The expat hot spot is home to some of the city's most exciting places to eat, drink and party
One of Beijing's liveliest neighbourhoods, Sanlitun attracts locals and
foreigners alike at all times of the day and night, thanks to its
plethora of shops, bars, restaurants, clubs and more.
Cafés
Tienstiens
The simple white exterior and floor-to-ceiling glass façade of Tienstiens
stands out against the drab, brown
masonry that surrounds the modern
bakery. The offerings, however,
offer more than just a bit of colour.
Baguettes are baked
fresh daily and deliver a dark
brown crust and fragrant, open
crumb, while the canneles
are wonderfully chewy, with a
caramelised bark of sugar and fat
encasing a soft custardy crumb that
coats the mouth like a spoonful of
rich pudding you wish mum could
have mustered.
The daily assortment of
confections run out early, so be
sure to duck in before lunch if you’re
after classics like chocolate fondant, raspberry diplomatic
or chaux sporting a variety
of creams and colours.
Moka Bros
Moka Bros is another all-around hit from what seems to be one of
Beijing’s most reliable restaurant teams. Joining elder sister Mosto in
Nali Patio, this ground-floor café offers a relaxed, low-key vibe that
will suit quick mid-week lunches or drinks and bites with friends.
Branded as a healthy food eatery, Moka Bros highlights fresh and complex flavours. Find delicious sandwiches, rice and noodle 'power bowls' and sweet treats such as waffles and crépes.
C5 Café
Should you ever pay 100RMB for a cup of coffee? The answer should be no, but C5 Café might just convince you.
Tucked into a quiet complex in north Sanlitun, the petit café shares the same name as the art gallery
next door. Caramel-wood table tops, white walls and mod ’60s-style
furniture create a minimalist aesthetic that only heightens the gallery
feeling. Pick your caffeinated poison and the
barista will pull an espresso shot or slowly hand-pour water from a
sleek copper pot over fresh grounds. A rotating menu of single-origin,
pour-over brews features beans from superstar locales like Ethiopia,
Kenya and Guatemala.
Tribe
Squeaky-clean, all-natural eats are what this hip and healthy café is all about.
Everything on the menu (worked up by Brandon Trowbridge, originally from
Ritan Park mainstay Nola) is demarcated with a ‘glossary of goodness’,
an array symbols that identify which items boost your metabolism, are
gluten free, probiotic, and so on. None of the mains have less than
three.
The menu is long but stays within the bounds of traditional café fare;
salads, sandwiches and noodle bowls. That being said, they do a lot of
interesting things with each dish and take influences from all over the
world: from the Middle Eastern-inspired bowl of complex Israeli lentils
drizzled with shaved fennel and creamy spiced yogurt, to the hearty bulgogi beef wrap with mozzarella and kale.
Restaurants
Mosto
Revamped back in 2012, Mosto is
all about sophisticated funk – the
soundtrack, the smart neon design
behind the bar and a reworked
lounge area provide a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. The menu is full of accessible and shareable dishes, divided by category under soups, salads, mains and
meats. Pastas are handmade and well prepared, though the classic Mosto beef tenderloin is a particular favourite.
Migas
When do the staff at Spanish
restaurant Migas have time to siesta?
Whether the kitchen is turning out
stunning dry-aged cuts of Chilean
wagyu, imported by head chef and
resident madman Aitor Olabegoya
himself, or setting up a summertime
cevicheria – they have a rooftop that’s
effectively the beating heart of Sanlitun
all summer, maybe you’ve heard of it?
– there’s not a moment of peace in this
culinary powerhouse.
There’s always opportunity to check
out new dishes on the regularly
updated menu: both a tapas of
molecular olives draped in anchovies
on potato crisps, and dry-aged lamb
chops charred in a Josper oven (served
with black garlic sponge cake cooked in
a microwave) are representative of the
ethos at Migas.
Saigon Mama
For a city of its size and regional
importance, Beijing’s streets
should be teeming with the
bright, halcyon flavours of Southeast
Asia. Yet we are locked in a constant
search for good Thai, Vietnamese
and Singaporean. Having arrived from San Francisco
via Shanghai, Saigon Mama fills that void. The Vietnamese
fast-casual joint has swooped in with
a line-up of greatest hits, hip digs
and an everyday price point.
Find Vietnamese classics such as pho, bo kho beef brisket stew, banh mi and assorted shaved ice desserts.
