A place to really veg out
By Ye Jun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-26 09:45
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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.
There were more surprises in store and these appeared in the form of four different soups - bean curd, mushroom, spinach, and sour and spicy - all delicious and wonderful to behold.
Other tasty choices include golden soup with green tofu (金汤碧绿豆腐), bamboo fungus with asparagus (竹笙扒芦笋), Kung Pao monkey head mushroom (宫保猴头菇) and fried matsutake slices with celery (素烧松茸菌). Rounding up the meal was frozen yoghurt, served with assorted fruits.
The restaurant also offers traditional Beijing dim sum, such as glutinous rice rolls (驴打滚), and kidney bean cake (芸豆糕). It carries the full list of Chinese teas, by the pot or cup, including green, black, and oolong varieties.
The restaurant's dcor has a number of Buddhist elements - from a Buddhist shrine and souvenir store, to Buddhist paintings and calligraphy works on the wall. The ambiance is aimed at creating a calming effect. A la carte cost is around 150 yuan per person, but portions are small. The service is good.
Daily 10 am-2 pm, 5-9 pm. Tea from 9 am-10 pm, afternoon tea half price from 2:30-4:30 pm. Buy one get one of the set menu for free every Tuesday, and the first and 15th day of every month on the lunar calendar. 2/F Shifang Haoting Building, Xinyuan Nanli, Chaoyang district. 8453-1644. 朝阳区新源南里世芳豪庭二层