Serafino describes itself as a Greek restaurant, but as the name indicates – its specialty is enticing Greek-style pizzas. The restaurant serves a thick-pan pizza with a remarkably good crispy and chewy crust, and with 17 varieties of topping, there’s something to suit most palates.

The crisp and sparkling blue and white colours of Serafino put you in a Mediterranean mood as soon as you reach the top of the narrow ship-llike staircase that leads to the dining room.

A feeling that continues with the Athena gourmet pizza (75RMB/9 inch; 125RMB/12 inch) – a pizza truly fit for a goodess and topped with mix of feta cheese, spinach, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. Despite being markedly different from what most pizza lovers have become accustomed to, the ingredients are distinctly Mediterranean and a welcome change from the usual mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, ham, pineapple and corn tossed on the pies at the leading pizza chains.

An order of Greek salad (30RMB) comes with feta cheese and olives in a deliciously balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Sadly the Meze (65RMB) -- an appetizer consisting of a combination of two stuffed vine leaves, a few deep fried onion rings, calamari, French fries and two pieces of baked pizza crust, accompanied by an exceptionally tasty eggplant puree – was a disappointment. The stuffed vine leaves were too cold, as if they had just been taken out of the fridge while the filling was disappointingly mushy and bland.

In addition to pizza, Serafino also offers Italian pasta dishes averaging 65RMB and a small number of traditional Greek dishes, such as moussaka (80RMB). It also carries a number of New Zealand, Australian, French and German wines.

Bldg. 12, Jianwai SOHO, 39 Dong Sanhuan Lu (tel 5869 3512). Meal for two 260RMB. Open 10am-12pm daily.

朝阳区东三环路39号建外 SOHO