A sudden force majeure this year has changed the way we thought we were solid, especially for fun-loving, traveling people.

When the situation turned for the better, we began to think about how to restore our hobbies where we can, then staying in hotels in their own cities became the choice of many people. A few months ago, it was hard to find a room in a B&B on the outskirts of Beijing.

This weekend my friend and I took our fourth trip this year to stay in a B&B in downtown Beijing, bringing a new sense of freshness to our lives by taking a vacation at home.

The B&B we stayed at this day, "Hidden Sea", was found on Tujia.com, which I usually browse when I'm not doing anything, and I've collected a lot of B&Bs in Beijing's hutongs, each with its own distinctive location and style, some of which are hidden away from the world by the street, some are hidden in the hutongs, and some are mixed in with the restaurants.

Last year I went to Hidden Sea's restaurant twice, which is a self-traffic Netflix restaurant with a Michelin celebrity chef. This year I wanted to try its B&B. Hidden Sea B&B is not the daily habit of the hotel, concentrated in a courtyard or a building, but distributed in the area around Shichahai, hidden within many courtyards, there are several places in Xisi, Xinjiekou, Shichahai, so that's why the name of the Hidden Sea bar, hidden in the vicinity of Shichahai.

Our living room is in a hutong at the head of Xinjiekou Banqiao, surrounded by the houses of Beijing's indigenous people, with a strong sense of life. There are many restaurants and kiosks, so it is convenient for shopping and living.

Rimu Parlor is the name of this courtyard, which is divided into three guest rooms, two ordinary king-size bed rooms, and one is the Yanxiu duplex suite where we stayed. Push the door to enter is in the afternoon, the wall reflects the light and shadow of the courtyard trees, the trees sway, the wall of light and shadow sway, incomparable beauty of the corners and moments.

[Guest Room

The guest rooms have a total area of 60 square meters, spacious and bright, each room has floor-to-ceiling windows for light.

Entering the door is the master bedroom, a comfortable queen-size bed, equipped with electric mosquito coils, air purifiers, TVs and so on. It forms a characteristic space area of Hidden Sea Culture B&B.

The second bedroom is the second floor of the loft, a single tatami window, the stairs are too steep, not very suitable for adults, children will like.

Downstairs is a small living room, with lazy sofas, books and ancient make-up boxes waiting to be explored for a slow life here.

The bathrooms are large and there are two of them, so each of the two bedrooms has its own toilet and bathroom, keeping each private.

The problem with the room, you should add some color, wall decorations, pay attention to the details, enhance the design and avoid roughness.

[Kitchen + Yard

The room does not include breakfast, you need to buy it yourself or make it in the kitchen. The west wing of the courtyard is the kitchen, with a full range of cooking utensils and stoves, and four bottles of Arctic Ocean representing Beijing are also thoughtfully provided. The B&B can also provide barbecue service, and it is very cozy to eat barbecue in the courtyard.

Sleeping in the morning, waking up naturally, setting up tables and chairs with friends in the courtyard, eating big pancakes and drinking Arctic Ocean, looking up to the blue sky and persimmon trees, such a grounded life was once a daily routine, but has become a dream that can only be realized occasionally nowadays.

Hidden Sea has a total of 20 courtyards in Beijing's Shichahai area, 50 bed and breakfasts, two Chinese private kitchens, and three cafes. I haven't been to the cafes yet, so I'll continue to try out the rest of its wonderful places to live next time.

Hidden Sea Culture Space B&B (Beijing Xinjiekou Branch)

Tujia app, Tujia.com

Address：No.6, Banqiaotoujiao, Xicheng District, Beijing (West of North Gate of Jishuitan Hospital)

Neighborhood Recommendations:

Fook Wing Kee

Baozui Hutong is a treasure, with just the right amount of commerce, a strong city atmosphere, and residents still around, living as they did. When the time is free time often come to slip, here is also will play the foreigners favored.

Orchid brings us much more than that, small and beautiful, but also small and complete.

Passing by the entrance of Orchid, if you don't walk in, you won't find a popular Hong Kong-style teahouse Fook Wing Kee in front of the hotel hidden in the face of this ordinary Chinese restaurant, which opened in 2018 and has captured countless people who love Hong Kong-style teas and are deeply in love with the feelings of old Beijing.

The L-shaped space is clean during the day and warm at night, with white tiles and black boundaries, typical of Hong Kong store style. In fact, there are two large round tables in the innermost part, and then there is a small bar hidden inside, which only people with similar smells can enter.

Fook Wing Kee fuses the traditional skills of Hong Kong Dim Sum with modern flavors, and the neo-Cantoneseism menu is so full of snacks that you'll want to order any of them. The food is flavors brought back from visits to Shunde and Chaoshan. I do reject the fast fashion of mall stores and the stiffness of big restaurants, but this place has none of that - it's all about life, the smells from the neighbors passing by outside the window.

You can tell by the look on your kid's face when he eats it, loves to gobble it up.

My favorite is the dried scallop sauce phoenix claw, especially rotten especially flavorful, a cage drawer is not enough. But still leave some space to eat something else, boiled rice also have chicken claws oh - phoenix claw ribs steamed rice.

Others such as Fu Rong Ji mixed wonton, steamed broccoli with fermented bean curd, curry dumplings, fresh shrimp spring rolls, there is also a mustard flavor, must eat barbecued pork noodle in soup, Chen Village beef brisket intestinal noodles, rich in texture.

