From the makers of long-running French restaurant Brasserie FLO comes Cafe FLO, a traditional French-style cafe newly opened in rich peoples' mall, Parkview Green. Brasserie FLO has been open in Beijing for about a million years now and still turns back good reviews. It speaks to their consistency that they've managed to remain somewhere near the top of the pile in fine dining in this city for so long. They seem to know what they're doing, importing their version of French food and drink culture into Beijing. This new Cafe FLO is sort of like the pared down version of Brasserie FLO; it's simpler, easier, and very much cheaper, but they're still offering quality food in a nice Euro-ish environment. Cafe FLO -- coffee, wine, and fine food in the midst of some very bougie materialism. Just around the corner from the food court in Parkview Green. Cafe FLO is half inside and half open-air seating. Aesthetically, they're trying to recreate a Parisian cafe space in the center of a mall, with patio premenade "outdoor seating" complimenting a more laid-back but still classy lounge-style "indoor area". Menu is French cafe / bistro fare, which is a bit more involved than you would think. As apposed to rocking up to this place with your laptop to do an afternoon of emails, French cafes are more about putting together a nice lunch or dinner, and hanging out with friends, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine. You can do the wine and food at Cafe FLO, but not the cigarettes. Food is very approachable, split into starters, soups, pastas, salads, mains, and a series of concept set meals inspired by the regional permutations of French bistro food. More on that below... Here's snails! "Escargots a la bourguigonne - Cafe FLO snails in Isigny herb butter." (36rmb) Snails are great! No complaints! Love these little sumbitches! So, if you're looking for a meal, Cafe FLO has a bunch of set options, which is this: a simple tomato soup and side salad (10rmb extra for some handmade lemonade)... ...plus a main course inspired by a given region of France, priced between 69rmb and 136rmb based on the variation. Amongst others is a salmon main from Normand, Toulousian lasagne, a seafood linguine inspired by Marseilles, and Alscasian sauerkraut, sausage, and bacon. "Menu Parisien - Croque Monsieur tartine: Parisian ham, Emmenthal cheese and fig chutney." (69rmb) A simple croque monsieur. It's a pretty simple dish, but the ingredients are great and, at 69rmb for the whole meal with the soup and a salad, it's pretty cost effective. Here's the other end of the spectrum, the steak dish inspired by Bourguignon. "Menu Bourguignon - 180g Grilled beef tenderloin with roasted baby potato, steamed vegetables and three pepper sauce." (136rmb) No complaints. Really good. Nice and tender texture to the meat with a real delicious pepper sauce adding zing and character. 136rmb for this plus the other stuff. Pretty good. Drinks. The wine list what you're looking for. Here's the options by the glass. Prices are 40rmb to 80rmb or so: And plenty more by the bottle, ranging from a couple hundred to... I don't know, I stop paying attention when wine gets into the upper three-digit range. Cafe FLO. In the end, it's a real decent option if you live and / or work in the area. Food quality is decent, and it's great value for money. It might not be a big enough draw to get dressed up for and get a cab of people together to go have a big dinner and all that, like, say, the Opera Bombana (arguably?) is just around the corner. But if you're in the area buying precious gems and expensive designer clothing already, it's worth a meal. Just look for the big silver guy... ...and its right behind him. *** Cafe FLO is at number LG2-22 in Parkview Green Mall, 9 Dongdaqiao Lu. When you walk in the main entrance, take the escalator down to the bottom level and it's on your left behind the giant silver guy.