After regularly hosting events for many of Beijing’s Middle Eastern embassies, the Hotel Kunlun decided to transform their cigar lounge into a Muslim restaurant. You still see humidors decorating this comfortable venue, but the draw is now the food, not the Cubans.

Crystal is halal-certified and the kitchen staff, which includes chefs from Malaysia and Egypt, is entirely Muslim. The menu highlights the diversity of Muslim cuisine with Arabic, Southeast Asian and Chinese food, as well as Western dishes thrown in for good measure. We tried mostly Arabic dishes but also liked the very tender and generously-portioned stewed beef ribs in Chinese herbal soy sauce (¥88). The Middle Eastern food was satisfying but has yet to be perfected. The mezze platter (¥48) included good fatoush and decent hummus, but the still-crunchy bulgar wheat in the tabouli indicated that it should have been left to sit a bit longer before being served. While the Lebanese chicken shish tawook (¥98) was a little dry, it came with a nice Arabic rice and excellent nan. The meal’s highlight, lamb kibbeh (¥48), was served with tasty cucumber yogurt and satisfied our cravings for this Arabic treat. The cylindrical cookie filled with ice cream that ornamented our pistachio baklava (¥58) was incredible but outshone the flakey pastry.

With English-speaking and attentive waitstaff that also includes several Muslims, Crystal has made a considerable effort to expand the city’s options for halal fine-dining and also created a decent new spot for Arabic cuisine.

Sienna Parulis-Cook