines to a soundtrack of cinematic piano music. Other New York Fries locations are in Calgary, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Manama, Bahrain.
The best Canadian snacks in town are at a place called New York Fries. Other New York Fries locations are in Calgary, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Manama, Bahrain
I spy photos of the New York City skyline as well as decorative maple leaves. The decor is confusing, but their poutine (RMB29) is incredible – thick-cut fries drenched in gooey, melted cheese curds and generous heaps of gravy. We only wish the servings were larger – although given the calorific nature of Canadian snacks, maybe it’s best they aren’t. (Perhaps this is the biggest clue that New York Fries is not from New York – the emphasis on reasonable serving sizes is decidedly non-American.)
But why stick with serving what you know? (Usually because it’s better quality, but whatever.) Next door, Lépasar serves spaghetti and Hainanese chicken rice and British ales. But I’m here for the piadina, a type of Italian sandwich found in cafes across Italy. “I used to eat them in university,” an Italian friend tells me. “No one else in Beijing does them.”
Not sure why this Hainanese chicken rice was being sold in an Italian restaurant, but it was
I opt for a Parma ham piadina (RMB88 – expensive, given this is something that Italian students buy for one or two euros). I’m excited when it arrives, but a bite proves it to be stiff and dry. I’m no Italian, but I know Italian food is better than this.
Pretty bummed I spent RMB88 on this sandwich
Topwin’s basement is something of an international expo. In its corner, Shawarma Dareen cranks out inexpensive shawarma and falafel (RMB20 each). In Chinese, its name xiang wo ma translates to ‘Do you miss me?’ In English, Shawarma Dareen translates to ‘Shawarma Dareen.’
But food is not confined to the basement. Upstairs, Alex & Bros makes thin-crust pizzas. I try a variety that’s divided into four, one quarter for each different topping (RMB95). None of them particularly impresses me. It seems Alex and his bros are trying to do too many things at once.
This pizza is trying to be too many things
The same goes for Topwin Center overall – it’s got a lot of things. There is a Japanese restaurant next to a Japanese restaurant. At Steak House, a steakhouse, there’s a lot of steak. There’s a smoothie place next to a bubble tea place next to a frozen yogurt place. There are multiple outlets of the same chain within the same mall.
Xiao Ming Tong Xue
That’s why it pays to specialize. At Xiao Ming Tong Xue, cute Taiwanese snacks are photo-ready. Tender meat is wrapped in a paw-print shaped bun, and our purple sodas arrive atop tiny light-up pedestals. I’m not normally one for consuming fluorescent edibles. But something about being in a mall brings me back to my pre-bar-hopping youth, and I’m down with it.
A restaurant on the fifth floor specializes in aggressively cute snacks
For stiffer drinks, you have to get high. At The Roof (I’ll give you one guess as to what level of the mall it’s on), pillows are embroidered with the logo for Perrier-Jouet Champagne. That – plus the tree shaped display of pricey bottles – should tell you everything you need to know about this place. This is not a place to drink Tsingtaos. This is a make-a-reservation-for-bottle-service kind of bar.
The Roof's pillows are embroidered with the Perrier-Jouet logo, which should tell you just about everything you need to know about the place
But there’s one huge thing The Roof’s got going for it – the view. I’m still torn as to whose is better: The Roof’s or Char’s. Both are stupidly cool. Both will have you Instagramming on the spot. Both will make you want to write a philosophy paper entitled “What is Sanlitun?”
As for Croissant Village, I go later to meet a friend. I wish, reader, I could tell you about the croissants. I wish I could describe the pain au chocolat in detail. According to my friend, “It’s supposed to be pretty good.” You’ll just have to take her word for it. I was too full.
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