Fook Wing Kee Soda is very good oh, big chunks of ice, light sweet.

All prices are based on the size of the portion, small 18, large 26, top 36, super 48, fine 58 dollars.

Fook Wing Kee

Per capita: 105

Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11-21pm

Address：No.63 Baozui Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China

Private Room BAOJIAN

Hutong nightlife is very special, and those who know it well will walk into the innermost part of Fu Rong Ji and push open a dark wooden door, where a treasure bar is hidden, with a very interesting name, called BAOJIAN "private room".

BAOJIAN is hidden in the hotel and two restaurants in the center of the speakeasy bar, like the support of the whole building's central axis beam, different dimensions of the middle of the elevator, you need to push open the two doors, through the other areas in order to "dig" to the independent space, the process of searching is a kind of exploration of fun.

What the private room wants to present to people is a fun and interesting mixology, a cozy and modern environment, and a night of unlimited possibilities. Bartenders from Turkey have created a diverse wine list with unique base spirits and whiskeys collected from all over the world. We especially recommend "The Persimmon Tree Next Door", a private room sour made with coffee sugar that owner Joel brought back from his travels in Mexico and whiskey infused with wood spices, creating a sour that feels like you're eating persimmons when you drink it.

From the dark little bar room seeks the black steep rotating staircase to pick up the stairs, as if Super Mario has found the Tree of Heaven and climbed up to another world in the clouds to eat gold coins like exotic space, the end of the tree connects to one of Beijing's most popular bakeries, The Bake Shop.The Bake Shop, which specializes in American artisanal and freshly baked goods, appeared in 2017, and it was founded by The handmade bakery of two American artists living in Beijing, it bakes freshly every day in small but exquisite quantities. With naturally leavened sourdough breads, chewy bagels, typical American handmade cookies and sweet shortbreads, they wanted to give people in Beijing the kind of bread that Western families eat.

However it never had a physical store until 2019, when this soul got a physical body and The Bake Shop married The Orchid. you can buy American soft cookies, sweet pastries, dips, open sandwiches, hot-pressed sandwiches, etc. in this super mini offline experience store, which offers more interesting ways to eat bread, and fresh ingredients and creative recipes presented for takeout Bagels are a hot seller for daily seconds. But remember the time, it closes at 18:00 oh.

At 5 p.m., the private rooms began to open, this is the best time to watch the sunset. The autumn sun is no longer blazing, and through the gaps in the large persimmon trees spills onto the white stone houses, with their layers of green tiles and densely layered roofs, where we easily have the most beautiful skyline of Gulou.

BAOJIAN

Per capita: 140

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 17-24pm

The Bake Shop

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10-18pm

Address: No.63 Baozui Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China

Toast at The Orchid

Walking through the lonely streetlights of the alleyways, using the public toilets and kiosks as a reference point to feel my way back to my room. This experience gave me the illusion of traveling as a local.

What actually made The Orchid famous was its terrace restaurant built on the roof, Toast at The Orchid, which was initially just a place for residents to have breakfast, but the place was so beautiful and the demand from the guests was so great that in 2015 it became a Middle Eastern Mediterranean style restaurant open to everyone.

For the sake of the patio residents' experience, the restaurant, which is open to the public, uses a separate entrance, no longer taking the backyard stairs, but following the canes straight up to the sky, where winding paths unveil one space after another.

Standing on the high terrace, looking into the distance, the city and fragmentation of a few moments ago disappears out of sight, and in a few days, it will be time for the Ogai persimmons to ripen.

Since English has entered people's lives, the word one has become a paradoxical habit. I remember in my first year I asked my teacher why there was one when it was already the most, just one, and no one has been able to give me an answer yet. But I do know that Toast, rated as one of the most in-hutong terrace restaurants in Beijing, is incomparable and unrepeatable by those so-called terraces built on the roofs of buildings.

Since the beauty of this place can't be pretended away, you must sit on the garden terrace and order a brunch designed by Joel himself to take away in your stomach. Afternoon tea and formal dinners are also available at Toast.

It's only natural to have a Middle Eastern-style meal at a Middle Eastern-style restaurant, and we met the popular Israeli North African egg, the Shakshuka Shakshuka Vegetable Egg Stew, served with long-lost Pita Cakes, which are baked with organic black wheat flour from Shaanxi.

I've never been able to tell the difference between an English breakfast and an American breakfast, and what was written on the menu at Toast confirms what may be a source of confusion for many: what's actually on an English breakfast, even Sherlock Holmes couldn't tell us, so we were left to our own devices. That plate with tomatoes, spinach, pork sausage, baked potatoes, and hollandaise eggs in a western folding dish is it too.

In addition to that there are options such as Iron Baked Eggs, Sweetie Tough Toast, Sandwich Complete, Yogurt Concentrate, and Healthiest of the Healthy, and the accompanying beverages can be refreshed as well.

There is good wine for those who love to drink, good scenery for those who love to take photos, good meals for those who love to eat, and B&Bs for those who want to stay in every one of them ......

And not having been here is a real regret.

Toast at The Orchid

Opening Hours: 11:00-21:00

Per capita: 140 RMB Afternoon Tea: 188 RMB for two persons, brunch and dinner are available, reservation is required.

Address：No.65 Baoqi Hutong, Gulou East Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, P.R.C..

Author：that's good

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