Central Perk: The Café from Friends Comes to Beijing

Are you a Friends nut? Ever wish you could sit on that famous couch and pretend you were Jennifer Aniston? Well Beijingers, it’s your lucky day – Central Perk, a dead-on copy of the café from the hit show, has opened in the Chaowai Soho complex.

The tiny café does indeed look just like the one in the show, down to the last detail – the handwritten menu on the wall, the brick interior, and of course, the iconic orange couch. The atmosphere is completed by a TV screening DVDs of Friends with Chinese subtitles.

Owner Du Xin told the Beijinger, “I’m crazy about the TV show. When I finished watching it, I really wanted to sit on that orange couch.” So when he couldn’t find any place in Beijing like Central Perk, he created one himself.

Since opening a few weeks ago, Du says he has had a mixed clientele of locals and expats, although when the Beijinger visited the tiny café was full to standing with an exclusively local crowd.

“I expected a lot of college students,” he said, adding it’s very common for Chinese students to watch American TV to improve their English. Due to the café’s CBD location, Du says many who work in the area also stop in for a coffee.

On top of the cozy atmosphere, Central Perk offers another CBD rarity – cheap coffee. The most expensive latte on the (Chinese-only) menu is only RMB 20. If you can’t read Chinese, don’t worry – the staff’s English is impeccable.

Central Perk, Chaowai SOHO, 6 Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, Building A, Suite 0616. 朝阳门外大街,朝外SOHO,A区0616室.