It's Nine Days of Fish for Beijing's Only Kosher Restaurant

Beijing's only kosher restaurant has placed an added emphasis on fish over chicken and beef in its highly popular menu. The overhaul isn't exactly permanent, though, and the more traditional meats will return to their standard spots after Tisha B'Av.

In deference to the custom to refrain from meat, such as chicken - a staple in the Chinese diet - during the nine-day period of mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, Dini's Kosher Restaurant, right across the street from the American and Israeli embassies, has substituted fish in many of its classic dishes.

The restaurant founded by Dini Freundlich, the co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Beijing, who prepared all the food herself in the early years, can hold 70 people in its dining room. It serves Japanese, vegetarian, Israeli and traditional-Jewish cuisine in addition to the Chinese backbone of its menu, which is written in Cantonese, English and Hebrew. On Friday night, the eatery hosts a grand Shabbat meal and caters a buffet after Shabbat afternoon prayers at the Chabad center.

"Today, we replaced our sweet and sour chicken with a sweet and sour whitefish," reports manager Minette Ramia. "We also have fresh salmon salad, or you could just order the rabbi's favorite, tuna sushi roll."