Lin's: The Meat Eater's Favorite New Vegetarian Restaurant

By Oscar Holland, December 30, 2016

Readers may remember that we recently sent our only vegetarian staff member to review a meat-free restaurant (‘Jindingxuan Goes Vegetarian,’ That’s Beijing, October 2016). Who better to pass judgment, we thought, than someone forced to spend undue effort avoiding mystery minced pork (surely the most ubiquitous of China’s culinary surprises)?

Well, for our latest foray into vegetarian dining we instead choose to send our most vociferous carnivore. Unfair? Perhaps. But Lin’s Dining Lounge doesn’t want to be known as a vegetarian restaurant. It wants to be known as a restaurant that happens to cook without meat. So given that it wishes to be judged equally, who better to pass judgment than an editor who refuses to order salads on ethical grounds?

Consider said editor pleasantly surprised. Because from typical North Chinese fare to western classics (including potato gratin and an outstanding shepherd’s pie), the restaurant has produced a varied, yet incredibly consistent menu of meat-free cuisine. And despite the fact that we run into a Buddhist monk in the bathroom, it does so without a hint of piety.

No dish leaves us yearning for the cooked flesh of sentient beings. Perhaps most impressive – for cynics and believers alike – is that the chefs have passed the stiffest test of vegetarian cooking: imitation meat. The mock sea whelks made from konjac, or ‘devil’s tongue’ (RMB38), are firm and muscular; the tofu ‘fish’ in chili oil (RMB188/218) retains bite while absorbing just the right amount of bracing spice.

We ask diners of all persuasions to give Lin’s a similarly fair chance. Found on the second floor of – though otherwise unconnected to – the New Grand Dynasty Hotel, the restaurant features private booths, VIP rooms and extra-long tables set around an open center of pristine white tablecloths and lustrous metallic fixtures.

In fact, the restaurant shares a number of similarities with a high-end hotel restaurant, except in one major regard: price. Perhaps going vegetarian has more benefits than a certain vociferous carnivore had realized.

See a listing for Lin’s Dining Lounge and read more restaurant reviews