In addition to his flagship restaurant, Miele is marketing the cheese to some Western grocery stores and delis, as well as other restaurants around China that buy foodstuffs wholesale from his importing business.

Miele is quick to note that a product that is lactose-free or low-lactose is still "real" cheese. Long-aged cheeses, he adds, lose their lactose naturally in the process.

"If you're lactose intolerant, your body can't digest the natural sugars in dairy products," he says. "You can reduce lactose by breaking down complex sugars into simple ones as you heat milk above 120 C. One problem is that you lose a lot of nutrients as well as the sugar when you do that." Also, low- and non-lactose milk and cheeses made from them usually taste a little sweeter. Non-lactose milk and cheese products can also be made from soybeans, rice, almonds or other foods, but the taste and nutrition value of these non-dairy products can vary significantly.

However, some people who are not lactose-intolerant might still use such dairy products, he says, because they are easier to digest.

Digestability has always been important to Miele, who pursues that goal in other ways at his restaurants.

Most significantly, he allows the yeast in his pizza dough to "work" for at least 48 hours - and 72 hours midweek when the volume of orders is not as heavy. The yeast action breaks down more molecules and makes a pizza crust easier to digest.

"You can come here and eat as much pizza as you want, and you won't feel so full, so uncomfortable later," he says.

michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

La Pizza

Shangdu SOHO 8 Dondaqiao Lu, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5900-3112.