Originally a casual spot in France for affordable food and drinks, bistros in China, mainly themed on southwestern cuisines, have become high-end restaurants for dating, socializing, or simply “checking in”
It is 7:30 p.m. on a Tuesday, and the wooden tables on the first floor of Sth Good restaurant in Beijing’s Dongcheng district are packed. Wine bottles line the racks and cabinets, while customers at the bar sit eye-to-eye with bartenders, as an episode of Friends plays on a projector against a blank white wall. While this may have all the trappings of a typical Western wine bar, Sth Good exclusively serves the cuisine of southwestern China’s Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces, with signature dishes like pig’s knuckle in sour soup, fried morel, tea-flavored chicken feet with chili pepper, and chicken stewed with bamboo mushrooms and figs.
The high-end wine bar decor and niche provincial flavors from China’s rural, mountainous southwest may seem like an unlikely pairing, but Sth Good is just one of many emerging “Yun Gui Chuan bistros” spotlighting the region’s cuisine. These restaurants are quickly gaining ground in the ever-shifting battle for Chinese bellies, though some question if the quality justifies the high prices and whether the trend is built to last.
Create a free account to keep reading up to 10 free articles each month
Where Red Pepper Meets Rosé: Yunnan and Guizhou Flavors Fuel China’s Bistro Craze is a story from our issue, “Smart Nation.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine.
Related Articles
