Little big bar

Just 12 square meters is all it takes for the accurately titled 12SQM bar to leave a lasting impression. Boasting the banner of "smallest bar in Beijing", the 12SQM bar is one of the well-hidden gems on the southern side of the Nanluogu Xiang bar street.

A travel-guide by day and a bar owner by night, Joseph Kornides and his "better-half" Liu Limei run the bar as a hobby rather than a source of income, guaranteeing drink prices will stay just low enough to pay rent.

The 12SQM's primary source of seating, a luxuriously cushioned couch encircling a handcrafted wooden table, is overlooked by a tiny bookshelf stuffed with Lonely Planet guides and trinkets Kornides has collected through the years working as a travel guide. Curtaining the rest of the limited wall space is a wide array of relics gathered by Kornides and friends from across the seven seas, including an authentic hand-woven alpaca rug straight out of the bazaars of Peru.