This Black Swan store took 6 years and about 500 million RMB to construct, and is now the largest afternoon tea spot in Beijing (see bjchihuo’s post here for more images). Luo Hong, photographer and businessman, is the head of China’s largest company for consumer baked goods, Haolilai. Additionally, he’s also an avid photographer who has traveled the globe to take photos that are now displayed in his art museum above the Black Swan Luxury Cake’s flagship store in Yanglin, Beijing.
Before you even enter the store, you are greeted with a vast gardened landscape, which is the result of the hard work of many landscaping specialists, each employed for a particular skill. For example, the decorative rocks strewn throughout the garden are the work of over 30 craftsmen from Shandong, employed for their expertise in traditional stone art. Reportedly, the youngest of these craftsmen is 55 years old.
Inside the Luo Hong Art Museum, which spans an area of 5,500 square meters, a display of his 150 photographic works can be found, selected from the photos he has taken over the past 20 years or so. The selection process alone took two entire years. Tickets are required for entrance to the museum, but entrance is free for those under 15 years of age.
The afternoon tea area measures 12,000 square meters alone and is divided up into a café, an afternoon tea restaurant, and the Black Swan luxury cake flagship store. After exiting the art museum, you enter directly into the café as you might enter into a gift shop in other museums. Outside the building are large ponds with koi fish and black swans.
Amongst its large collection of desserts are cakes, macarons, chocolates, as well as various blended dessert drinks, juices, hot chocolate, and coffee. There are also savory options, such as crepes. Even if you’re not hungry, the flagship store would make for a fun day trip just to look at the expansive garden, contemporary clean-cut gleaming white interior design, and the the swans and fish, while contemplating the vast amount of capital and time that went into its construction in order to bring it from idea to reality.
Black Swan Luxury Cakes Yanglin Flagship Store & Luo Hong Art Museum
About 200m west of the Yanglin exit off the Tianzhu Airport Highway 天竺机场高速杨林出口向西大概200米 (afternoon tea reservations: 5383 9911; cake orders: 5385 9900; art museum reservations: 5385 9905)
Photo credit: Jing Zhao
Content source: 北京吃货小分队 (WeChat official account ID: bjchihuo)