Ji Kun Hainan Chicken Rice
Ji Kun Hainan Chicken Rice slings quintessential southeast Asian comfort
food. A simple dish, savoury and rich yet collectively light on the
palate – and the belly – chicken rice is one of those things that folks
are undyingly fond of scrutinising. Like roast duck or dim sum, this
speaks more to the personal connection to the dish than anything, but
we're going open ourselves up to the onslaught and just say it: Ji Kun
serves up some damn fine chicken rice. Oh, and it's actually cheap.
Taco Bar
With carnitas and fish tacos this good, no wonder the place is bumping
every night. Tequila flows with a fierce
passion at Taco Bar, but the real gems
come from chef-owner Kin Hong’s
kitchen, not the bottle.
Bars
Janes and Hooch
A heavyweight in the cocktail scene right out the gate since opening in 2012, this classy two-floor dive keeps raising the bar. Glamorously tricked out in woodpanelling, leather banquettes and
polished concrete floors, it certainly isn’t a bad place to sip on an
Old Fashioned.
The Black Moth
The fourth floor Nali Patio space looks out over the chaos of Bar Street
below, but you’ll be hard-pressed to take your eyes off the walls at
The Black Moth. The owners spent over two years putting this project
together, and from the collection of prints, photography and mixed media
pieces – including a mural running the entire rear wall courtesy of
Beijing-based designers Plastered 8 – the museum party vibe rings
through loud and clear. The menu itself focuses on refined simplicity, ignoring gimmicks and focusing
on top-shelf spirits paired with distinctive and innovative flavour
profiles.
La Social
The arrival of La Social back a couple years ago came as a bit of a surprise to Beijing's
beleaguered bar-goers, who have come to read 'new bar' and 'speakeasy'
interchangeably. Rather than follow trends, La Social offers a change of
pace. The bar is a break from the city's stuffy cocktail bars, and we
admit it feels pretty good to loosen the tie, ditch the black waistcoat
and enjoy a space that has a sense of humour.
Botany
We tend to be skeptical of apartment bars. They usually pop up red-hot
then quietly disappear the moment interest dips below the tolerance of
the owner: a temporary novelty that lacks the tenacity to make it as a
proper bar. Botany is not this sort of apartment bar.
The menu at Botany sports the full gamut of big-boy scotches, whiskies,
bourbons, ryes and other brown stuff white men love to argue over the
proper designations thereof. Still, Botany is a cocktail bar, not a
spirit bar. Happily burn through a couple of hours in
the comfort of the plush, leather armchairs in the private cigar room.
Red Dog
Tucked underneath the stairs on the quieter side of the sprawling
complex, Red Dog is easy to miss from the outside. Inside is a different
story: a spacious bar and lounge with tiled floors, salacious
portraits, floral prints and a tropical colour palette. It’s a fun,
informal environment that’s easily the best use of a Sanlitun Soho
space we’ve encountered. What’s more, the bar has its own bathroom,
meaning you don’t have to leave its comfy environs and head back out to
the world of strip lighting and 7-Eleven when nature calls.
Shopping
Pop-Up Beijing
Launched by design duo Vito
Zhang and Glenn Schuitman, Pop-Up Beijing feels similar in many ways
to Lily’s Antiques, the gorgeous
furniture shop in the city’s famed
furniture market Gaobeidian.
That’s because Schuitman, a
Kiwi designer, was Lily’s former
chief designer and stylist for
two years before branching out on
his own.
Pop-Up aims to share its space
with the artistic community by
transforming it with – yep, you
guessed it – pop-up events such as
monthly flea markets by emerging
designers, movie screenings, wine tastings, sketching sessions and even a Sunday supper club.
Polyphony
The Topwin Center shop focuses on selling American comics and the store’s crisp white backdrop lets the bright pages of Batman, Deadpool and Dr Strange do all the talking. Visitors are welcome to hang out in the shop and browse Polyphony’s comics database of titles, all loaded up on iPads. It’s not all high-tech though, for those seeking a more tactile experience, original titles including Spiderman and X Men are also for sale.
Sanlipop
The second location of Sanlipop brings a pop of colour and fun to quiet Taikoo Li North. The company's 798 shop, M Goods, may have shuttered but the Sanlipop team is keeping us stocked with cutting-edge import clothing brands and playful homewares.
Algorithm
Located in the former Rumi space, this sleek shop specialises in local Chinese clothing brands, custom tailoring services, home decor and luxury toiletries. Algorithm also offers dinner, brunch, coffee and wine at their spacious upstairs restaurant and outdo
52 29286 52 15290 0 0 3403 0 0:00:08 0:00:04 0:00:04 3403or patio. With floor-to-ceiling windows and location on a shady stretch of Gongti beilu, the shop provides a great spot to stock up on designer duds and rest and refuel afterwards.