Best Brunch With a View in Beijing: Great Food and Better Scenery
Words by
Mei Lin
Beijing has never been a city that rushes through mornings. If you are hunting for the best brunch with a view in Beijing, you are not just chasing eggs and coffee, you are chasing the feeling of watching the city wake up from somewhere impossibly elevated, or sitting beside water while the morning haze lifts off the hutongs. I have spent years working weekend mornings in this city, notebook in hand, translating menus and memorising which terrace fills up first when the autumn light turns gold, and these are the places that keep pulling me back for another long, lazy scenic brunch in Beijing.
Rooftop Brunch Beijing: The Forest pan, 5/F, Nali Patio, Sanlitun
The Forest pan occupies that glass-walled corner on Nali Patio just south of The Village, five floors up, and the rooftop deck faces the workers compound across Chaoyang Nanli. You first see it when you come up the outdoor stairway near the elevator, and if you get there before 10am on a Saturday, the whole West terrace is still mostly empty.
The avocado toast is done with sour dough from a bakery in Gulou and a generous squeeze of lemon, and they also do a full English breakfast that leans heavier on the black pudding and baked beans. The scrambled eggs are soft folded, not overcooked.
What to Order: Smoked salmon bagel plus a fresh grapefruit juice
Best Time: Saturday 9:30 am, West terrace before the lunch crowd
The Vibe: Expats mixing with local creatives mid-scroll on laptops, service below average after 11am
Local Tip: Use the side stair at the south end of Nali Patio, everyone queues at the main entrance lift but the side stair gets you past three tables of people already seated
Waterfront Brunch Beijing: TRB Hutong, 23 Shatan Beijie, Dongcheng
I first ate here in 2019, two years after they moved into what was once a tobacco warehouse on the edge of the Imperial City wall. The dining rooms are not strictly outdoors, but through the restored red door and down a short flagstone path you can see the grey bricks of the old city wall, and on a clear morning the whole compound feels like you are brunching inside a courtyard museum. This is one of those rare places where the sense of place is part of the food.
The weekday brunch set is a reasonable price fixed course. It starts with a bread basket that includes mini mantou rolls, then a cold dish going through to eggs and a protein, the kitchen is European technical but every sauces gets an occasional Asian element. For a scenic brunch Beijing purist the back courtyard table near the old wall is where you want to sit. Order the set brunch, ask for a courtyard table 15 minutes early.
What to Order: Weekday brunch set, add the Peking duck pancake
Best Time: Weekday mornings 10am, or Saturday for the full experience
The Vibe: Formal European in the dining rooms, relaxed almost domestic in the courtyard
Local Tip: Enter from the north gate on Shatan Beijie, avoid the narrow alley on Jingshan Dongjie which backs up with tour groups by noon
Rooftop Brunch Beijing: Top Floor, Hotel Éclat Beijing, Parkview Green FangCaoDi
The Parkview Green FangCaoDi complex rises just west of the Lufthansa Centre and faces the old Electronic Business District along Jianguomenwai Daje. I first came up here in winter when the whole atrium was full of that cascading Zaha Hadid interior, but the rooftop restaurant on top of Hotel Éclat has its own private terrace that faces south over the trees in the landscaped deck garden.
This is a high-end brunch, this menu is a la carte and dishes come out plated on thin white ceramics. The eggs royale has good hollandaise, not too thick, and the wagyu burger on brioche is properly seasoned. If you ask for the terrace when you book, they try to seat you under the slatted wood overhang where the wind drops. The skyline is not the most dramatic in Beijing, but from this angle you can see the China World Trade towers both of them off your left shoulder, and the trees below break up the glass without blocking it.
What to Order: Eggs royale with a side of truffle fries, espresso martini if you want to lean into it
Best Time: Sunday 11 am, ask for a terrace table five days ahead
The Vibe: Corporate weekend crowd and hotel guests, service is polished and efficient but also quite formal
Local Tip: Park in the underground garage off Jingtai Lu, the entrance on the east side of the complex has its own private lift to the hotel lobby so you skip the shopping mall entirely
Scenic Brunch Beijing: Soloist Cafe, Hao Hutong cafe, Jiu Gulou Daje, Dongcheng
Out the back there is a narrow wooden staircase that leads up to a rooftop with low benches running along the south parapet. From here you are face-to-face with Gulou, the old drum tower, and the CCTV building is off on a clear day behind it. Soloist has been in this hutong since before most of the gentrification started, and that back story gives the place a realness that a lot of newer hutong cafes cannot replicate.
