Going underground

The restaurant is the vision of its owner, Wang Xiaoshen, who set out to create an ethereal playground for his customers. "I hope when my guests walk into the restaurant, they will forget about the problems in the real world and just enjoy a meal or a drink," says the 26-year-old.

With his second Beijing eatery, Wang was looking to refine his initial concept after his first restaurant, which opened in a hutong (traditional alley) in 2016, didn't fulfill all his ideas.

"I named the first one Meeting Someone, as I think everyone has a few special someones in their lives," Wang says. "This second restaurant is a place where you can just be yourself."

Wang used to work for an investment bank in the United States but decided a life of office work was not for him. After visiting Beijing in 2016, the Shanghai native decided to move to the capital from Los Angeles and open a restaurant in the hope of creating a life for himself where each day was guaranteed to be different.