Au chocolat, or chocolate lava cake. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Dessert is well-worth saving room for. It's tempting to describe the fondant au chocolat, or chocolate lava cake, as Beijing's best, but we tend to think that about every version of this sweet we've ever met. Suffice it to say this one is pure delight. The same can be said for the apple tart, a thin-crust apple pie that ripples across the plate to give a scoop of vanilla ice cream a warming embrace.

The restaurant's name is a bit of a dodge on bad luck. The actual address is 104－not a happy number in Chinese－so the name became Bistro 108.

"I've been a food lover since I was born, and it was my dream since I was a kid to open my own place one day," says Bacri, whose professional background is in fashion and events. "I was waiting for the right place and the right moment."

We'd say the moment has arrived.

Contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

Open for lunch and dinner six days a week (closed Mondays); 104 Cao Chang Plaza (across from the US embassy), 19 Tianze Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5710-8106.