The coffee is single origin and they rotate origins every few weeks. The banana bread is dense and not too sweet, and they do a bacon and egg roll that is bigger than it looks. But this come for the perch, not a full kitchen. There is a rooftop seating area in the back. The parapet is low enough that you can rest your elbows on it, which is perfect if you just want coffee, something small to eat and an hour of watching the city wake up. The hutong foot traffic below starts to pick up late morning so go early.
What to Order: V60 filter coffee and the bacon and egg roll
Best Time: Weekday 9am, weekends get crowded fast and the rooftop fills by 10:30
The Vibe: Creative types and neighbourhood regulars, the narrow staircase is not accessible for wheelchairs
Local Tip: Walk north from Gulou metro exit C then cut into the hutong on the east side of Jiu Gulou Daje, the alley is unmarked and every tourist overshoots it by one hutong to the east
Rooftop Brunch Beijing: Atmosphere, 8/F, China World Center, 1 Jianguomenwai Daje, Chaoyang
Atmosphere is one of the original rooftop bars in Beijing and it is still at the top of China World Trade Center Tower 3, sixty-three floors up. People come here for the happy hour sundowners, but what most visitors miss is that they do a proper weekend brunch that runs from late morning into the early afternoon and if you sit along the west side of the restaurant, you look straight down Changan Jie toward Tiananmen. It is one of the only places in the city where that sightline exists at brunch altitude.
The menu is mostly Western European with dim sum options. The eggs Florentine is reliable, and the lobster benedict is the showpiece dish. The juice list is extensive and if you ask for a seat near the west-facing windows they try to accommodate you. The sunset is great, but on a clear Sunday morning the light coming in from the east is softer and you avoid the cocktail crowd.
What to Order: Lobster benedict plus a fresh watermelon juice, or dim sum baskets if you want a local twist
Best Time: Sunday 11:30 am, request west-facing windows at booking
The Vibe: Business brunch meets celebration brunch, background DJ from midday onward
Local Tip: Take the dedicated lift from the China World lobby, not the shopping mall lifts that drop you on the wrong floor and leave you wandering corridors
Waterfront Brunch Beijing: The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu Great Wall
This one technically counts, even though it is an hour and a half northeast of the CB along the Jingcheng Expressway. The Schoolhouse restaurant is inside the Mutianyu Great Wall scenic area at the base of the wall, and they serve a weekend brunch to a mix of day-trippers and overnight guests from the Commune hotel compound. The best tables are on the terrace that faces the valley and from here you can see the wall zigzagging up both ridges.
The menu includes a dim sum basket, seasonal stir-fried vegetables and a surprisingly good eggs Benedict done with local free-range eggs. The coffee is pour-over roasted nearby. After brunch you can walk up the wall, but the smart move is to take the detour onto the unrestored section below the cable car, where tourists almost never go and the brickwork still shows Ming-era repair patches.
What to Order: Eggs Benedict plus the seasonal vegetable stir-fry
Best Time: Arrive 9:30 am on a weekend, ask for a table at the left end of the terrace nearest the wall when you book
The Vibe: Eco-resort calm among the wide stone terraces and pine trees, not the atmosphere of a typical scenic area
Local Tip: Use the Commune hotel's private shuttle from the Lido Metropark hotel inBeijing if you want to skip the traffic; the main road into Mutianyu backs up badly on Saturdays after 11am
Rooftop Brunch Beijing: Mercante, 9 Fangjia Hutong, Dongcheng
Mercante is a tiny Italian restaurant buried deep in the hutongs west of Nanluoguxiang and in the summers they open a small upstairs terrace that looks out over a patchwork of grey roofs and tree canopies. From here you can almost see the tops of the old courtyard trees that belong to some of some of the neighbourhood siheyuan along Dongmianhua Hutong. It is not a skyline view, but it is the most convincing "old Beijing from above" experience I have found within the Second Ring Road.
For brunch they do prossecco with bitter orange Aperol spritz, plus a full Italian breakfast board with cold cuts and cheese. The baked eggs in tomato sauce come in a small cast-iron pan and are rich enough to share. This place fills quickly on weekends, arrive before 11 or expect to wait 30 minutes for a terrace seat.
What to Order: The Italian breakfast board and baked eggs in a small cast iron pan plus a spritz
Best Time: Sunday 10 am sharp for terrace seating, avoid post-11am wait times
The Vibe: Intimate and convivial among low white-washed walls with exposed brick, limited accessibility due to the narrow staircase
Local Tip: Enter from the east end of the hutong off Di'anmen Dongdaje, the western entrance near Jiaodaokou is sometimes locked on weekday mornings
Scenic Brunch Beijing: Cafe Zarah, 42 Gulou Xidaje, Xicheng
Cafe Zarah has been sitting at the corner of Gulou Xidaje and the hutong that leads down to the old Drum Tower, sitting directly above a small gallery space on the ground floor. The rooftop is one of the few spots in the area where you can take in the Drum Tower, the Bell Tower and a sliver of Houhai on a clear day, all without paying an entrance fee or squeezing onto a public viewing platform.
