Sanlitun-三里屯

The Opposite House's expansive ground-floor bar Union takes cues from both secret societies and the Silk Road, making for an equally lavish and intimate setting with creative and spiced-up spins on classic cocktails.

Stylish southern Chinese eats and a spacious rooftop terrace are but a few of the attributes that make this Taikoo Li restaurant a winner.

The popular American fast seafood chain's Sanlitun branch has spiffier digs than its Stateside counterparts, along with a unique Sichuan chili topped lobster.

There are also plenty of old favorites on the menu like steamed lobsters from Maine (RMB 298 for 450g, RMB 596 for 900g or RMB 888 for 1.3 kg, each steamed with hot drawn butter), lobsters served Thermidor (roasted and doused in a creamy white mushroom sauce; RMB 398 for 450 g, RMB 788 for 900g or RMB 1088 for 1.3 kg) or Fra Diavolo (cooked in a mildly spicy tomato sauce and served on a bed of linguine pasta).

Mr. Chips' shtick by and large is to take the humble art of battering fish and deep-frying chips to a more sophisticated plain, and it works. One-man kitchen machine Zak El Hamdou previously acted as head chef at London's three-star Michelin Restaurant La Tante and Beijing's Cours Et Pavilions Hotel, using here his Midas touch here on everything from battered cod to scotch eggs and striped seabass to Norwegian salmon. And then there are of course the chips, which rank as some of the best and most authentic British-style chips in Beijing.

Managed by the same team that brought you avantgarde Dongsi venue Fruityspace, Frequent Collaborative aims to bring equally offbeat gigs to a posh neighborhood starved for such auditory oddities: Sanlitun.

This Japanese brand sells custard stuffed dough sticks and soft serve ice cream. They pride themselves on using high quality free-range milk from a farm on Japan's rustic Hokkaido island.

With its breezy decor, tiki-inspired cocktails, and young cooler-than-thou staff, Pi Bar is the perfect antidote to the polished and uptight cocktail bars of Sanlitun. It also begs to be called home by anyone wanting to spend long evenings perched outside chatting to new friends with an iced cocktail in hand, embracing the old summer mantra of "well, maybe I'll stay for one more."

A milk tea shop on the ground floor of Sanlitun Soho. In the summer of 2019 they began selling White Rabbit candy flavored ice cream and milk tea. 

The team at this bar, which includes former members of once thriving Jiaodaokou cocktail bar Bungalow Tiki, look to recapture that elder establishment's throwback glory in Sanlitun. Models of massive fish and whales dangle from the ceiling, equally aquatic themed paintings adorn the walls, and the cocktails include Lelaini vs the Volcano (RMB 75, made with Malibu rum, fresh pineapple, and lime and guava juices) and the Tropical Rainforest cocktail (RMB 75, consisting of Aperol, gin, and fresh pineapple, orange and lemon juices).

This velvet curtained stage, Jacobean furniture outfitted cocktail lounge looks to class up the notoriously sleazy Sanlitun Bar Street (pole dancers and karaoke bars, anyone?) with cocktails made with Hawthorne liqueur, tea, and other Chinese ingredients.