Jingsi Su Shifang

Jingsi Su Shifang vegetarian restaurant is well off the beaten path in Beijing. Located in the Dongcheng district, it is in a quiet neighborhood within reasonable walking distance of Wangfujing shopping area. Bring the phone number with you into the cab – the driver can call for specific directions which will help your chances of finding the place.

The restaurant was smoke free and super clean. When we arrived we were handed an enormous picture book menu showing dozens (hundreds?) of dishes. It seems they serve every Chinese specialty, including intestines and gizzards – but it’s all completely vegetarian!

We opted for several dishes than did not include any innards-wannabes. First thing to the table was a Chinese mushroom and vegetable stew, served in a large wooden bucket over smooth, lava-hot stones! Our waitress poured the soup over the rocks, creating much sizzling and steaming, and told us to “be careful!” It was steaming hot and delicious. We also had a similar-looking (but different tasting) mushroom and bok choy soup – wonderful. And the “meatballs” in cabbage dish was spicy and unique – loved it.

We also ordered a broccoli-cheese dish, which was a complete disconnect from the Chinese dishes that it accompanied, but it was wonderful and tasted like home.

For dessert, we had no idea what we were eating. Sesame-cinnamon pizza? Wonderful! Highly recommended!

This place was a real find -- one could eat here for a month and not have the same thing twice. And once you have tried the food, you will definitely want to go back for more!