La Tavern is one of the most popular French restaurants in Beijing, offering quality food and the “vrai” French taste in a friendly environment where people can have a brief lunch or meet each other no matter if they just arrived to Beijing. Last year, the restaurant also received the “City Weekend Magazine” award for the best French restaurant in in the city.
Most of the people started to come to La Tavern during lunch time and especially French people working in the Alliance Française because it is located just in front of the restaurant. The main reason why people are coming to the restaurant is because of the food.
“La Tavern” offers high quality French cuisine for very convenient prices in a nice environment where foreign people can meet in the centre of Sanlitun. Last year, the restaurant also received the “City Weekend” award for the best French restaurant in Beijing.
Interview with Axel Moreaux:
owner of the restaurant “La Taverne”
“If you offer daily and delicious dishes and the prices are reasonable, people always will continue coming to your restaurant because you are not tricking them.” 
When did you start with “La Tavern” in Beijing?
A few years ago I had another business called “Le Petit Gourmet” here in Beijing but I did not want to continue it with my Chinese partner so I decided to open a new one by myself with new conditions with the Chinese owner. When I started “La Taverne” almost three years ago, the place did not run very well. I decided to redecorate the entire restaurant and changed the concept, the team and the cookers, trying to run my new restaurant in a professional way.
“I came to China when I was a student in Paris to visit a friend and saw that this was a good city to open a French restaurant”
How has the restaurant changed during these last three years?
At the beginning we always closed at 8pm because our main hours were during lunch time but with a new concept and good food, the place started to be crowed during evenings even if the restaurant is not so big. During summer time we have a lot of families with children playing outside in the terrace and having a nice time.
It became a meeting point for foreign people but I really did not organized events. When I realized that, we started to offer brunch during weekends especially for French families and party menus for young people for very convenient prices. Now I’m very proud that we have more guests during dinner time and also Chinese people tasting our French cuisine.
What type of French cuisine do you offer?
The food is traditional French cuisine but fresh and well done. We wanted to introduce the concept of the whiteboard every day for our lunch menus and especial dishes because it is better to offer more variety and buy every day different ingredients. When I started “La Taverne” I hire a few of my old cookers in order to have the same people working for me and showing experience working for a French restaurant.
I always taste the food and make them change some details in order to offer the real French taste. I also like people to suggest ideas and giving their opinions because I really think, it is a good way to improve the business. Hare with chestnut, flamed steak roti, beef bourguignon or cordon bleu are a few of the dishes you can taste in the daily menu of “La Taverne”.
Do you have some ideas for the future?
The restaurant is going well but I would like to organize more barbecues outside in the terrace offering chicken like we eat it in France during the weekends so that families can enjoy a nice meal. We are lucky because we have a private outdoor space which is not in the middle of the street. Another idea for the future is to open this weekend chicken meal but being able to deliver it without losing quality.
Beijing is a city where you can order anything you want to you own house but if we talk about food, it always will taste worse. In France we use especial plastic bags for the chicken so ones it is delivered, people can put it in the oven and remove the plastic bag. I will stay in Beijing so my main idea is to find a big place for a cuisine here I can deliver French menus and also provide my own restaurant with food during the entire day.
La Taverne
Café- Restaurant-Bar
Traditional French Cuisine
Phone: 010-65518967
Address: Gongti Xilu n° 7 Chaoyang district, Beijing
北京市朝阳区工体西路7号
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