Tour of Lido’s EAST Hotel & Indulging Dining at FEAST

Posted: January 2nd, 2013 | | Foodies & Dining Scene | 798 Art District, Alan Wong, BEAST (Body by EAST), Complimentary WIFI, Domain Cafe, East Hotel, FEAST (Food by East), fitness center, Hagaki, Indigo, Indigo Shopping Mall, indoor swimming pool, iPod Touch, Japanese food, Lido, Milan Sekulic, Swire Properties, The Opposite House, The Workshop, Xian Bar | No Comments »

Discovering All that New EAST Hotel Has to Offer

Swire's newest hotel property, EAST Hotel in Lido is located just behind the new Indigo Shopping Mall, not far from 798 Art District.

From the outside, EAST Hotel is not quite as eye-catching as its sister hotel The Opposite House's intriguing emerald green glass exterior, but it's interior is a whole other story.  Keeping in mind that EAST is a business hotel, its design is not going to be as artsy or as design-savvy as The Opposite House, but its various F&B Outlets are absolutely up to par with The Opposite House.

And I love the fact that the entire hotel has complimentary WIFI access (with a Hong Kong-based server meaning uber-fast connection and no longer needing to activate your VPN), and all the hotel's 369 rooms offer the latest in iPod Touch technology.

"Following the success of EAST, Hong Kong, Swire Hotels created EAST, Beijing, for business travelers looking for a relaxed, convenient and contemporary place to stay in Beijing."

After a personal tour by my dear friend Milan Sekulic, F&B Director of EAST, he patiently walked me through the highlights of EAST Hotel – the bold, new nighttime venue Xian Lounge and Bar and Hagaki Contemporary Japanese Restaurant on the lobby floor, Domain Cafe and FEAST (Food by EAST) restaurant on the second floor, and The Workshop's private rooms for business meetings, and BEAST (Body by EAST)'s indoor swimming pool and fitness center on the third floor.

As I arrived around 5:30PM, most of the spaces I paid visit to were pretty quiet – the restaurants and bars were ready and waiting for the crowds that normally start coming through their doors after 7PM and other spaces were also in off-peak hours.

In any case, the snapshots taken below can give you a good idea of the size of the spaces, design and atmosphere sans the abundance of guests/customers.

LDS Snapshots of EAST Hotel's Highlights:

Lobby Check-In Reception

Christmas Tree Made with Blue & White Plates in Lobby of EAST Hotel

Stairs Leading Up from Lobby

XIAN Bar & Lounge Venue:

A spacious and stylish night time venue with beautiful bottle displays across the bars, an extensive whiskey selection and mouth-watering pizzas continuously popping out of their in-house fire oven.

Entrance of Xian Bar & LoungeIlluminating and Understated Entrance Bar at XianXian's Lounge Area Bar's Unique Bottle Display at XianXian's Discreet Upstairs CorridorsPlush Lounge Upstairs in Xian

HAGAKI Japanese Restaurant

 A contemporary Japanese restaurant that's cozy and intimate complimented by a lively sushi bar. The restaurant serves up Californian-Japanese Signature Maki Sushi Rolls and Take-Away Bento Boxes for those on-the-go. 

Entrance of Hagaki Contemporary Japanese RestaurantHagaki's Intimate Sushi Bar & Dining Set-Up

Cozy Dining Bench Seating

Domain Cafe:

 Equipped with uber-fast WIFI (server is in Hong Kong), internet stations, and iPads, Domain Cafe is any businessperson/blogger's heaven. The savory and sweet pastries, light snacks and drinks are all excellent and the contrast of both communal and private meeting rooms achieve a comfortable environment for both personal and group business meeting space. 

Sweets Counter & RegisterDomain Cafe's Savory Pastries & English Fruit CakeCookie JarsElevated Lounge in Domain CafeDomain's Private LoungeElegant Elevator

FEAST (Food by EAST):

Where I already made reservations for later in the evening, I came by FEAST to snap a few photos of the restaurant and was lucky to see Executive Chef Rob Cunningham (former chef of Capital M) hard at work in restaurant's open kitchen. Featuring an international menu, FEAST's philosophy is "simple things, done well".

Entrance of FEAST (Food by EAST)Executive Chef Rob CunninghamFEAST's Open KitchenDining Set-Up of FEAST (Food by EAST)

BEAST (Body by EAST):

A beautiful heated indoor swimming pool and fitness center, BEAST is equipped with everything you need to relax poolside or have a killer work out. I just glanced the gym, but I could hardly tear myself away from this glistening pool. All I can say is the photos below don't do it justice.
Light Reflections in Swimming Pool

My guided tour was done but I still had another half an hour before my foodie gang arrived for our dinner reservation so I decided to make the most of my extra time and indulge in a cocktail at Xian. My cocktail was very good (and surprisingly stiff), but what I still can't get off my mind is how irresistibly good every pizza smelled coming fresh out of the fire oven behind the bar.  I recommend the truffle pizza based off my nostril memory.

Lucky for me, the night I was here also happened to coincide with Oakley's snowboarding party with two-time Olympic Gold Medal Snowboarder Shaun White.

Pre-Dinner Drink at Xian:

Cocktails at Xian Bar & LoungePizzas Straight Out of the Oven at Xian

Dinner at FEAST (Food by EAST):

Between the 9 of us, we went to town on FEAST's dinner menu. We got multiple orders of 12 different dishes, meaning we ate more than we probably should have, but we really couldn't help ourselves.

