"My mother thought I should eat more nutritious food like lobsters since I was preparing for the National College Entrance Exams," says 17-year-old Zhang Yubai, a recent graduate of the Affiliated High School of Peking University.

"I often ate in the school cafeteria, and my mom noticed that I was losing weight."

And so began Zhang and her parents' regular Sunday brunches at the Intercontinental Beijing Beichen's Cafe O2, which started offering in April grilled Boston lobsters that diners can pick live from a tank.

The buffet, open from 11:30 am to 3 pm, has other bounty for seafood lovers on its Western, Chinese and Japanese menu. There are the freshly shucked live American oysters, Alaskan king crab leg and smoked gravlax salmon.

Six Sundays ago, on Mother's Day, the cafe decided to go all out on its "live" elements: It opened a live cocktail station, which also serves mocktails, and it created a lunchtime slot for its resident Latin band.

"The voice isn't very good, when we wake up really early," says Antonio Souza, the band's Brazilian guitarist, in response to a question about how the early-afternoon performances compare with their usual nightly shows in the hotel lobby and bar.

Last Sunday, it took about a set for the trio which includes a Cuban lead vocalist and bongo player to get warmed up. Then the energy in the sunny, airy room noticeably went up a notch as the group performed tunes as varied as Guantanamera, Cuba's folk anthem, and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

"I like the atmosphere; it's cozy. Still, it's not perfect," says Leonard Spiess, a German national who works in the hotel industry in Beijing and who was at the brunch for the second time. "I don't like that they are cooking everything on one grill the meat and the lobster side by side."

Luckily, he and his three foreign companions seemed to have had the champagne server's undivided attention. Their table looked like it was the only one to order the "champagne brunch", which includes free flowing champagne for 458 yuan ($70.65) (before service charge).

For "just brunch", Zhang and her father paid 338 yuan a person a relatively small price if the Boston lobsters have somehow helped the young Beijinger get into her dream college, Jilin University, in the fall.

China Daily

(China Daily 06/18/2011 page12)