Sanlitun Slowly Comes Back to Life – At Least During Daylight

With the weather warming, the air quality great and the sun shining, Sanlitun has been 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.

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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.

Photos: Michael Wester