Sanlitun Village North pursues one thing, and one thing alone: style. Never mind whether its inhabitants hail from Paris or Guangzhou – so long as their products are classy, creative and chic, they’ll fit right in.

Which is why we weren’t at all surprised to see Chinese label Even Penniless join the ranks, quietly and seamlessly, a few months ago. The New York Times calls the designer “one of the most exciting local names in young fashion.” A Hangzhou fashion school graduate, Gao Xin grew his brand in the cutthroat fashion world of Shanghai – yet his talent for minimalist design separated him from the rest.

This casual crab house and bar is the first in Beijing to offer a big variety of American-style crab dishes. Crabs, from Alaskan king to Australian snow crab to English bread crab, are held in a big blue tank by the entrance for diners to pick, and no matter which dish you choose, the execution is just right, whether it is the tender and fresh crab salad, the hearty crab cake, or any of the other seafood dishes.

The sleek stone and wood design of this new Tongli eatery make an excellent backdrop for their hand crafted sandwiches. Served on freshly baked bread with a side of tortilla chips and sweet salsa, sandwiches run the gamut of traditional deli favorites, from pastrami on rye; bacon, eggs, lettuce and tomato; and ham and cheese.

The entrance to this modern, industrial-chic restaurant may be hard to find, but if you and your friends are looking to try some traditional and not-so-traditional Chinese dishes, it might be worth the search. Yue serves Chinese-based fusion cuisine, ranging from standard Sichuan and Hunan-style dishes such as hot and sour chicken feet (deboned) and Chinese yams with blueberries, to reinvented classics such as wasabi-infused “miracle” shrimp balls.

As a celebrity chef who has traveled the world for his more than two decade long TV show “Yan Can Cook,” Martin Yan knows there’s nothing more fun than food. He’s brought that very notion to Beijing’s latest restaurant, which features an open and interactive kitchen, internationally inspired Asian dishes and decorations styled after the Dunhuang murals and Chinese mountainscapes.