Piazza Italia is Beijing’s one and only Italian food-culture experience. This grand, three-floor space houses imported Italian food products from cheese to olive oil, cooking ware, Italian wine, a cooking school, a supermarket, a bar, banquet rooms and an upscale restaurant. Recently, Boscolo Etoile Academy, located on second floor, started their weeknight cooking classes (from 7-9pm) run by Executive Chef Vincenzo Pezzilli. For RMB 500 (classes include all materials and a cooking kit to make the dish again at home), food lovers are taught the fundamentals to Italian cooking, Italian pasty, Italian wine, and much more. Check out their website to find out more or visit Piazza Italia to sign up for classes.

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The creative chef and owner of W Dine and Wine, Geoffrey Weckx has introduced a new dining concept using Cocotte (“koh-kot”), a cast-iron pot traditionally used for stews. It has become one of the hottest cookware in modern kitchens and restaurants. In French, “la cocotte” means both “casserole” and “darling.” Designed and made by French cookware STAUB, cast-iron cocottes’ heat-retaining, flavor-enhancing, indestructible practicality produces tender and flavorful stews. Read more...

Situated in the geographical nexus of party time and cogitation time, Rendezvous is in the perfect part of town for a study bar. A couple of doors down from D-22 on Chengfu Lu, this comfy bar/cafe occupies the basement floor of the impressive three-tier Urban Backyard compound. Quarry-stone stacked walls set a lithic tone, as ceiling track spotlights and Ikea lamps share the task of illuminating eager undergraduates. The bookshelves buttressing the cafe-style main room display a quizzical mix of Reader's Digest condensed novels and budget editions of Wuthering Heights, while a convertible boardroom/dance floor/English Corner (daily 7-9pm)/film screening nook is set adjacent.

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Tucked away down a quite alley, Club Sandwich offers a welcoming atmosphere with comfy sofas, Wi-Fi access, and unobtrusive sounds of David Bowie and Led Zeppelin. A quick glance down the menu sets the stomach rumbling with mention of gourmet sandwiches filled with roast beef, prosciutto, gouda, olives, avocado, parmesan, brie, and much more. Sandwiches range from RMB 25-45, whilst a dozen salads (RMB 25-35), flatbread pizzas (RMB 25-RMB), freshly squeezed juices, coffees, and beers were also available. They also screen American comedies every Thursday at 8pm.

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With the weather starting to cool, more and more small stands are switching from summer snacks to the aromatic winter treats of roasted chestnuts and roasted sweet potato. Roasted chestnuts are one of the city's most popular winter snacks and are made by rolling the nuts around in either a wok-like pot or huge ovens with rough grit (basically little black stones) and maltose. Chestnuts are a rich source of vitamin C but locals say it’s best not to eat any chestnuts with cracks in them. Cupping your hands around a warm bag of roasted chestnuts (tangchao lizi) is one of the best things about a Beijing winter, but you’ll probably have to queue up in the cold for the pleasure.

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Last week we mentioned the star-studded opening of the Yintai Center - three huge new towers located on the southwest corner of the Guomao intersection. The arrival of this new landmark means that the ugly blue fencing along the south side of Jianguomen Waidajie has come down and the whole area is starting to look and feel a lot more pedestrian friendly. At the very top of the tallest of Yintai’s three towers, surrounded by a red glow at night, you can find Beijing’s highest bar and restaurant, the Park Hyatt hotel’s China Bar (65/F) and the high-class China Grill restaurant (66/F). Today is the perfect opportunity to head up and admire the views from the top of the 249m tower, as not only will you be able to peer down on the nearly-completed CCTV Headquarters, but you’ll also be able to catch sight of the mountains to the north and west of Beijing, and just maybe, the Bird’s Nest off to the north.

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 It's getting harder and harder to enjoy a good breakfast in Beijing. First it was the milk (latest numbers here)- coffee drinkers across the city were forced to try and remember which brands were safe to drink, not to mention the sleepless nights that cereal eaters and pancake flippers had to endure. Next came the maggots in the oranges -  no more fresh juice for some. Finally, the discovery of melamine-tainted “problem eggs" in Hong Kong and the subsequent spread of the scandal to the mainland, has left fans of a good old fry up worried about how much melamine they'll be ingesting with all that heart-clogging cholesterol.

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Mid-October to mid-February is peak time for dining on Shanghai’s beloved crustacean: the hairy crab 大闸蟹 (dàzháxiè). During this time, the waters at the Yangtze River delta turns colder, forcing crabs to move less and thus fatten from inactivity and produce roe for the mating season.

These crabs are available in most upscale Chinese restaurants. Almost all five-star hotels will carry them. Some places will let you pick which crab you want to eat. Be sure to pick the bigger ones that smell somewhat sweet. Turn them upside down to check their bottom flap for coral-colored roe. These are best eaten when steamed and dipped in sweetened black rice vinegar with thin slices of ginger. At Noble Court inside the Grand Hyatt, they go all out with XO sauces and home made chili dips.

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Update: EWSN has a translation of an interesting opinion piece published in the Southern Metropolis Daily about the dilema of whether to forward messages about the oranges or not.

Rumors of infected tangerines from Sichuan’s Guangyuan spread through Beijing earlier this week. Originally constrained to BBS forums and SMS messages, official news agencies have since picked up the story and acknowledged that there was indeed a pest outbreak in Guangyuan and that some fruit had been infected. However, the reports went on to downplay the extent of the outbreak and to reject the suggestion that tangerines from the area were being sold in Beijing. Sohu quoted a spokesperson from Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry (we have no idea why they, and not the ministry of Agriculture, would be monitoring this issue) as saying that no tangerines from Guangyuan are currently on sale in the capital. Officials from Sichuan’s Ministry of Agriculture also announced at a recent press conference that only small part of the tangerines grown in Guangyuan had been affected, and none of these were ever transported outside of the area where they were discovered. At the same time, officials announced that they were launching an investigation into the source on the rumor.

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A familiar site in malls and airports around the world, the Auntie Anne's pretzel chain opened their first store in Zhongguancun's Gate Mall (right by Jackie Chan's café) in early July. According to one forum user, Anti'an's (安缇安)"almond encrusted soft pretzel with caramel sauce" sells for 12 kuai. However, there will be no need to pay tomorrow, as 3 months after they first opened their doors, the chain is hosting an opening party and they're offering free pretzels. Details about the event can be found below:

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