A Nice Place to Kill Time While on Holidays in Beijing

Be For Time Tea House serves dishes, snacks, ice creams and drinks. Alcoholic drinks are not included. I went to their Sanyuan Branch in Beijing for lunch today. It is located on the 2nd floor of the building. The cashier standing behind the counter near the entrance greeted me warmly as soon as I came in.  

The place is quite big, it features several private rooms. I counted more than 20 wooden tables in the lounge. Each one had 4 wooden chairs around it. I noticed a shelf full of magazines. Customers of the tea house can read them for free. I took one.

No Disappointment... Even in Complete Darkness

I sat down, and a waitress came to tell me power was down today. Fortunately, they could still serve food. The only things affected by the power cut were cold drinks and internet accessibility. The house offers free internet access to its patrons.

I went to the washrooms after I ordered food. I was curious to see if it would be dark there, considering there was no power. But I found the owner was so considerate that they had put lots of candles on the way to the ladies’ room and in the room itself.

The Food

There are 8 categories of food on the menu: soup(RMB 6), fried rice(RMB 8-16), business set (RMB 10-16), dishes accompanied with boiled rice (RMB 12-18), western fast food (RMB 12-22), steak and chicken (RMB 25-28), noodles (RMB 8-16) and snacks (RMB 6-8). Except for the soups, western food and snacks, the other fares are all accompanied with a small plate of fruits.

My Order

I ordered one dish from the business set category: mushroom fried beef, accompanied with a big bowl of boiled rice and a plate of small tomatoes.

The rice and mushrooms were aplenty, but I only found 5 big chunks of beef in my serving. I was not disappoint though as the mushrooms were very tasty, and the rice was nice and soft. I think the rice was from Thailand: Thai rice is longer and softer than Chinese rice.

The food was not ready as quickly as I expected. I gather the tea house is not a right place for a busy person, but a good choice for those who are willing to kill time.

Drinks and Ice Cream

The tea house serves various kinds of drinks: tea, coffee, juice, milkshake, fruity milk, fizzwater, and ice cream. Prices range from RMB 3-5. Drinks are served in paper cups for take-away orders.

‘All Day Long Drinking Buffet’

The ‘All day long drinking buffet’ distinguishes the Be For Time Tea House from other tea houses. It costs RMB 18 per person for an ‘All day long drinking buffet’. By all day, it means 24 hours, as this tea house is open 24 hours a day. The buffet includes all the drinks and ice creams. Dishes and snacks are excluded.

If you have a VIP card with a minimum deposit of RMB 600, you can get the lower price of RMB 12 per day. But you can’t use the card on public holidays. It may not be necessary to buy the VIP card if you only stay a short while in Beijing.

Private Rooms

There were several patrons playing cards in one of the private rooms. The tea house provides cards and games. According to my understanding, a private room costs an extra RMB 10-20 per hour.