BEIJING — Sometimes, you just need a hamburger.

At home, this is no problem. But as you've probably noticed by now, I'm in China, and In-N-Out hasn't made it here yet.

So, as part of some solo adventuring on my first free half-day since the Olympics began, I decided to go get a burger. And no, McDonald's didn't count.

Having once satisfied a similar craving at the Hard Rock Café in Rome, I decided to visit the Hard Rock here. Not that I had any idea where it was.

An Internet search determined it was in a hotel, the Landmark, to the southeast of the Media Village. A quick check of a map showed there was a subway stop somewhere near the Landmark. Undeterred by the fact my Chinese begins and ends with ni hao and xie xie, I figured that was all the information I needed.

So I boarded the No. 5 subway line that stops right by the village at Lishuqiao South. Four stops later, I switched to the No. 10 line at Huxininxijie Nankou and took the southbound line toward Jinsong, getting off after another four stops at Liangmaqiao.

So far so good, but I didn't really know exactly where the hotel was from the subway stop, and like all subway stops, there was more than one way out of the station. Totally at random, I took the one that put me out at the southeast corner of the Liangmaqiao and the No. 3 Ring Road. When I came up the stairs, my vision was filled by — the Landmark Hotel. I had to walk no more than a half-block to get there, fending off two different offers from guys offering to sell me "rare Chinese art or antiques."

After that, it was easy. I went in, asked for a non-smoking seat, was promptly seated in the smoking section and ordered the "Legendary 10-Ounce Burger."

Mission accomplished. Burger fix addressed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as good as the one I remembered from Rome. But it wasn't bad, and for the first time in almost three weeks, I was able to drink real brewed iced tea from a real glass with real ice.

Sometimes, the small pleasures really are the best ones.

— A greatly expanded version of this postcard, with the rest of Respected Mr. Lassen's afternoon in Beijing, is online at blogs.VenturaCountyStar.com/lassen.