By Jim Boyce | Paradox will open its third French restaurant and wine bar, a sibling to venues in Shanghai and Suzhou, next month in Beijing. Backed by the wine distributor of the same name, Paradox should pop its first cork on Workers Stadium West Road around Valentine’s Day, says Charles Carrard, the company’s vice president and GM. That’s more good news for a city that has seen wine bars Fu, Vesuvio and VinVino open in recent months.
While the wine menu at Paradox will lean heavily toward France, it will also include options from around the globe, says Carrard. Carrard stresses that higher-end wines will list for about the same price they sell for at Carrefour, welcome news given we often face very high restaurant markups in Beijing. Paradox will also sell wines from Inner Mongolian winery Hansen—the two teamed up on a label two months ago.
As for food, expect favorites such as cheese and cold cut platters, escargot, steak tartare and cream brulee. The current Paradox venues also offers daily deals like burger nights on Mondays and a free glass of wine with each main course bought on Fridays before 9 PM. One recent deal featured a dozen French oysters for rmb280, with the option of buying a bottle of Muscadet for rmb108. Here’s hoping that we see this special in Beijing.
Paradox is named after the “French wine paradox”, the observation that French citizens have a low rate of coronary heart disease despite a diet rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, a situation some believe is due to high red wine consumption.
I’ll have more on this venue soon. You can also check out the venues in Shanghai and Suzhou.
(Photos are of the Shanghai branch of Paradox.)
Check out sibling blogs Grape Wall of China and Beijing Boyce.
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