While traveling with a friend to Beijing for the Olympics last week, one of the last things I expected to do was indulge in a glass of rosé champagne and some fine Francophilic fare. But there I was, at the month-old Maison Boulud restaurant around the corner from Tiananmen Square, being given a tour of the stone-walled mansion by the French-accented general manager, Ignace Lecleir. Though Lecleir doesn’t yet speak Chinese, many members of his staff do—he confided that training the locals in the art of hospitality, Boulud style, might prove a bigger challenge than picking up Mandarin.

Despite having seen a bread roll intended for my plate bounce across the table, I didn’t notice any shortcomings of the staff. Rather, I was too mesmerized by the sprawling, stately setting to care much about where the mini-baguette landed. Contemplating the history of the place, which was once the U.S. Embassy (allegedly, one dining room was the site of Henry Kissinger’s secret meeting with Chinese officials during the Nixon era), and how big Boulud must be to have scored such a locale, kept my mind off the particulars. According to Lecleir, Kissinger recently visited the restaurant—but not on the sly.

Those coming to Maison Boulud looking for the master’s take on Chinese fare should continue on their way. Regardless of a stated interest in using local foods—Boulud sources his duck, foie gras, and other goods nearby—this is classic French-tinged fine dining, with the requisite fusion and New American twists. Seared tuna, just done to a watermelon pink, was one familiar item on the menu, as was a pork belly salad with a fried egg on top, buttery steak with a wedge salad and a foie gras terrine with stone-fruit chutney. The only dishes that struck a native chord were the Mongolian lamb, and the crispy duck confit, which I like to refer to as Beijing duck confit (better known as Peking duck, it’s the city’s imperial specialty).

Perhaps the biggest thrill of the meal, apart from the you’ll-never-see-this-in-New-York space, was my first glass of wine: A Chinese chardonnay. On second thought, you probably won’t see that in the Apple, either.