This month, we’ve checked out all the stops on Line 6 to tell you about the gems that you shouldn’t wait to discover in our station-by-station Going Underground special.

SELLING POINT
It’s the thrivingest commercial district outside the East Fourth Ring Road. Chaoyang Joy City draws the crowds and noise like a mercantile magnet. There’s also a healthy street-hawker scene.

NIBBLE
It would probably take you a month to eat your way through all the mall’s restaurants. But don’t forget to leave some room for the nouveau spring rolls at Hen You Mian (6/F). Everybody orders the potato-and-cheese version, but we prefer the crisply hot banana-cream spring roll.

GROCERY-SHOP
Is hypermarket still the term they use for these grocery + general merchandise superstores? It seems to apply here at JUSCO, the mall’s basement supermarket – not because the atmosphere is frantic, but because you might be overstimulated by the Japanese-sourced selection of candies and snacks. The Japanese influence also shows up in the skin care brands, a disconcertingly large selection of hand-warmers, and in the storage and cleaning tools that Japanese housewives rely on to keep their homes immaculate.

BAKE
In Japan, ABC Cooking Studio (B1/F) mastered the art of making cookery look irresistible. The immaculate teaching kitchen in Chaoyang Joy City marks their Beijing debut. A course here would be the perfect gift for the girl in your life who squeals and claps when she’s happy. Their cake courses cover everything from napoleons and molten chocolate lava cakes to tarte tatin and Bûche de Noël. The bread course goes from basic croissants and baguettes to stollen and panettone. And their cooking course apparently teaches you to make a bento box of world-class cuteness. In other words, after you’ve finished this course, you’ll be able to open up your own Pekotan.

This article originally appeared on page 16 in the February issue of the Beijinger.

Photo: Lova