One may be surprised to find few Jewish dishes on Dini's menu - instead, it starts off with sushi and veers towards pastas and burgers. But while Dini's lacks in exotic cuisine, it is true to the laws of Kashrut and everything is kosher.

We started with the apples, avocado, and arugula salad (RMB 40), which lacked enough buttery avocado slices and tart apples to balance out the mound of peppery arugula. Chicken soup (RMB 35) served with either matzo, kreplach (Jewish ravioli), lokshen (flat egg noodles) or chicken balls was full of chicken flavor, but the matzo balls were too dense. The tilapia fish with bearnaise sauce (RMB 75) was satisfactory, but we've had better at other, albeit non-kosher, eateries. Beijing's first kosher restaurant may be an oasis for the Jewish community but offers few temptations for gentiles - that is, unless the rumor that Din's will serve more Jewish dishes after Passover is true. Leon Lee

Dini's Kosher Restaurant

Opening Time: Sun-Thu 11am-2.30pm and 4-10pm; Fri 11am until 2 hours before Shabbat begins (sundown); Sat opens 30 minutes after Shabbat ends (one hour after sundown).
Address:32 Tianze Lu, Xingba Lu, Nurenjie, Chaoyang District
Tel: 010-6461 6220
Website: www.kosherbeijing.com