Eric's Beijing Diary

Weird. My favorite Japanese restaurant has apparently bitten the dust. Strange--I was just there a couple days ago, and the proprietor didn't say a thing about it. 'Course, I really didn't get a chance to talk to him. I recall, now, that he was sitting sleeping in his chair when I went up to pay my bill. Hmmm...very strange. I wonder when he knew, because he was very friendly last week when I talked with him, and didn't give a hint of anything unusual on the horizon.

You can't really be surprised when a business goes belly-up in Wudaokou, because store-front rent prices are high close to the junction. There are 12,000 international students in the surrounding universities. BLCU to the East, Qinghua straight north, Beida to the West, and, of course, Beihang just to the south. Add to that half a million Chinese students, and you end up with a sizeable potential clientele. I know, Chinese aren't known for eating Japanese food, but there are 600 Japanese students at BLCU alone, and while the Chinese don't eat Japanese food so much, other foreigners (including Americans) do.

Wudaokou really doesn't look like much. It's basically an old railroad junction. But it is an old railroad junction that happens to be in exactly the right place for the kinds of businesses that attract lots and lots of students. In fact there's a guy from Hong Kong who put together a web site for the "night life" in Wudaokou. I met him outside the coffee bar one night.

I am really going to miss that place. Tonight I ate at another Japanese restaurant just downstairs from my favorite one, and I met a couple Japanese ladies. They told me about another couple restaurants that are pretty good. I think I will be alright. Still, I'm going to miss that guy's hamburger curry. Best I ever had anywhere. And if you happen to have a miserable cold in the winter time, you can't beat hot sake. I am really sorry to see the place go. But although it is tragic, it is not the same as the destruction of the restaurants on the West side of Beihang. Those were torn down not because they were not profitable, but to make room for a new world that is sure to be much more sterile and boring then the lively community that preceded it. This time, the change is apparently forced by economic realities. Doesn't make it any easier, though, to say goodbye to a place that won't be forgotten. Sure wish I knew what happened.