TRAVEL WATCH: JANUARY 31, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 4

	ALSO IN TIME
	Getting Down and Dirty with China's Masses When Mao Zedong said China's strength lay in its peasantry, he didn't mean as a tourist attraction. But these days more and more visitors are eager to drop in on the masses Detour Don't be put off by the exclusive-sounding name of the Red Capital Club Hot Tip While the millennium bug proved toothless, the Year of the Dragon is about to roar into Asia

Detour

Don't be put off by the exclusive-sounding name of the Red Capital Club. It's open to all and arguably one of the finest independently run restaurants in Beijing. This beautifully restored courtyard eatery is dedicated to the hedonistic pleasures in life--fine food, good wine, superb cigars--and to the spirit of Chinese capitalism.

The kitchen dishes out "Zhongnanhai" cuisine, named after the complex that has housed the offices and living quarters of senior Communist Party officials since 1949. In warm weather, you can dine outside beneath a 300-year-old date tree whose fruit is used to make one of the restaurant's soups. In colder months, you can enjoy the Qing dynasty- style dining room, which is simply but elegantly decorated with 10 porcelain pieces, representing each of the Qing emperors. There is also a painting of Li Bai, the Tang dynasty poet, toasting the moon with a glass of wine.

According to the restaurant's owner, author and investment adviser Laurence Brahm, each dish has a story relating to China's recent history. Take, for example, The Marshal's Favorite: large hot green peppers stuffed with shrimp, pork and bean curd. This tasty dish, which leaves your lips feeling as if they've been seared with a piece of hot metal, is devoted to the many modern military leaders who hailed from the peppery provinces of Sichuan and Hunan. Deng's Chicken is decorated with two black-and-white cats, one carved out of a beet and the other from a turnip. (As Deng used to argue, "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.") The restaurant has limited seating, so reservations are highly recommended. Tel: (8610) 6402-7150 days, 8401-8886 nights and weekends.

By Paul Mooney