Beijing 2008 Olympic City

By Ruth Lor Malloy

Beijing now has its first Kosher restaurant in modern memory. It opened on March 1, 2007 and is within walking distance of the Renaissance, Hilton, Kempinski, Kunlun, and Great Wall Sheraton Hotels. Dini’s delivers to hotels and can provide boxed meals for travelers. Its Western menu includes chicken soup with Matzo balls for US$5, hot pastrami sandwich with French fries for $8, and a whole rotisserie chicken with potato and vegetable for $10. It also serves hamburgers and a selection of salads. But it has Chinese food and a sushi bar too. It’s on Super Bar Street, off Ladies’ Street (with its market), near the Lufthansa Centre and the new American embassy. Telephone. 6461-6220. Fax 6461-3735. Web-site: www.kosherbeijing.com.

Many of you probably already know about English-speaking Kabbalat Services in Beijing but in case you don’t, they are at 7pm on Fridays and are followed by a Shabbat Community Dinner at 8pm. These are also near the above hotels at the Capital Club Athletic Center 3rd floor Ballroom, Capital Mansion. The address is 6 Xinyuan Nan Road, Chaoyang District. Telephone 6467-2225. Its web-site www.sinogogue.org gives program dates and the address in Chinese. Most taxi drivers can’t understand English.

These five-star hotels will also be close to the most convenient subway line to Olympic Green where over half of the Olympic competitions will be held. Of these, the most interesting breakfast is at the Hilton. It offers different colored chopsticks, each color related to a different food group. You are urged to follow blue for low cal, pink for hi-energy, green for high fiber, etc. I found eggs made to order, Belgium waffles, oatmeal porridge and French toast. It also had a wide variety of fresh and stewed fruit including mangos and papayas. It offered crispy, Danish pastries and chocolate croissants but also healthy choices like muesli, carrot juice, and sunflower seeds. There were several varieties of tofu and its kim chi cabbage was perfect, neither too bland nor too spicy. Of course it offers knives and forks too and no one makes you feel guilty if you aim for the chocolate.

Ruth Lor Malloy’s website is at www.china-travel-guide.com.