Here's a delightful little development in the world of Italo fine dining: Fiume is now soft open, humbly serving up finely-wrought home-style Italian cuisine in the back of some weird place called the FX Hotel. The second Beijing venue from the chef / proprietor at popular hutong Italian restaurant, Mercante, Fiume trades in the same sort of traditional values, lack of ego, and attention to ingredients and detail that's made the original such a popular and valued place. In both venues, the lack of obvious restaurant artifice and pandering creates this weighty sort of authentic significance to your meal, and at the same time it's all very laid back, earnest, and home-spun. It's proper, but it also feels like it's coming from someone's heart. Menu-wise, there's a fair amount of cross-over with Mercante -- the emphasis on their delicately homemade pastas in particular -- but they've expanded their focus into a more ambitious and formal dining style, with a very varied selection of meat dishes represented (donkey, pheasant, lamb, eel, fillet, t-bone steak,the whole zoo) and more ambitious main courses. Here's a look at the soft opening menu. It's an Antipasti-plus-Primi-plus-Secondi kind of deal, with several options in each category. When we went, the only thing not available was the "Spaghetti with Lamb Sauce", so they're pretty much firing on all cylinders. So. Getting into it... Antipasti Batter Fried Baclala (Salted Cod Fish) (78rmb) Pheasant + Parma Ham Brick (68rmb) Two interesting starting courses here. A pheasant would be the first in a number of (relatively) exotic animals to go down for the evening. The cod dish had a lovely batter, and also came with a baked pastry sort of thing on the side. Primi Triangoli with Stewed Donkey (98rmb) Potato Gnocchi with Boar, Porcini Ragu (88rmb) Ramping up with this Bologna chef's Beijing claim to fame: his pasta. As if the case with Mercate, he does some pretty marvelous things with flour and wheat. Really pretty amazing. It's a sort of light and divine experience, this homemade pasta. Like a fresh and buoyant kind of meal, if that makes sense. The donkey was a little lighter on that equine sort of taste you get from the donkey burgers and the boar was fantastic. Fit for Visigoth kings and chieftains. Secondi Organic Beef Fillet with Roasted Vegetables (148rmb) Roasted Eel with 30-Year Traditional Balsamic Vineagre From Reggio Emilia & Soft Polenta (138rmb) The mains (Secondi's, rather) reference that sort of haute cuisine style of very simple, but intricate morsels presented solemnly unto your person on gigantic, oceanic plates. These are the two, of course, which bookend the one that costs 458rmb. Not messing with the t-bone. The beef fillet was a serviceable substitute and the eel was a delicate and tasty experience, although maybe the sauce didn't bring as much to the table as expected from the menu description. Dolci & Formaggi Zuppa Inglese (46rmb) Panna Cotta with Rasberry & Balsamic Vineagar Topping (48rmb) For desert, these are the two that are available, with a tiramisi on the way. "Zuppa Inglese" -- English Soup what? -- was decent but the Panna Cotta was really delicious. Would re-up on that. Forgot to take a picture of the wine list, but it was a sizeable and righteous document containing many wonderful labels and vintages. Translation: I did the same thing I always do with wine. I got the second cheapest one. It was more than adequate. * Great experience. It's a nice place. Food's really great. In particular, of course, the pasta. Can't remember when or where I've had a better pasta dish. But in addition to that, it's an all-round nice experience. It's classy, classy, classy but also very welcoming. Basically, you feel like everyone knows what they're doing. The chef knows his area. The menu is intriguing. And they make you feel like you're a wonderful and intricate person, as well, for having sought out this secret-ish restaurant that serves excellent food. *** Fiume is at 39 Maizidian Xijie (on the river at the back of FX Hotel).