Colibri Cafe (蜂鸟), Beijing, China

Ordered at the Colibri Cafe/Restaurant in Sanlitun, Beijing, China.

Where to eat lunch today… hmmm… it was my typical 12:30 thought as my stomach growled. Being a Monday, today was not going to be a working lunch; instead, I was looking forward to catching up on some reading while enjoying a simple meal.

As I thought about where to eat, restaurants began to fight each other in my mind. Who would win?

And then I remembered several friends telling me about a club sandwich they had at Colibri, a café right next to the Starbucks I visit every morning.  That sounded great to me right now: a book and a club. I was ready to go try out “what everyone is talking about.”

I ordered my club at the bar, sat down in an empty café/restaurant, and began to read my book, all the time wondering what the ingredients would be, how it would be presented, and if my club sandwich would come with a side dish.

10 minutes later a plate landed in front of me, pickles jutting out of interesting looking bread sitting alone with no companion in sight. My meal had arrived, side-dish-less, ready to be eaten. And I got to work.

The first thing I noticed was the taste of bacon; while the texture itself was unnoticeable, its flavors wrapped itself around the moist chicken breast.  The egg was placed nicely in the sandwich however it was not very noticeable and again added more flavor than substance to the meal. The lettuce was there – you could see it – but under the mayonnaise it seemed to disappear in both taste and feel. The tomato was lovely, however quite sparsely layered and didn’t add much to the sandwich besides moisture. The real centerpiece of this sandwich was the fantastic bread they used: wholemeal (so they said!).  This was a great choice and being slightly toasted and decrusted, really added to the overall taste.

The Colibri club sandwich was a fine choice for a quick afternoon meal, but I won’t be hurrying back; it simply wasn’t alluring enough. I’m glad I tried “what everyone was talking about” but I’m also glad my hopes weren’t set too high.

Location