Beijing is not a neat city. Soviet-style concrete blocks jostle uncomfortably with ultra-modern glass constructions, and tower higgledy-piggledy over stunted hutongs that have somehow escaped the wrecker ball. The streets are crammed with dust-dimmed signs leading to hole-in-the-wall shops and rudely assaulted by spanking new malls. Those with Attention Deficit Disorder: you have been warned.

北京不是一座整洁精致的城市。老式苏联式混凝土街区拥挤不堪，玻璃幕墙被过分使用；在钢筋水泥丛林的映衬下，那些侥幸在压路机下遗留下来的胡同犹显反差。街道上，到处是布满灰尘的招牌，它引领人们走向街边小店；而这些又被层出不穷的商业大厦所淹没。所有这些，无异于“凌乱预警”。

It is rare in all this mess to find a place of such compact simplicity as Awfully Chocolate. Located right at the edge of Wanda Plaza you come upon it unexpectedly; a magnificently plain glass shop front with a classy white sign, plonked right next to a puke yellow beauty parlour.

在这杂乱中找到简洁雅致的Awfully Chocolate，绝非易事。它位于万达广场边侧，走向它，满是惊奇：店标纯白典雅、店面简洁平实。

Awfully Chocolate's inside décor is almost clinically white, a minimalist’s dream. There is no display; just a white counter, manned by white-clad staff. The only decoration is a traditional Chinese bench, with room for two customers to sit and eat. It too, is white.

Awfully Chocolate 的内部装饰简洁之致――诊疗所一样的洁白。这里是清心寡欲者的精神家园。没有产品陈列，仅只一只洁白的柜台；其金属装饰也是洁白的。一张中式塌，只可容纳两人――它，也是洁白的。

The menu is no less simplistic, offering only four choices; three types of chocolate cake, or “hei” chocolate ice cream. The concept is ‘simplicity to the extreme’; all ornamentation is removed so the focus can be on quality. The majority of cakes are made to order and cannot be brought in slices; perfectly round and unadorned, they look quite delectable/delighted, their rich dark colour offset wonderfully by their white surroundings.

餐单不能再简单了。只有四种选择：三种巧克力蛋糕和一种“黑巧”冰激淋。经营概念是“极致简约”――舍去一切杂芜，只专注质量。多数情况下，蛋糕需提前预订，且不做切片销售。蛋糕没有任何装饰，样子很是惹人怜爱：其浓郁的棕黑色在宁静的白色店面衬托下，更显清雅。

The whole thing is the brainchild of Singaporean, Lynn Lee. Sick of the fancily decorated and bland cream-filled cakes on offer in Singapore, she decided to establish her own cake shop, focusing on selling a small number of premium products to discerning/witness customers. There are now stores in Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, which says something for how her vision has fared.

所有这些设计均出自新加坡人Lynn Lee。由于厌倦了新加坡面包房千篇一律的店面、填满奶油的蛋糕，她决定开一家自己的蛋糕店，只卖小巧精致的产品，吸引消费者。现在，分店已开到马来西亚、台湾、香港、上海和北京，足见其远见。

It is hardly surprising, given the quality of what’s on offer: All Chocolate (from 138RMB), Chocolate Banana (form 168RMB) and Chocolate Rum&Cherry (from 178RMB). All are made from imported ingredients, using only dark chocolate, and they are all covered by the same insanely light chocolate fudge icing.

鉴于质量，这里的价格并不出人意外：原味巧克力蛋糕RMB138；香蕉巧克力蛋糕RMB168；朗姆酒樱桃蛋糕RMB178。均为进口食材，只选黑巧；每只蛋糕覆有一层令人迷狂的糖衣淡黑巧。

The Chocolate Banana bursts with fruity flavour. Two layers of ripe, bee-striped yellow banana neatly contained in the moist and springy chocolate sponge give the cake a gracefully smooth bight. The Chocolate Rum&Cherry is suitably drenched in alcohol and studded with marvellously firm and flavourful cherries. With nothing to add texture to it, the All Chocolate is comparatively disappointing. It tasted of air because it was so light, but this seems to cater to Asian tastes. Personally I prefer my chocolate cake a little al dente.

香蕉蛋糕果味浓郁。两层成熟的蜂蕉紧致地溶合在松软湿润的“巧克力海绵”中，口感淡雅清香。浸泡过朗姆酒的樱桃恰到好处，镶嵌在糕体中，美伦美奂。原味黑巧没有“伴娘”，口味相对平庸。它太淡，吃起来像空气。不过这似乎是为了迎合亚洲人的口味。我个人更喜欢咬起来有一点硬的蛋糕。

The lightness of Awfully Chocolate’s cakes is a big selling point for them. Although chocolate is growing in popularity -- particularly amongst the younger generation of Chinese -- there is still a strongly held belief that it is horribly bad for you. Awfully chocolate is working awfully hard to debunk this myth. A sign outside the Zhonguancun store even proclaims chocolate’s benefits for the heart and body, and in creating a chocolate cake as light as the spongy and creamy confections the Chinese are more used to, Lynne Lee has achieved something very clever: she has managed to produce cakes that appeal to both western and Asian palettes.

口感清爽是Awfully Chocolate的一大卖点。尽管巧克力在中国年轻一代日渐流行，人们仍然坚信它对身体无益。Awfully Chocolate努力尝试打破神话。中关村店外招牌上宣称，巧克力有助身心、蛋糕海绵一样松软、奶油调制也更适合国人口味。Lynne Lee很聪明，她试图制作吸引东西方不同口味的蛋糕。

Still, good as the cakes are, they are blown out of their pretty white packaging by the ice cream (from 23 RMB). It is tongue numbingly creamy and sinful, and comes delightfully nestled in adorable white cartons.

值得一提的是，这里的冰激淋（RMB23）绝不逊于蛋糕：奶香浓浓、馥郁柔滑，舌尖麻麻的，有点罪恶感。冰激淋愉悦地依偎在一只可爱的白色纸盒内。

In fact, the packaging is almost as important as the product. In achieving the perfection of simplicity, no detail has been ignored. The ice cream cartons can be washed out and collected; the cakes come in identical white boxes, distinguishable only by colour-coded labels and pretty little complimentary cake cutters. Next time you are looking for some order in this chaotic city, there is a delicious, round, cake-shaped chunk of it to be had in every delectable detail of Awfully Chocolate.

包装与产品同样重要。为做到极致简约，必须关注所有细节。小巧的冰激淋盒子经过清洗，可以收集。蛋糕盒以不同色标区分，可爱的刀具免费赠送。你若想在这个杂乱的城市找寻秩序，Awfully Chocolate已经为你准备好了美味绝伦的蛋糕，等待你享用。