Putting up with (to Western ears) unusual music selection is just part and parcel of eating out in Beijing. The Subway sandwich shop just north of the CITIC building near Ritan Park has taken this concept to an entirely new level by introducing two key innovations:

a) restricting the music entirely to boy bands popular between 1996 and 2001, including some gems I'd never heard of before, like A1, and Point Break (who, unlike the ridiculous/awesome Keanu Reeves surfing movie of the same name, are just ridiculous).

b) rather than simply piping in their music, showing said boy bands' music videos

As I sat there, somehow simultaneously slack-jawed and eating my spicy Italian sub (just one of the many dining editor superpowers I possess), I could hardly believe the sublime absurdity of what I was watching. I didn't want to watch, and yet I couldn't turn away.

For example, take the absolutely terrifying music video of a song by Point Break called "Freaky Time"

Or Westlife's love letter to Japan, the music video for the hilariously-titled "I Lay My Love On You" (which, regrettably, I can't embed in this blog entry)

None of the videos I saw, though, could top the Non-USA music video for "I'll Never Break Your Heart", by The Houjie Boys themselves.

Yup, nothing says fidelity like Nick Carter in a turtleneck.

So if you're nostalgic for that time back when boy bands ruled the earth, hotfoot it over to the CITIC Subway, and tell them no, you will most certainly not be carrying out; tell them you're there for the food, and you're there for the boys.