BEIJING -- In a city where the culinary scene includes Cultural Revolution-theme restaurants and Folies Bergere-style dinner theaters, one of the most entertaining new places to eat is under water.
Beginning on Valentine's Day weekend, the Blue Zoo aquarium began offering candlelight dinners in a restaurant that moves through an acrylic underwater tunnel. Over roast pork loin and red wine, diners sit transfixed as scuba divers hand-feed sand tiger sharks and targetfish cruise about the 1.2 million-gallon tank.
For those who frequent Beijing's gargantuan restaurant culture -- there are thousands of places to eat in this city -- the Blue Zoo can be a soothing change of pace or a pleasant surprise.
Unaware the aquarium served food, Liang Yan and her son, Zhang Xiaokuan, came one recent Saturday afternoon to see the fish. Eight-year-old Zhang was hungry, so they stayed for dinner.
Sitting together at a plastic patio table, mother and son slowly proceeded along a people mover through the nearly 400-foot-long circular tunnel. As Zhang sipped from a small box of juice, he waved to his favorite fish, the shark.
Stingrays floated overhead and black-spotted moray eels slithered past as waiters in tuxedos walked around with drink trays and the music of Tracy Chapman and Celine Dion played on the sound system.
"It's unique," said Liang, a 37-year-old lawyer who wore a black leather jacket with a fur collar. "I'd like to come back again."
The Blue Zoo is a New Zealand-China joint venture. It opened in late 1997 inside the grounds of Workers' Stadium, but was not designed to house a restaurant. The marketing staff, to take advantage of the space and to lure more visitors, decided to throw together a romantic cafe -- essentially tables and chairs -- for Valentine's Day.
The initial response was strong: 90 people showed up.
But launching a new restaurant in Beijing's competitive market can be tough. The Blue Zoo must have at least 20 guests each evening to make dinners profitable. Otherwise, the aquarium has to cancel the event.
Making reservations is not a part of Chinese culture. Finding a good Western chef isn't easy either. The Blue Zoo tends to attract more foreigners than Chinese and already has had to switch caterers once.
About 30 guests showed up the night Liang and her son came. Judging from the guests' reactions, the food still needs work. Most said the atmosphere -- one British diner cheerfully called it "surreal" -- easily trumped the cuisine.
A set dinner with wine costs just $14 per person -- a good deal for a Western-style restaurant here. The menu included a choice of pork loin with a black pepper cream sauce and fried rice or a beef tenderloin with mushroom sauce, macaroni and broccoli.
The Blue Zoo offered seafood on Valentine's Day, but has since dropped it from the menu.
"We don't think it's appropriate," said the aquarium's event executive, Shi Xiaoyun.
Pub Date: 3/13/99