Muji eatery tweaks food offerings
Cafe and Meal Muji, an eatery run by the Japanese retail brand Muji, has launched a new menu.
Located on the ground floor of the Muji Hotel Beijing that opened six months ago, the compound in the historic old Beijing district near Tiananmen Square has been doing brisk trade, due no doubt to Muji’s renown for its functional stationery, simplistic aesthetics of homewares and clothes. But the eatery has failed to make a splash on foodies’ must-eat list. That is not until recently, when it made some big culinary adjustments.
Like Muji’s products that appeal to an understated aesthetic, the restaurant’s new menu reflects a penchant for making the most of natural and healthy ingredients, serving comfort dishes with tasteful designs.
Han Jie, 40, head chef of Cafe & Meal Muji, says that he aims to bring out the original, natural flavor of each ingredient with a more approachable touch to the customers.
Eighty percent of the original dishes have been replaced, he says, and the new concept encompasses easily recognizable dishes of different countries including fish and chips, Japanese hamburger steak, healthy vegetarian salad, spaghetti, curry and Chinese meat buns.
“These representative dishes look simple and approachable, but making them stand out from what other places serve is a demanding task,” Han says.
“To preserve the flavor of each ingredient we cook as simply as possible, limit the use of chemical condiments and never add preservatives so as to make the most of the ingredients and highlight their natural delicious taste.”
However, fewer cooking processes and condiments is by no means blandness. The prowess in minimalist can be reflected, for an example, in a simple dish of pumpkin soup (15 yuan). With no sugar added, no spices, no salt, no milk, but just a delicate topping of shredded morsel of parsley and an arch coconut cream line for garnish, the soup is so tasty on its own.
The restaurant works with farms on the outskirts of Beijing that cultivate produce with traditional farm manure and with no chemical pesticides or fertilizers, Han says.
Putting health at the top of the agenda in crafting the new menu, Han also uses healthier ingredients such as quinoa and chickpea.
The appetizer is an assorted deli (68 yuan) made up of three dishes — chicken and konjak salad, mixed nut spinach salad and avocado salad — that does well to whet the appetite. And it is served in generous portions, enough for sharing with two or three.
What a surprise, then, when the Ise udon is served. The gourmet noodle dish has been exquisitely prepared and costs just 38 yuan, hard to beat anywhere else. These noodles are extremely soft with a chewy texture, and they are topped with tender sliced beef, safe-to-eat Japanese runny egg, and crumbs of crispy tempura batter.
The housemade sukiyaki sauce, full of umami flavors, and with a lightly sweet twist, also gets top billing.
You may need some convincing to try cold tea in a harsh weather, but if anything will do the trick it is the sublimely thick and smooth feel of coldbrewed lime and mint jasmine tea (40 yuan) with its naturally sweet taste.
It’s a simple blend of fresh mint leaves, lime slices and jasmine tea, together producing a floral, fragrant scent with a luscious and refreshing feel in the mouth. The other two choices of the signature cold brew tea series are phoenix meizan tea and iced kalamansi jasmine shaken tea.
In line with Muji brand’s similar style, the restaurant features a calming and minimalist decor with its pale wood tables, green plants, the clean-lined layout, tableware and cutlery. -