By Valerie Sartor

"Nam Nam is one of my favorite places to eat," Katia said as we sat leisurely drinking coffee at our desks. "Their presentation, especially the appetizers, delights my eyes. The spring rolls are light, pretty and delicieux. I loved the pineapple that is carved inside, it has a petite candle lighting up the fruit and sticks of meat and delicacies are speared in the pineapple. This vraiment is food as both art and entertainment."

This Vietnamese restaurant is located on busy Sanlitun Street, north of the bars and quite near the Spanish Embassy. Slender girls in traditional Vietnamese dress stand outside the entrance and greet the customers demurely, inviting them to dine either outside in an enclosed porch area or inside the large, colonial style building. "I really appreciate the décor," Katia said, raising her bangled hands to describe how one can climb a spiral staircase to the second floor, or dine near an indoor tiled fishpond.

"Everything is muted but carefully done to serve the customers. I've been there three times already."

Her encouragement made me want to check this place out carefully. When I went with a friend we found the restaurant clean, quiet and attractive. But I encountered a glitch: my order of duck with galangal came out as pork with onions, causing some disappointment. "Don't complain," my friend Ann admonished me. "Just eat. I've got to tell you that my Vietnamese soup (pho) is excellent and so is the papaya salad."

"Mais oui, you should have told them," Katia said later. "Service there is so good, it was a simple mistake. Did you try the drinks? The wine list is formidable and they also serve rice wine in a big pot. Everyone gets a straw and sips together. It is very en famille."

 

Ann and I had the Vietnamese coffee instead of wine; it was delicious and as potent as rocket fuel. We needed it too, because during dinner Ann's 12-year-old boy called and asked if he and his little brother could "sleep at a spa with his friends."

"But honey, I've never seen the place. I don't know if it is safe or not," Ann protested. Her son quickly turned the phone over to his friend, who promptly invited us both to the spa.

"Did I tell you my boys are rather well connected?" Ann said. "They're best buddies with a movie star's sons. Let's grab a cab after our meal and check out this spa."'

Off we zoomed to the IO Spa on Gong Ti Dong Lu. We toured the lavish establishment, complete with a swimming pool on the roof and theme style massage and body treatment rooms that boggled the mind. Each large room came with a special masseuse: with very little prodding I chose the Thai themed massage. My genuine Thai attendant first bathed my feet gently and then exited the room while I undressed. I rang a bell and she padded in on bare feet. While I lay on a state of the art massage table, candles flickering and a delicate perfume wafting in the air, she scrubbed my body with lotions and salts. Soft music filtered through a hidden sound system. After toweling me clean my masseuse then carefully rubbed special mud from Hungary all over my body. "This is to take out toxins and soften your skin," she whispered. "Relax, I will leave it on for ten minutes and then help you to bathe." We removed the mud in a huge shower stall. I put on some cotton pajamas and climbed on a huge round bed. The attendant covered my face with a dark cloth and then began a 90-minute Thai massage, pressing and pushing on my limbs and joints to ease tension and make my body more flexible.

After this treatment she led me to a small teak chair and table, where a variety of freshly cut fruits had been placed for my enjoyment. The young Thai girl gracefully poured tea into a delicate porcelain cup, bowed deeply and thanked me for allowing her to be of service.

Whew! I'd never had a massage like that before: this is how the upper crust relaxes in Beijing. For those with money the IO Spa is a decadent but thoroughly enjoyable place to spend time. The establishment has a restaurant, pool, and variety of beauty and spa treatments. Overnight guests and couples are also welcome. Ninety minute spa services begin at 1200 RMB; hours are variable so please call for reservations: 010 6553 1666.

For the rest of us, those with thinner pocketbooks and empty stomachs, we highly recommend NAM NAM. Prices start at 35 RMB for appetizers and 45 RMB for entrees.

Nam Nam 越南菜:

Sanlitun street, beside the Friendship Supermarket
三里屯路7號友誼超市旁
6468-6053
Open 10:30am-10:30pm

(China.org.cn June 27, 2008)