The brunch menu is solid European all day. They do an eggs florentine and also do a Beijing brunch set with dumplings. The coffee is decent cappuccino, though the real draw is the morning vantage point. The rooftop seats only about twelve people in total so by 11am on a weekend you are almost certainly queuing.
What to Order: Cappuccino and eggs benedict plus a dumpling side if you want the Beijing twist
Best Time: Weekday 9:30 to 10 am for an unobstructed Drum Tower view
The Vibe: Low-key European meets hutong energy, rooftop capacity is very limited
Local Tip: If the rooftop is full, the window tables on the second floor still give you a good angled view of Gulou and are immediately available
Scenic Brunch Beijing: The Orchard, 46 Beisihuan Xilu, Haidian
Up in Haidian along the flat straight stretch of Beihuan West Road, The Orchard is technically a farm-to-table operation attached to an agricultural technology park next to the Summer Palace scenic area. The dining hall has big picture-windows that look out across raised-bed vegetable plots toward the park's tree belt, and when the November wind is down and the smog has cleared you can actually see the outline of the hills to the west.
They do a weekday egg croissant sandwich, plus a big sharing platter salads and charcuterie boards. The bread is baked on site. The indoor-outdoor flow glass doors roll back completely in good weather and you end up half outside. In the orchard section you can see rows of apple trees and raised vegetable beds.
What to Order: Sharing platters of salads and charcuterie boards plus fresh juice
Best Time: Weekday late morning before tour buses roll into the Summer Palace
The Vibe: Rural calm improbably close to a six-lane road; service is relaxed to the point of slow when the tour buses roll in
Local Tip: Take the East Gate of the Summer Palace then walk north about 300 metres along the footpath, the signboard is small and easy to miss
When to Go and What to Know
Beijing's brunch scene is at its best between late March and mid May and again from late September through early November when humidity is low and visibility is at its peak. Summer brunch on a rooftop is brutal from late June through August if the temperature breaks 35C and the haze rolls in. Winter has its own charm, Atmosphere and the Hotel Éclat rooftop in particular are heated, but outdoor terraces mostly close from late November through February.
Most places take bookings through their own WeChat mini-programs. Weekend terrace tables go within hours of opening the booking window so set a reminder for 8am on Monday for the following Saturday. Tipping is not mandatory but rounding up or leaving 10 percent at Western style restaurants is appreciated.
Public transport is almost always faster than taxis for brunch distances within the Fourth Ring Road. If you are heading out to Mutianyu or the Summer Palace then a booked car service is more realistic, especially on Saturday mornings when expressways back up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there any specific dress codes or cultural etiquettes to keep in mind when local spots in Beijing?
Most brunch cafes in the hutongs have no dress code at all and people show up in gym clothes on Sunday mornings. Atmosphere and Hotel Éclat lean smart-casual and overtly sporty outfits stand out. When dining in traditional style restaurants you should not stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice. Tipping is not part of local custom but a 10 percent gratuity is appreciated at Western managed venues.
What is the one must-try local specialty food or drink that Beijing is famous for?
Zhajiangmian is the city's signature noodle dish and many brunch places around Gulou now serve a lighter brunch version with a smaller portion of the fermented soybean paste. Douzhi is a fermented mung bean drink that tastes like sour cereal and is found at morning market stalls near Jiumen Xiaochi. It is polarising, but worth trying once.
How easy is it to find pure vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based dining options in Beijing?
Vegetarian restaurants have existed here for centuries because of Buddhist temple cuisine, and chains like King's Joy in the Chaoyang district offer high-end plant based set menus. Among brunch specific venues, The Orchard and Soloist have clearly marked vegan items on their menus, and most Western style brunch spots can prepare egg and avocado dishes without any animal products on request.
Is the tap water in Beijing safe to drink, or should travelers strictly rely on filtered water options?
Tap water in Beijing is not safe to drink directly from the tap. Most restaurants serve boiled water or filtered water by default. At a brungal spot you will be given a pot of hot water or a glass of filtered water without asking, and bottled water is available everywhere for between 3 and 8 yuan.
Is Beijing expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.
A mid-tier traveller in Beijing can expect to spend between 600 and 1,000 RMB per day excluding accommodation. A brunch for one at a rooftop venue like Atmosphere runs 250 to 400 RMB with a drink; a hutong cafe brunch is closer to 80 to 150 RMB. Mid-range hotel rooms average 500 to 900 RMB per night, and a single subway ride costs 3 to 9 RMB depending on distance.
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