Big Things Come in Tiny Packages

Nanluo Guxiang’s cozy café-bar 12SQM may very well be the smallest watering hole in Beijing. But, that isn’t to say it’s lacking in any amenity—other than space—you would find elsewhere. The bar has a range of vodkas and other spirits, Qingdaos (¥15), Hoegaardens (¥35) and even its own house cocktail, Beijing Sky (¥25), which surprisingly is blue rather than grey. Owners Joseph and Li Mei created the homey barroom, which only has one table, as a place for themselves rather than for profit. “We took an old lady’s house, and instead of demolishing it and putting up something shiny, we tore down the plaster and came up with something beautiful and old,” says Joseph. Somehow, despite the backlit shelves of liquor and the heavy duty espresso machine, these small confines still look like home sweet home.

–Blake Stone-Banks