There's a bunch of new restaurants kicking around town, so we're doubling down on these "First Bites". Doing a little culinary globe-trotting, as it were... Zeit Berlin is a new German food place -- nay, a new Berlin food place -- in Sanyuanqiao area. Berlin "food and culture", that is, which is big, fat, heaving plates of sausages and pork knuckles and things. And pizza, I guess. Zeit Berlin is a pretty big place, occupying a sizable portion of the ground floor of something called the Royal Palace Hotel. Sounds regal. It's not all that regal. The venue is one of those all-in-one deals -- a cafe, a restaurant, a bar, a dining hall, a buffet venue... The food is Berlin food, which is... hey, that's pretty much just German food, right? We were expecting something a bit more sleek, modernist, and trendy, but, nah, it's pretty much just German food and a hell of a lot of it. Soups, sausages, grilled dishes, fillets, steaks, gratins, and... paella? Spaghetti? Sure, what the hell. Apparently, some of the preparation styles for some of these is "Berlin style" -- i.e. the pork knuckle is boiled -- but, basically, it's traditional German / Bavarian fare. And some Spanish. And some Italian. I don't know. Here's the "German sausage plate" (168rmb). Good for two or several more people. Hey, look at that circular one. Here's the "Berlin Pork Fillet with mashed potato and sauerkraut" (72rmb)... And here's the monster -- the "XXL Berlin knuckle of pork with sauerkraut and potato" (168rmb)... Blllaaarrrggg. Yeah, the food was. Challenging. Challenging... this was like one of life's big tasks. Portions are typical German beer house, which is to say, goddamn gigantic. The pork knuckle in particular was comically large, but, I guess, you've got to expect that going into it when you get something called "XXL knuckle of pork". It's a pig's rear leg. That dish in particular, the skin wasn't crispy, it was pretty soft which is... I guess how they do it in Berlin? Nonetheless, overall, there were allegations of blandness at the table. It tasted like eating buffet food -- food cooked in bulk -- and we left mostly defeated. But, hey, look at that -- week daily lunch buffet from 11:30am to 1:30pm -- 68rmb all-you-can-eat -- that might be the best way to approach Zeit Berlin. Pretty good selection of German Draught beer though, in the 60rmb range. Warsteiner, Franziskaner, Aisterwasse, and more. They even have Radler, which is beer and Fanta. All the rage in Berlin, you know. (I don't know.) Zeit Berlin is at 1/F, Royal Palace Hotel, Bldg 6, Xiaoyun Li, off Xiaoyun Lu. **** Bamiyan is the new Afghan restaurant brought to you from the makers of Punjabi on Lucky Street. Same owner. And same restaurant, pretty much. Bamiyan occupies the second floor space of Punjabi re-branded as an Afghan restaurant lounge and boasting it's own menu. Food comes from the same kitchen, though, and you even have to go through Punjabi to get to the Bamiyan. Two restaurants, one door. When we rolled on it, we asked the waiter to show us to the Bamiyan and he just gave us a seat at Punjabi and the menu from Bamiyan because "it's the same thing". Um. Okay, then. What about the imported chiffon curtains? So here's Punjabi kicking out a menu of Afghan food to compliment their already pretty extensive selection of Indian dishes. And you've got the ambassador of Afghanistan to thank for it. Apparently, he was visiting Beijing and he wanted a restaurant to make him his country's cuisine. He's the ambassador, he gets what he wants. Punjabi obliged. So they're you go. I guess they did a pretty good job for him (or her) and decided to keep it on. Menu-wise -- the "opening trial menu" that is -- it's a simple two-pager that is basically five ways to cook a lamb. Via Afghanistan. You've got a few simple opening soups -- a lentil (28rmb) and a lamb noodle (35rmb) -- a few salads and cold dishes -- the "Borani Banjan", an egg-plant and yoghurt dish (47rmb) was really quite good -- and then about eight or so lamb-based mains in BBQ and curry formats. Here's the "Kofta Curry" (68rmb) which is "lamb meatballs in tomato paste with raisins, cashew nuts, and cream"... at least that's what it was supposed to be but it was more like lamb burgers sans buns and sans tomato paste with raisins, cashew nuts, and cream. Don't know what happened with this one. Maybe something got lost in the ordering. Want to know what it tasted like? TASTED LIKE LAMB. Very directly. This tasted like lamb -- very under-dressed, straight-up lamb patty. Here's the "Kabuli Pullao", which is "Golden onions, caramelized sugar fragrant basmati rice with carrots, raisins and saffrons". Just a simple side dish. Comes with a yoghurt. Guess yoghurt's a thing in Afghanistan. The yoghurt made a reappearance with the Borani Banjan, a cold eggplant dish. As a whole, if this spread is indication, Afghanistan cuisine shares basic similarities with Indian food -- curries and such -- but it's a lot milder. Nary a spice to be found. And everything is lamb. Here's the "Nihari" (78rmb), the star of the menu at Bamiyan. It's "8 hour cooked lamb shank curry. From the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan". This lamb was at the crossroads of history, my friends. And yeah -- a very meaty but very mild curry. Bones still in there, which made for a very flavorful dish, though. Quite tasty. Kind of like accents of Xinjiang plus curry. Pretty tasty. So. Bamiyan. If you're a already Punjabi fan and looking to see the kitchen flex their skills in a different way, I'd say give it a whirl... Bamiyan is at 3/F, C-8 Lucky Street, Chaoyang Gongyuan Xi Lu. It's inside the Punjabi. *