It takes entrepreneurial effrontery to open a restaurant in Beijing offering a Cantonese reinterpretation of the capital's most iconic dish, Peking duck. Still, the gamble by Hong Kong restaurant group Elite Concepts has paid off in a big way - its gourmet restaurant, Duck de Chine, is packed every night with locals and visitors.
There, the duck is roasted over a fruitwood fire in the classical way, but sauce options include herb-infused hoi sin with peanuts, garlic or sesame. French music plays in the background and a champagne bar greets diners at the entrance.
Duck de Chine is among several innovative Hong Kong-run ventures that are helping to redefine the Beijing dining scene. The 2008 Olympic Games sparked a culinary revolution that is still transforming the once-dull capital. Although Hong Kong restaurateurs are by no means the only ones introducing new concepts to Beijing, they operate some of the most high-profile venues.
Several are located at Opposite House, a stylish, minimalist, lobby-free hotel owned by the Swire group. Sureno, the hotel's open-plan, light-flooded restaurant, is a favourite with the art, fashion and design crowd; Bei restaurant's Japanese and northern Chinese dishes, prepared by an American chef, has a coterie of fans.
'There are just so many more options these days in Beijing, upscale and international-inspired things,' says the restaurant and bar manager of Opposite House, Milan Sekulic. 'Investors are prepared to put more money into the design to give things a much more contemporary style. The whole feel of the city is becoming more international.'
That growing cosmopolitan awareness inspired advertising executives Patrick So and Ellis So (no relation) to launch an upscale burger bar, convinced that expatriates and locals would pay HK$80 for a top-quality burger and french fries.