Grubtrotters

Eating at Green T. House Living on the outskirts of Beijing is like participating in an avant garde performance art piece. It was truly a unique dining experience. Everything from the setting to the decor to the presentation to the taste of the food surprised me. A friend of mine described it as the restaurant equivalent of the Kubrick film ”Eyes Wide Shut.”

Located in a suburban setting in the high-end Wen Yu River quarter of the city, the restaurant sits behind huge concrete walls in a large glass and concrete compound inspired by the Zhanguo period. A serene, white pebble courtyard the size of a football field leads up to the restaurant, giving you the feeling that you’re in the desert or on the moon, but definitely not in Beijing.

Inside, you’re greeted by trippy, ethereal music, a video wall resembling a shape-shifting Rorschach test, fat Chinese lanterns, lanky candelabras atop a baroque desk, daybeds and lots of white space sparsely decorated with works of contemporary art and about three massive tables. The place is like a Zen temple on acid.

Green T. Living is the brainchild of JinR, a musician, artist, interior designer and tea-master. This woman’s mind must be brilliantly twisted. She has a kitschy sense of humor, designing Ming-style chairs and a table in clear, Phillipe Starck-style plexiglass. Downstairs, the ceiling is made from hanging twigs, and the bathrooms are impossible to find behind a wall of mirrors. Web-like structures sit atop chairs. There is a mannequin and an underground concrete tunnel. Don’t ask. I should probably stop trying to describe it because you really have to experience this place and its wonderful oddities for yourself.

Pictures were not allowed, but I snuck a few anyway and didn’t get caught this time. Oh, yes, and there was food, too. Dishes with names such as “Erotic Dance By Six Mushrooms Around a Lonely Chestnut.” OK. I didn’t try that one. But I did have the delicious pork and fennel dumplings with a gingery vinegar spring sauce, which was served with an artistic looking twig. I have never used such long chopsticks, but you need them because everything about this place screams space, and the person sitting next to you feels ridiculously far away. I also tried the pear crostini with nuts, goat cheese and honey mustard. That was served with a live goldfish swimming in a wine glass.

There was also a lamb dish served with tea and cilantro and my favorite, the curly chicken with crispy Sichuan pepper. The peppercorns in this dish tingled so much my tongue went numb. Curly little funnel-cake like croutons were sprinkled throughout to cool the heat. Bizarre but good. The whole experience ended with a lovely tea ceremony. I was in Beijing for business, but if you’re heading there for the Olympics in August, give yourself some time to check this place out. It’s not exactly traditional China as you may have imagined it, but it may just be the epitome of new China — full of creativity and vibrancy and its own quirky way of doing things. –Jenny