A place to really veg out

Finally, a vegetarian restaurant to rival Pure Lotus and one without "imitation meat" dishes!

Newly opened Samadhi Vegetarian Restaurant & Teahouse (三摩地素餐&茶艺空间) is comparable to the best vegetarian restaurants in the city in terms of presentation, taste, dcor, and, unfortunately, price. Samadhi is the first in Beijing to do away with "imitation meat dishes." Nobody before was bold enough to do so, out of an irrational fear that the disappearance of meat, even fake meat, from the menu would keep out a majority of customers.

Samadhi's cuisine is delightfully healthy, tasty and well-presented, and offers a great variety. In a set menu that costs 168 yuan per person, the starters alone, for four of us, had 12 choices, making for three options on each person's plate. They covered at least 10 different foodstuffs, notably bamboo shoots, chongcao fungus, purple-mashed taro, walnut kernel, cherry radish and pumpkin.