Sanlitun's Best Place for Get-Togethers is Right Under Your Nose
As the year draws to a close, it’s time to think about celebrating with colleagues or catching up with friends you haven’t seen for a while. However, every time friends get together, the biggest headache is always choosing which restaurant to go to. Everyone always wants something different and if you’re not careful, you can waste half the night deciding what to eat.
As luck would have it, Sanlitun restaurant Café Ruhe is here to solve that problem with its globe-trotting menu that features dishes from German, Thailand, Mexico, China, the US and beyond. Put that together with a drinks menu that includes freshly-poured German draft beer served in paddles with up to 11 glasses and you have a recipe for a great get-together.
The name Café Ruhe comes from a German word meaning “peace.” The founders chose this name to reflect how they want customers to feel when they are eating at the restaurant: comfortable and at peace like they are in their own home. “Ruhe” (如何) also means something akin to “how is it?” in Chinese, demonstrating how important customer feedback is to the team.
At Café Ruhe, you can start your meal with some spice in Thailand, take a short hop to Japan for tonkatsu, swing by Italy for pasta, and finish your meal with a classic all-American burger. Whether you’re a meat-eater who craves ribs and German-style pork hock or a more delicate diner who prefers soup and a salad, you’ll have no problem finding something that fulfills your cravings. Even more surprisingly, every dish is executed with aplomb thanks to an experienced kitchen team that has traveled the world looking for inspiration.
The ingredients used are also high-quality, including imported seafood, Mexican corn flour, and Australian beef. Even the burger buns are made by hand every day to an exacting recipe designed to perfectly complement the rest of the burger ingredients.
The secret to a great hamburger lies in the proportions of the ingredients and the careful control of the cooking process. Café Ruhe's burger is the result of nearly five years of constant research and recipe tweaking, including multiple trips to the US to taste burgers at popular chains like Shake Shack and In-N-Out.
All of that has resulted in a burger that is, without a doubt, the juiciest in Beijing, so much so that they serve it with plastic gloves if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like getting your hands dirty. The signature bacon double cheeseburger strikes the perfect flavor-to-texture balance, thanks to a 100% Australian beef patty, a homemade bun, and a combination of 11 different fresh ingredients and seven seasonings. This is one of the juiciest burgers you'll ever eat – smash it down before eating and see the juices literally run out almost like a soup dumpling.
This famous Mexican dish has been given a special twist by Café Ruhe's chef to, combining homemade Mexican corn tortillas with grilled tiger prawns, as well as a pile of plentiful fillings. The restaurant recommends that you hold everything together and eat each taco in one bite in order to fully experience the wonderful flavor clash of shrimp, avocado, salsa, sour cream, and sweet-sour mango dressing.
Each pork knuckle weighs at least 1.5 kg each, enough for 4-6 people. Don’t forget to order this classic German dish one day in advance, because only a couple are available each day.
The pork knuckles are soaked in a combination of spices and German beer for 24 hours before being put into a steam oven, first at a low temperature to tenderize it and then at a high temperature to make the skin crispy. This is definitely a dish that is best enjoyed in a restaurant as the process is too complex and highly technical to do at home. There is nothing better than the combination of juicy, tender meat and crunchy, salty skin, especially when served with traditional German sauerkraut.
The barbecue pork ribs are so meltingly tender that you don’t even need a knife and fork to pull them apart. The ribs are carefully selected with specific requirements for length, width, and fat content. They are marinated and slow-cooked to achieve the perfect texture, before being coated with lashings of barbecue sauce that is sticky but nevertheless doesn’t overwhelm with sweetness.
Those in search of Asian flavors should start with the tom yum goong, which is as flavorful as any version you will find in Thailand. The chef worked hard to create a soup that is spicy yet fragrant thanks to a blend of more than a dozen spices, but that doesn’t simply attack the taste buds with chili heat. This is certain to be a popular option in colder weather.
At first glance, you might think that this is a bowl of braised seafood. There are shrimps, mussels, clams, and squid in an aromatic tomato sauce, as well as a generous serving of spaghetti.
Café Ruhe is offering readers of the Beijinger a voucher for a set meal for the very low price of just RMB 39 (originally worth more than RMB 163).
Scan the QR code above, follow Café Ruhe's official WeChat account, and then send “IWCP” to the account to get your voucher. There are only 388 vouchers available, so act fast (vouchers can be redeemed from Dec 26, 2019 to Feb 3, 2020, from 5-9pm daily). Call 6500 5639 between the hours of 9am and 11.30pm to make your reservation (the restaurant requests that guests please try to use Chinese when you make the reservation).
Sample one of three of their signature dishes, including a double bacon cheeseburger, tom yum seafood soup with French garlic bread or paprika shrimp pasta , served with either a mojito cocktail, a Weihenstephaner Draft Beer (200ml), or a lemon mojito (non-alcoholic).
Café Ruhe
Daily 8.30am-midnight. 102-202, 1-2/F, Bldg A, Pacific Century Place, 2A Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District (6500 5639)
如何餐厅：朝阳区工体北路甲2号盈科中心A座裙房1层102及2层202室
This post is provided by Café Ruhe
Images courtesy of Café Ruhe