Barolo: Business Set Lunch at the Ritz Carlton
It’s hard not to enjoy lunch at a restaurant located in one of Beijing’s fanciest hotels, especially when that restaurant is the Italian restaurant Barolo, named after one of the beloved boot-shaped nation’s finest wine regions. And apart from the food, that is exactly what you can expect: plenty of fine reds and whites with strong character taken directly from the Barolo region in Italy.
New chef, Italian Amedeo Ferri, joined the restaurant in early June, taking over and intending to bring some classic Italian concepts from his hometown of Umbria to the menu.
We tried the three-course set business lunch. Starting off we enjoyed the white asparagus salad, which was served with parma ham, a runny poached egg, and truffle sauce. This was absolutely our favorite dish there, the soft white asparagus matching well with the parma ham and poached egg, and the truffle sauce adding some freshness. Another starter on the menu was the cauliflower leek soup, with creamy milk that added strong flavor to the puffy white vegetable, good news for cauliflower-lovers.
As for the main course, there are five options: baked rigatoni, spaghetti, grilled lamb chop, roasted salmon, and beef tenderloin. We chose the roasted salmon with asparagus and fennel salad, as well as the beef tenderloin. The chunky salmon was tamed by the black pepper, and the beef tenderloin was served with creamy mashed potato, a fresh arugula salad, and red wine sauce.
Of course it wouldn’t be a set meal without dessert: Barolo’s tiramisu and vanilla panna cotta with almond crumble, both of which easily satisfied the most discerning of sugar fiends. There was enough rum in the tiramisu to balance the espresso and sweetness, and the panna cotta was a feast for the eyes too, decorated with hues of red, purple, and blue: strawberry, blueberry, and raspberry.
If you’re Guomao bound, and hungry for lunch, Barolo is located on the second floor of the Ritz-Carlton, and won’t break the bank at RMB 198 for four courses, and RMB 168 for three courses (plus the mandatory 10 percent service charge and 6 percent VAT).
This article first appeared in our magazine. Read the rest of the Beijinger July/August issue here.