Daniel Boulud opens Maison Boulud in Beijing China

Our Beijing Correspondent who is STILL at the Olympics – lucky Kevin – just sent us photos of where he ate dinner tonight – the new Maison Boulud restaurant in Beijing. He loved everything and said his favorite was the truffle burger which I actually tried in New York City this summer in June 2008 at the DB Bistro Moderne. He took pictures of his table setting and the outside of the restaurant. It looks amazing. I wish I was there…

According to Daniel Boulud his new restaurant in Beijing is “set just minutes from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, the restaurant’s location is the former American Embassy to the Qing Dynasty [China's last imperial dynasty]. It is where Henry Kissinger conducted secret meetings with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and where the Dalai Lama was in residence from 1951 to 1959. It is an absolute honor to be able to call such an iconic setting my Maison à Pékin”.

According to Time Out Beijing:
“Boulud, like many celebrity chefs, has been plotting his entry into Asia for years in order to take advantage of what he calls a ‘growth market.’ Jean Georges has gone to Shanghai, Joel Robuchon has chosen Macau and Alain Ducasse is in Hong Kong. Why has Boulud chosen Beijing? ‘It could just as easily have been Shanghai or Hong Kong,’ he says, but he was drawn to the capital because he ‘fell in love’ with the Legation Quarter, Maison Boulud’s new home. The revamped compound, comprising five stand-alone buildings, was originally built by American architect Sid H. Nealy in 1903 to house the pre-1949 American Embassy. Maison Boulud is the project’s anchor tenant, while other restaurants, including an Italian venue called Ristorante Sadler and Shiro Matsu by Hong Kong’s Aqua Group, will open in the next few months”.

He also sent us photos of Olympics Handball – Poland was playing – Enjoy.

If you want to go somewhere- like Beijing. Try