Sanlitun Slowly Comes Back to Life – At Least During Daylight

With the weather warming, the air quality great, and the sun shining, Sanlitun is slowly coming back to life.

While after dark the city's most famous nightlife district still remains a shadow of its former self, there's a distinct increase in foot traffic during the daytime, with Beijingers eager to grab a breath of fresh air.

Taikoo Li North and South as well as the rows of restaurants in the embassy area near Sanlitun Beixiaojie have been a hotspot for people finished with their quarantines and wanting some open-air distractions.

A walkaround this week revealed that many F&B venues' outdoor seating areas were dotted with patrons (though seating indoors has lagged). It's a welcome sign that we're in the early stages of a return to normalcy.

Ironically, most of the venues in the embassy area had all their outdoor seating removed last July in what seemed at the time to be another step in the elimination of all streetside café life.

Perhaps now with a heavy emphasis on keeping people from congregating in indoor spaces, city planners will reconsider their relentless pursuit of closing all street-level restaurants, bars, and cafés and forcing them into malls and office basement food courts.

Here's a partial list of places that have outdoor seating:

Taikooli South, North, and in-between: Hulu, Cafe Flo, Red Lobster, Starbucks (second floor), First Floor, Ace Cafe, %Arabica, Let’s Burger Plus, Our Bakery / Bad Farmers.

Sanlitun Beixiaojie area: Serve the People, Peter Pan, Alameen, Liyun Fresh Juice (April gourmet), In and out, Da Giuliano, Panino Teca.

READ: Ikea Bans Lying Down on Furniture (No, for Real This Time)

Photos: Michael Wester

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admin wrote:

f00dwh0re wrote:

This piece is so damn, hmmm... infantile. 

Luckily we have witty, insightful commenters such this ... otherwise there would be no reason at all to visit this website!

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

f00dwh0re wrote:

This piece is so damn, hmmm... infantile. 

thank god for witty, insightful comments like this ... otherwise there would be no reason at all to visit this website!

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

I would like to ask returning expats to stop being selfish. I have seen numerous people on expat groups complaining about having to do quarantine, how they have to do it, queues at the airport, and even complaining about not being allowed to do quarantine with their Chinese neighbours who never left China! Many expats have taken advantage of a very extended holiday abroad, and now would like to return to China with no consequences. Their thoughts are not for the people here who have endured two months in isolation and who don't now want to be infected by someone irresponsible - their thoughts are for themselves and their own convenience. Please stop! It's embarrassing to witness this display of extreme disregard for other human beings

Suzan Tokdemir

This piece is so damn, hmmm... infantile.