I think we ended up consuming three orders of the Crab Risotto (which is one of our menu favorites) and I probably ate an entire order of the Hainan Chicken Rice on my own.

Highlights of our meal include the Traditional Caesar salad, Baked Snails, Crab Risotto, Hainan Chicken Rice and Rib Eye Bordelaise.

Feast your eyes on our meal at FEAST:

House Salad with Mixed Garden Salad, Herbs, Fennel, Roasted Hazelnuts, Provolone Cheese & Hazelnut Vinaigrette (RMB 65)Traditional Caesar Salad – Romain Lettuce tossed in Anchovy Dressing, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic, Croutons & Crispy Bacon (RMB 58)Prawn Cocktail with Lettuce, Pink Grapefruit Salad & Cocktail Sauce (RMB 65)Calamari with Sichuan Pepper Salt, Pickled Cucumbers with Radish and Lime (RMB 65)Baked Snails in Garlic, Herbs & Brioche Crumbs the French Way (RMB 78)Crab Risotto finished with Lemon, Chili, Chives & Chervil (small RMB 88/large RMB 118)Prawn Linguine Tossed with Chili, Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic, Lemon & Fresh Herbs (small RMB 88/large RMB 108)Braised Tofu in Clay Pot with Shiitake & Bamboo Shoots (RMB 68)Hainan Chicken Rice with Chicken Broth, Rice, Ginger Dip, Soy & Hainan Chili Sauce  (RMB 108)Rib Eye Bordelaise with Poached Bone Marrow, Shallots, Sauteed Spinach & Potato Galette (RMB 248)Tartlet of Globe Asparagus with Hazelnuts, Baby Herbs & Smoked Paprika Glaze (RMB 88)Pavlova…nuff said (RMB 58)

There are 5 desserts to choose from on the menu, but the Pavlova is a must-order. Keep in mind that FEAST's Executive Chef Rob Cunningham used to work at Capital M, home of the best Pavlova dessert I've ever tasted. He's thankfully brought this phenomenal dessert recipe along with him to EAST, spreading the joy that this dessert brings to its consumers.

Pavlova aside, I highly recommend trying Domain's delectable desserts. I had to grab what I could before they closed for the night and got this box of goodies – Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Strawberry and Chocolate Cream Puff – all four of which are crazy good.

Take Away Desserts from Domain Cafe:

Strawberry Cheesecake, Carrot Cake, Strawberry Cream Puff, Chocolate Cream Puff

Overall, we were all super satisfied with all the dishes that we devoured. My onlywould be regarding the diversity of the dishes listed on their menu.  The menu is meant to be international, but it comes off a bit all over the place. Featuring everything from Escargot to Hainan Chicken is a bit ADD, but that being said, FEAST lives up to its promise of doing "simple things, done well".

I hear the breakfast and lunch crowd is consistently busy, but the dinner atmosphere is a bit lacking at the moment. But for a venue that's only been open for a short time, they're off to a great start.

It's not too often I trek over to the Lido area, but it looks like FEAST is good enough to change that habit.

Review of FEAST (Food by EAST): 2nd floor of EAST Beijing Hotel in Lido, 22 Jiuxianqiao Lu, 酒仙桥路22号东偶饭店二层; Tel: 8426-0888. Opening Hours: Monday-Friday: 11.30am-10.30pm, Saturday-Sunday: 11.30am-3pm, 5.30am-10.30pm

Best Part:

• FEAST promises "Simple things, done well" – and fulfills that promise.
• FEAST is easy to please all kinds of different taste buds with a VERY international menu that features a wide range of diverse Western and Asian dishes – everything from traditional Caesar salad to Escargot, Crab Risotto and Hainan Chicken Rice.  I recommend all listed dishes. 
• FEAST's Executive Chef is Rob Cunningham, former chef of Capital M, which means that they also serve up irresistibly good Pavlova dessert. 
• They have lots of different dining table options from seating in their spacious main dining rooms to different sized private rooms including one that can seat up to 44 people!
• Open kitchen gives you an up-close window into the space your dishes are prepared. 
• Extensive wine list available. 

• FEAST is on the 2nd floor of EAST Business hotel, but it still maintains an atmosphere with a lot of potential with beautiful lighting and a long open kitchen. That being said, it maintains a cafeteria style dining arrangement, which makes it great for group dinners, but perhaps not so ideal for a romantic dinner for two.  
• It was pretty quiet when we dined at FEAST for dinner, but I hear it's quite lively during breakfast and lunch hours. Hopefully dinners will start to pick up too. 
• It's quite pricey, but it's also a hotel restaurant.  Appetizers range from RMB 58-108, Mains are RMB 108-398, Desserts are RMB 38-68.
• Xian Bar & Lounge is conveniently located downstairs for either a pre-dinner or post-dinner drink.  Considering how comfortable and intimate Xian's lounge is, I recommend post-dinner.  Extra bonus if you're a fan of whiskey. 

Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best)

• Food: 8
• Atmosphere: 6
• Service: 7

• Overall Experience: 7

EAST's Executive Chef Rob Cunningham with Ultimate Foodie & Restauranteur Alan Wong

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Historic Time Travel - Korean War

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