[Photo Provided To China Daily]

Starters include a delicate smoked salmon cannelloni with cream cheese, caper and chive, served with mesculin greens and lemon dressing. There is also a salad of pulses and fregola tossed in smoky eggplant caviar and candied cherry tomatoes (adding smoked duck breast is optional), but the zestiest plate was the pate-like pressed pork shoulder with parsley coulis and grilled country bread.

Leading off the mains is a photogenic pan-seared sea bass in a "Mediterranean mantle" of tomato carpaccio fragrant with olive, served on a harlequin of vegetables. There's also a roast beef fillet with shallots and thyme jus, and a fresh-made tagliatelle with mushroom ragout.

For dessert, you can choose ice cream or sorbet or a composition of fresh fruit, but this is also a good time to abandon the "good, simple, easy" formula. Go for the gloriously vulgar option: crusty choux buns filled with rich French pastry cream.

The new dinner menu has more flourishes - and a new wine list is evolving - but we'll let you explore those on your own.

If you go

Jaan at Beijing Hotel Nuo, 33 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010-6526-3388 ext. 4186