The Courtyard, Beijing, China

Entering the stark, serene interior of this restaurant, bathed in white, feels just like walking into any other ultramodern restaurant in a major world city. Creating this type of ambience was likely quite an achievement in 1997, though today, with China's rapid development, many similarly cutting-edge restaurants are finally opening. The Courtyard offers a modern fusion menu, preparing western dishes like grilled sea scallops and roasted veal tederloin with Asian ingredients like bamboo shoots and ginger, while also incorporating other influences (like goat cheese, dates, and baba ganoush).

For the appetizer, I started with tempura-fried shrimp, dusted with a light coating of green tea. For the entree, I chose lamb chops with a cashew nut crust, served with Xinjiang style ratatouille, sweet potato mash and roasted garlic demi glace (some definitions: Xinjiang is a province in northwestern China known for its large Uighur muslim minority; ratatouille is a French-style vegetable stew; and demi-glace is a rich brown sauce, also French in origin). The cuisine was successfully "fusion" in the sense that I would stop for a while and just absorb the mix of familiar and unfamiliar flavors, deciding in the end that I liked them.

Dining at one of Beijing's best-known restaurants, I had high expectations, and appreciated the service, the ambience and the creatitivty of the menu, though I found the preparation of my dishes a bit short of ideal, with the tempura shrimp slightly soggy and the lamb chops somewhat tough. Aside from those small imperfections, however, the restaurant is still one of a kind in Beijing, and also sits at a fantastic location right next to the Forbidden City, offering a remarkable view of the palace's eastern walls from the restaurant windows.

The Courtyard Restaurant
95 Donghuamen Avenue
Beijing, China
86-010-6526-8883
www.courtyardbeijing.com

Boulevard, San Francisco, CA, USA

The art nouveau / belle epoque interior and prime Embarcadero / waterfront exterior location create an elegant yet jazzy setting for this restaurant. The restaurant's dishes are much the same, offering a New American menu in the best sense of the term, infusing French and other (Medtierranean, Asian) influences into otherwise standard modern American dishes.

Noticing the large selection of seafood on the menu, I started with the Hawaiian ahi tuna tartare, which included very fresh pieces of tuna with just the right spices (chili, jalapeno and wasabi) to add a little kick. For the entree, I chose the pan roasted northern halibut, again sauteed in a fusion style, with Asian tempura ginger adding an unexpected flavor to a usually unremarkable fish. The fish was prepared perfectly, just a little bit crispy on the outside but otherwise tender and flaky, and is the best halibut I've ever had in my life - in fact, I had no idea it could even be this delicious!

Like the setting and the food, the service was smooth and welcoming without being too pretentious. All in all, the restaurant is expensive, but well worth it!

Boulevard
1 Mission St.
San Francisco, California
415-543-6084
www.boulevardrestaurant.com

Au Gamin de Paris, Paris, France

Nestled in Paris' trendy Marais district (a lively quarter that also hosts Paris' gay neighborhood), Au Gamin de Paris offers traditional French dishes in a friendly, bustling atmosphere. The service and the decor (also traditional, with dark wood and candlelight) are adequate for a moderately-priced restaurant, but the real draw is the food. Au Gamin de Paris is best known for its meat dishes (particularly steak), as well as its desserts.

I ordered the beouf aux champignons (steak with mushroom sauce), prepared medium-rare. The steak was quite tender, and was covered with a generous layer of mushroom sauce. The flavorful beef mixed perfectly with the rich, buttery sauce - delicious. For dessert, I chose the charlotte aux fruits avec glace pistache (cake with fruit and pistachio ice cream), which was also delicious, though I was really wishing that I could order a second serving of the beouf aux champignons.

Au Gamin de Paris has the feel of a inexpensive neighborhood restaurant, offering the welcoming but unremarkable service and setting one would expect from a restaurant close to home, but the well-prepared, delicious entrees and desserts make it worth a longer trip.

Au Gamin de Paris
4th Arrondissement
51 rue Vieille du Temple
Paris, France
01-42-78-97-24