We asked notable Beijingers: "What's on your bookshelf?" Here's how expat entrepreneur Dominic Johnson-Hill answered:

Until now, Beijing’s Australian bars have tended to be smaller, down-to-earth places for having a beer and a laugh with your mates, or whoever’s around. The Astral’s five-star location (complete with 15 percent service charge) suits sipping cocktails (RMB 68) rather than Coopers, but there’s a distinct Australian theme.

Settled in wood and wicker booths overlooking a warren of hutongs, diners straddle the border between Beijing and Bangkok at this refined Thai restaurant. With decorations, key ingredients (like galanga and lemongrass) and a chef imported from Thailand, Patara is rigorously authentic.

We asked notable Beijingers: "What's on your bookshelf?" Here's how Evan Osnos, China correspondent for the New Yorker magazine, answered:

We asked notable Beijingers: "What's on your bookshelf?" Here's how Dr. Geoff Raby, the Australian ambassador to China, answered:

It’s been an age coming, but the CBD’s luxury Fairmont hotel is up and running. Lunar 8 is one of its food outlets – a large, pan-Asian a la carte restaurant in the vein of IFW and Made in China.

Junot Diaz, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is coming to town as part of The Bookworm International Literary Festival. Ahead of his visit, we had the chance to ask him about the challenge of teaching at M.I.T., his thoughts on the Haiti earthquake, and why people who read can be considered a special tribe.

This folksy restaurant near Houhai joins a tiny number of places in the capital serving barbecued meat the old Beijing way.

We asked notable Beijingers: "What's on your bookshelf?" Here's how Zhang Lijia, author of the memoir "Socialism is Great," answered:

My favorite childhood book was a cartoon version of Journey to the West, because it was one of the very few fun books available to Chinese children in the 1970s.

The Bookworm's Literary Festival kicks of TONIGHT (Friday, March 5), so over the next few weeks we'll be asking notable Beijingers: "What's on your bookshelf?" Who better to start with than Alex Pearson, owner of the Bookworm?