This cafe lies somewhere between a lending library, coffee shop, and restaurant-bar and its originality and service for the Beijing English-language-book readers has proven invaluable. With its high-ceilings and simple, open layout, just sitting and soaking up the atmosphere is a pleasure.

The walls are lined top-to-bottom with bookshelves, whose volumes can be taken out and returned through a library membership system that you can join for a very reasonable 300 yuan/year, and which gets you a 10-percent discount on menu items and cheaper access to the cafe’s many events. In view of the fact that many of the volumes are difficult to get ahold of in China, the Bookworm is a godsend for the more veracious readers. The drink and food are comprehensive and fairly sophisticated, to suite the tastes of the upwardly mobile clientele.

This is a popular venue for visiting authors who can provide readings, which are often packed, with a wide cross section of local and expat visitors. Check their website for upcoming events. So, the Bookworm isn’t just an ordinary coffee shop-bar-restaurant – it’s a Beijing institution. And, for the more dispersed, there are Chengdu and Suzhou branches as well.

Bookworm Cafe

Average Cost: 250 RMB

Phone: +86 10-6586-9507

Address: 4 Sanlitun Nan Jie, Chaoyang district, Beijing

Hours: 9:00 am-midnight