Le Petit Gourmand, Beijing, China

Ordered at Le Petit Gourmand, a restaurant in Sanlitun, Beijing, China.

“I tend to meet potential clients over coffee” the web developer I was meeting with said through the phone.  I knew this meant there was no office, just a man who works from a computer at home. No worries though – I was once a freelancer myself and knew the routine well.

While we were meeting to review his experience and approach to design and development at 2pm, my stomach growled and I decided to head to the location earlier. I was expecting a simple salad or crepe at this French restaurant, however when the menu featured a club sandwich, I decided dining on this dish would be a fun and relaxing way to prep for the meeting. Afterall, all I had were questions, so gathering my thoughts over a non-complicated meal would be a great way to focus on the meeting ahead.

The menu description had no ingredients listed, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As it arrived, I was delighted by the presentation and noticing the equally sized layers of ham, bacon, chicken, and egg, I knew biting into this club would leave me with few qualms. Of course, the truth wasn’t exactly what I expected.

The taste of pickles hit my tongue quite quickly, followed by a sandwich doused in mayonnaise. It wasn’t the best start for Le Petit Gourmand. Fortunately, everything else in this sandwich hit the spot and it didn’t end up being a disappointment. The tomato was nice and ripe, the chicken, while quite thin, was a nicely seasoned piece of breast, the bacon had been cooked well, and the fried egg while again quite thin added a pleasant taste and texture to the center of the sandwich. The perfectly toasted bread, again thin to match the rest of the ingredients, quartered and decrusted, really put an emphasis on the ingredients rather than the bread being used… which was strangely weird considering this was a French restaurant. In fact, to my surprise this turned out being one of the few times in my life I’ve experienced not having enough bread… again, strange for a French restaurant however probably a result of the excess mayonnaise.

Would I eat this club sandwich again? No. Would I come back to this restaurant? Maybe if I wanted to read a book with a cup of coffee, but probably not to dine. Was I disappointed? Not at all – it was an average club sandwich that filled me up and provided the energy I needed to ask an underprepared web developer about his experience.

Location