Lots of changes mean lots of choices for Beijingers this spring and summer. Not satisfied with burgers and seafood, the Let's franchise will expand into noodles with Let's Pasta in July, opening in Sanlitun Village South. The new venue will use a choose-your-own-pasta concept, including not only Italian, but also Hong Kong and Japanese-style recipes.

Chinese New Year is great! (Chinese New Year is boring.) There's family to see and warmth to share! (I just got back from Christmas overseas and all my friends are heading out of town.) Hey, maybe I'll get a few hongbao! (Damnit, more of this giving-money-away business?!) We're all gonna make dumplings and eat sweets! (I've blocked out my last solo jiaozi-making venture, it was too traumatizing!) Check out this massive pile of fireworks my uncle bought for us! (How am I going to sleep this week?!)

The only annoying part is that my favorite restaurant is closed ... boo! (I can't even get a decent meal.)

Love Chinese New Year or hate it, we can all agree – restaurant closings are a massive downer during the holiday period. For your edible convenience, we've compiled a list of restaurants that will still serve you up a feast during the upcoming vacation.

The exodus has begun. Many will surely have noticed an improvement in traffic that cant be attributed to the new traffic implementations. Jianbing stalls and little street trinket stalls are becoming sparse. People are on the move.

So for those of us who will be here over spring festival, what will be open and closed over the break?

Qianmen Dajie

After extensive renovation Qianmen Dajie has arisen from the construction dust as a Qing Dynasty Disney with only a few laozihao shops and restaurants to keep it going. At the northern end two trams provide the first photo stop, with posing and cries of “qiezi” also culminating from outside the Quanjude further south of the Dang Dang Che. As over ninety percent of the shop fronts currently lie vacant, the street only really offers one very long photo opportunity, if you’re after some shopping turn right onto Dazhalan (Beijingers say da shi lan'r), however, card-carrying philatelists should continue down to number 84 for the China Post Philately Hall. Unfortunately, we found that the few restaurants on the strip had already been booked out for lunch by 11.30am on a Tuesday, so it’s best to eat elsewhere. Although tea and jade stores seek to be the main draw, we preferred the scattered old black and white photographs, birdcage streetlights and door stone trashcans.

Until recently, the local front in the Nike versus adidas war has been played out on the billboards lining Wangfujing and Xidan. The two global brands are also struggling to be the providers of whatever sporting apparel athletes choose, or are instructed, to wear at the Beijing Olympics. The competition between the two brands in the Chinese market heats up with the opening of adidas' flagship store at Sanlitun's village tonight. The Beijinger's Fashion and Beauty Editor Halla Mohieddeen got a chance to take a sneak peek at the store yesterday and gives us her take below. Images by Simon Lim

adidas Brand Center
Daily 10am-10pm. Bldg 11, South Area, Sanlitun Village, 19 Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District.
朝阳区三里屯南路19号11幢

Designed to create a village within a city, the striking development in the heart of Sanlitun is slowly taking shape. The boards have come down, and we're now starting to see more of the eclectic mix of structures that will make up the shopping and entertainment district. The first store to throw open its doors is the new adidas Brand Center, adidas' global flagship store.

Boasting 3,170 sqm of floor space, this new store will be adidas’ largest worldwide. What's more, it brings together all the brand's concept lines under one roof, another first for the brand. This means that whether you want shoes, kids clothing, accessories and apparel, or lines such as Y-3 or adidas by Stella McCartney, it's now all available under one roof.