I'm definitely not a vegetarian, and would probably never have walked into the restaurant had my friend not been visiting. But in the nine years of our friendship, I've sampled plenty of faux meat and tofu/soy protein, not to mention "just veggie" dishes, and have to appreciate, though not prefer, the cuisine. And a spectacular visit to a Shanghai buddhist vegetarian restaurant during my teaching orientation had me convinced that the Chinese can elevate vegetarian cuisine could to a higher level that most things I've sampled in the States.

We ordered a prefix menu of a soup and five dishes -- if I recall, this cost us about 300 yuan between the three of us.

First up was "crispy chicken." Though the "chicken" flavor was not particularly strong, the coating was appropriately crispy and appreciably not greasy. I was impressed with the texture of the dish -- the tofu/protein had been rendered firm, like a tender piece of chicken breast. Not stunning, but an impressive impression of chicken.

Most liked amongst the three of us was the "fried eel". Truthfully, I haven't had much eel in all my Chinese food eating days, so I can't really judge whether the preparation and flavor of the dish was on par with tradition. I will say that the "eel" was nice and crunchy and the sauce was tangy (think eel-avocado roll style). I did notice a sort of underlying burnt flavor to the oil it was fried in, but that wasn't enough to distract from the dish's tastiness.

Stir-fried "pork strips" were probably the most disappointing dish. Not only was the flavor a simple brown sauce, but the strips themselves were spongy and un-meat like. The overall effect was "what am I eating?" than "oh, this is similar to meat!".

I think I wanted the veggie spareribs, accompanied by crunchy mushrooms and a sweet, vinegary, garlicky sauce. Yes, it was funny that there was no bone inside -- most un-sparerib-like! The soy protein used here was dense and chewy, similar to the chicken. I preferred the version I had in Shanghai, but these were passable.

Mushrooms... mushrooms! Why did we order mushrooms?? We must have been tired. These were OK... but there's not too much to say about 'em.

Gongdelin Vegetarian Restaurant has a cold street-level dining room facing Qianmen Dajie and like any self-respecting Chinese restaurant, a private dining room on the third floor. The restaurant styles itself Buddhist; several buddhist statues are scattered sparsely about.

All told, I found this meal tasty but not nearly as impressive as the feast I had in Shanghai last August. Maybe we ordered wrong. I had read good things about Gongdelin -- apparently it's been around for years. But I found it lacking charm; on the cold Tuesday evening of our visit, we were attended to by a surly, bored waitress with perpetually rolled eyes.

If you're in Beijing with a vegetarian, this is a good choice. It's also only a 10-minute walk from Tiananmen Square on a main street. Just don't expect too much from your feast.

> Another review of Gongdelin

Gongdelin Vegetarian Restaurant
#158 Qianmen Nandajie, Chongwen District