A team of pop-up pros has launched an incubator for wannabe chefs and restaurant owners who have ideas to put on Beijing plates, Mike Peters reports.

Imagine a corporate retreat where inventor Benjamin Franklin, investor Warren Buffett and foodie queen Nigella Lawson meet and decide to work together on a project. If it happened in China, they might have cooked up a concept like The Hatchery.

Luckily, another group has.

The team of entrepreneurs that created intriguing popups in China's capital last year - Buena Onda Peruvian nibbles and cocktails in the summer, Soul Bowls at the Bookworm in winter - are at it again. But instead of merely launching their own eating installations, they've created a sort of Santa's workshop to build other people's pop-up dreams, too.

The result is a 250-square-meter dining area with seating for up to 100 diners, a fully stocked bar, private dining rooms, and a table-tennis table. The Hatchery kitchen occupies 180 square meters with bakery, large food preparation areas, professional kitchen equipment and food storage facilities. As an incubator for food-and-beverage concepts, it's ready to go.

The first venture is the Hatchery team's own: Mighty Mo's, a showcase for the New Zealand green-lipped mussel. The tasty bivalves come with your choice of three sauces: green curry, tomatoey puttanesca and the most successful version, a classic garlic with lemon that lets the flavor of the lightly steamed creatures shine through. Get 500 g for a mere 85 yuan ($13) or a whole kilo for 160.

We're guessing that the Thai green curry sauce is one of those works in progress that The Hatchery is all about: On one visit it was overpowering, on another unexpectedly lightweight. That's not because somebody's asleep in the kitchen, but market research and testing based on customer reactions. (At Mighty Mo's and future pop-ups that might be born and spin off from here, feedback is always on the menu.)

Other dining options include local clams, hand-cut truffle fries, and a roasted-corn salad that was the surprise hit at our table. There is Balinese-style seabass on a stick, redolent with lemongrass, turmeric and spicy sambal. If someone in the party is not a seafood fan, there is a hot dog that may be Beijing's best, with a spicy edge on a house-baked bun. The bar offers smart cocktail options, very drinkable vintages from the Southern Hemisphere and Jing-A craft beer from just down the street.

Mighty Mo's will be serving up shellfish until June, says Hatchery's concept manager John Johnson, a British expat.

What's next? We'll have to wait and see. A lunch concept is coming soon; meanwhile, dining service is evenings only, six days a week. Local cocktail maestro Sami Mersel recently spent a week in the bar introducing Diplomatico rum from Venezuela. Big Bear baker Jonathan Ellis is ensconced in one kitchen area, and his cookies are the foundation of Mighty Mo's killer ice-cream sandwiches.

Elsewhere in the kitchen, Hatchery partner and fitness coach Garry Wang will be churning out healthy takeaway meals as part of his other business, Living Bigg.

What the team has trademarked as the HatchTrack, says Johnson, is a development process where "entrepreneurs develop a business proposal, and then get access to Hatchery and venue partners where they can test and adapt their ideas". They can also start growing a customer base.

That's where the rest of us come in, knives and forks at the ready.

Contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 03/08/2016 page8)