In Search of Beijing’s Best Reading Cafes

Helen Wang | Jul 29, 2021 2:55 pm | Add a comment | 279 reads

In a city with practicality, money, and no classics, we see the quiet Beijinger. Its youngest live in two worlds: the television static, and the cradle. Its oldest between the hospitals and telephones. Finally, the readers. They live in paragraphs more often than on earth. They speak with so much passion, and we want to be the main character of their books.

From the youngest to the oldest, there is a search for perfect places, the sweet shapes of coffee, cushions, and chords. They are found in the following compendium, those bookstores sequestered in quiet streets, some cafés flowing with Clair De Lune instead of cups. Where rabbit holes lead to typewriters, all hiding in a languorous afternoon, a summer in Beijing.

Central Perk Café

Friends is more than a beloved 90s sitcom. It’s a comfort blanket, a rainy nap, and sweet laughter. The Central Perk Café where Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe spent their very lives is now situated in Soho. The couch, the blinds, the lace lamp, everything remains if only memories stay.

Address: 北京朝阳朝阳区朝阳门外大街乙6号朝外SOHOA座0616室
(Běijīng zhāoyáng zhāoyáng qū zhāoyáng mén wài dàjiē yǐ 6 hào cháo wài)
Room 0616, Chaowai SOHOA Building, No. 6 Chaoyangmenwai Street B, Chaoyang District

Café Clark

A Japanese or Korean-style café offers a panacea for any ailment. They beautify the confetti of life in woodwork, its details, and escapes. Café Clark has the cherubic cushions, Zakka scenes, Ghibli comics, and lo-fi incantations of a quintessential Asian bookstore café. Would you not read a little (long) chunk of noon away, and breathe in, breathe out, to feel that increasingly foreign concept of belonging.

Address: 青年路29号华纺易城小区19-02号底商（近润枫水尚）
(Qīngnián lù 29 hào huá fǎng yì chéng xiǎoqū 19-02 hào dǐ shāng)
No. 19-02, Huafang Yicheng Community, 29 Qingnian Road (near Runfeng Shuishang)

But wait, there's more! This blog comes from our sister site, Jingkids International.