The St Regis Beijing isn’t scared of spending money–step into the lobby and you’ll see glitz and glamour everywhere. But if you’re expecting it to extend to Danieli’s you’ll be disappointed: the rustic trattoria atmosphere in the Italian restaurant is basically a Roman holiday away from the glitz downstairs, and although the prices match the hotel’s international reputation, the quality of the food doesn’t keep up. When it comes to fine dining, new chef Emanuele Ciarravano isn’t bringing the goods.

A small platter of antipasto, topped off with various cuts of overly salted sliced meat, do little to satisfy hungry palates, forcing one to resort to the bountiful harvest of various rolls and sticks. There’s a little more flavor in the watery ‘bloody Mary’soup , which is basically just a hot bowl of tomato juice.

There are plenty of pastas and other traditional Italian specialities throughout the rest of the menu, though with mixed results. Pastas are sincere, though not much to get excited about. The angel-hair pasta mixed with crab meat in the spiniosini tastes as if it has been taken from the refrigerator and microwaved, with a poor mouth feel to the pasta and little taste in the sauce. The snow fish is a better selection: the fish is wonderfully cooked, with a simple flavor that fits in with the crusted skin on the light fish, resting in a creamy mozzarella fondue.

The 128RMB tiramisu offers some creativity: a waitress pours a glass of cream over the custardy, layered contents of the bowl. But overall, there’s better Italian in Beijing, and you can pay much, much less for it. Even for a hotel joint, it’s hard to forget that.

Address: 2/F St Regis Hotel, 21 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District 朝阳区建国门外大街21号北京国际俱乐部饭店2层

Source: timeoutbeijing.com