Meat matters

Flan like a gaucho's mama used to make is a memorable finish for a meal at Obelisco. Photos by Mike Peters/China Daily

Superb steaks and a savvy wine list give Obelisco star quality. Mike Peters follows the carnivores to Shunyi district.

Several years ago, at a party in Boston, I found myself chatting with a vivacious woman in her mid-60s who said she enjoyed spending summers in Maine like I did. Well, not quite like I did. Later I learned she was one of the Rockefellers, a grande but unpretentious dame who was well-dressed without wearing her money on her sleeve.

I thought of her again during a recent visit to Obelisco, the fine steakhouse in Beijing's Shunyi district that's often alluded to with the superlatives of wealth. Opulent it may be, but it's not really in your face. The immense, open-ceilinged dining room is fairly casual, the table settings elegant but comfortable.

The first hint of particular sophistication－not counting the namesake obelisk that stands like a sentry outside－is the service, from the suave Chinese host to the table servers to the sommelier.

"The staff, the chefs, everyone has been trained by professionals from Argentina," says Guillermo E. Devoto, an Obelisco regular who recently left Beijing after two years as minister in the Argentine embassy.