678 Bar

If you're in the area, why not pop in

If you’re in the area, it’s worth walking through the sliding doors to the quaint 678 cafébar on Dongsiliutiao. While the downstairs is a trendy bar – neon lights and red pod chairs – walking up the spiral staircase (above a funky little water feature) is like moving from Bauhaus to Laura Ashley.

Upstairs is more of a café area, with comfy purple floral sofas that can seat no more than around 12 people. There’s also a large screen which, on our visit, was showing photos from the owners’ travels.

With free Wi-Fi, the upstairs room feels like a place to bring a laptop and get down to some workwhile drinking one of the café’s hot drinks, such as apple ginger coffee (28RMB) and ‘Soulful Blackberry’ herbal tea (40RMB).

If you fancy a drink in the quietlyfunky downstairs, beers range from Tsingtao (20RMB) to Corona (35RMB), while there are a few reasonably priced red wines, from the Pavillon Royal Bordeaux (30RMB/glass) to the Lafite Reserve Speciale Bordeaux (30RMB/glass).

There’s also a fairly standard range of cocktails, with Singapore Slings coming in at 30RMB. Really, 678 isn’t doing much new, but then it doesn’t do much wrong either.

It’s just nice – and whether you think that’s a good or a bad thing is really up to you. Toby Skinner

678 67-1 Dongsiliutiao, Dongcheng district (6405 7678). Open 3am-2pm daily.