By Jessica Wang (thatsbj.com)
Updated: 2008-05-06 14:37

Here today, gone tomorrow-that's the way it is in this town, for restaurants in particular. But something tells us that Regius Beef is here to stay. While you'd be forgiven for thinking that most hot pot joints are the same, Regius Beef stands apart thanks to its flavorful broths, swanky ambiance (check out the koi pond) and state-of-the-art flameless hot pots. Move over Ding Ding Xiang and Haidilao.

Hot pots are usually a messy affair, they often involve losing your food in a boiling cauldron, and you reek of oil afterwards. At Regius, however, dim lighting and velvet couches give the hot pot dining experience a hitherto undiscovered sexiness. The only turn off was the Chinglish menu; but then again, Beijing wouldn’t be quite the same without the odd mention of dishes like “Royal Worshipped Beef” here and there.

Using individual pots, with a self-service condiments counter, diners can choose from three types of dipping sauce (RMB 10-15) and four types of broth (RMB 12-20), ranging from satay to seafood flavors. The beef selection includes Kobe (RMB 980) and Angus (RMB 128), but we recommend the gold medal beef (RMB 68), which is delicious and far less painful for the wallet. Try the shrimp and fish roe paste (RMB 68), which becomes shrimp balls once cooked, and the delicate lamb marinated in a beer sauce (RMB 36) –both are delicious takes on traditional hot pot ingredients. But you can expect to find the usual hot pot offerings such as the vegetable platter and hand-pulled noodles. And when you’re done eating, watch the acrobatic kung fu tea performance or drink a cocktail at the sleek bar.

Regius Beef
Daily 10am-9pm.
105, Bldg 19, Wanda Plaza, 93 Jianguo Lu, Chaoyang District
59604566