Whether you're looking to fill up on healthy food or burn off calories, Mode-L Gym & Café is a one-stop shop to help you get in shape. Seeing as such 24/7 multipurpose venues are becoming more and more prevalent in Beijing's downtown core, it was only a matter of time before an equally trendy facility made its way to the comparatively outlying Wangjing area.
The café is on the ground floor of the space and boasts an industrial-style décor: white tiles, concrete floor, a neat counter, and a long wooden bench. The gym in the back of the first floor is outfitted with weights, treadmills, elliptical machines, SkillMill, and a fancy Kinesis Personal (worth close to RMB 100,000) all from upscale fitness brand Technogym. The gym's huge TV was playing Victoria's Secret fashion shows during our visit, a suitable motivator for the patrons as they worked out.
The second floor includes a room for boxing and yoga lessons, an area for laundry with a washing machine and dryer (so you don’t have to take sweaty clothes home), and several shower rooms, each outfitted with shampoo and a separate basin with a mirror, all thoughtfully designed by founder Li Wen.
The menu at the café is mostly vegan, with optional protein to add like avocado, falafel, poached chicken, grilled beef, salmon, and egg. In conjunction with Shuangjing vegan joint Root Pop, the concept here comes courtesy of Brandon Trowbridge, also the mastermind behind Tribe and Glo Kitchen. The meals feature three base options: spinach, rice bowls, and wraps. There are also five mains, smoothies rife with superfoods (including pea protein powder), desserts, and several snacks to boost your energy, all listed with precise calorie counts.
The Shine for You's (RMB 68) combination of grilled mushrooms, cauliflower, black beans, pumpkin, chipotle-roasted sweet potato, and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds gave it plenty of variety so as not to bog you down pre- or post-workout. Unlike a lot of healthy fare on offer in Beijing, Trowbridge unabashedly plays with flavors and his curveballs include vegetable puree, za'atar (a blend of herbs that is popular in the Middle East), and red pepper sauce for a bit of spice.
Another admirable trait is that for the team at Mode-L, being healthy doesn’t mean you have to say adios to sweets. The carrot cake (RMB 20) doesn’t include any refined sugar, instead utilizing monk fruit as a natural sweetener. It also forgoes baking soda in favor of apple vinegar to help the cake rise, and a fermented raw cashew cream to stand in as healthy icing. The brownies (RMB 28) meanwhile, were gluten-free thanks to a use of tiger nut powder in place of conventional wheat flour.
The healthy vegan food at Mode-L Gym & Café is a smart choice that doesn't feel like a chore. Truth be told, we don't often find Beijing's vegan cuisine to be quite as delicious as the alternative, making the fare on offer here a crossover success. The kitchen will launch more dishes soon, and then begin building an online delivery platform.
Membership for the gym is RMB 9,888 (one year), 19,998 (two years), and 39,998 (three years) and each visit costs RMB 88 or RMB 200-300 per class. For their promotion period, they're offering a one-time entry fee of RMB 58 and a lesson with a private coach for RMB 68 (which typically costs RMB 600).
Daily 24-hours (gym), Daily 10.30am-10.30pm (café)
10-1, Hesheng Qilishe, 10 Fu’an Xilu, Chaoyang District
朝阳区阜安西路10号楼合生麒麟社底商10-1
(010) 5738 9985
Photos: Tracy Wang
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