Sculpting In Time (Diaoke Shiguang), Beijing

I love Sculpting in Time! try the magic coffee on the balcony or the new roof deck. Ahh, summer in Beijing. Good mix of westerners and Beijingers.

Their existing review is taken from Frommers guide and is out of date. Sculpting in Time has several locations throughout Beijing. The one at WuDaoKou (it's near the above-ground subway in HaiDian), is in the University district. It is close to Tsinghua, Beijing Language and Culture University, and Beijing University. It is very popular with foreign students and the local Korean population. They have good coffee, sandwiches, soups, tea, and ice cream dishes (although their cake-products are awful). They also have wireless access, so unfortunately you will often see some western students camping out there smoking away watching a DVD for hours on end. The food is good and not too expensive, service is acceptable, ambiance is nice, and except for it being quite crowded and smokey sometimes, very much worth a stop. I recommend it for anyone who's getting a little tired of Chinese food and wants a break with some good people-watching thrown in.

Beijing can be a busy, stressful city. Sculpting in Time is a place to retreat from it all for a few minutes (or half a day) with a hot chocolate and an apple muffin. The free broadband wi-fi access attracts a lot of students who want to play "doom" all afternoon, but the light jazz and friendly service ensure that it never feels too noisy.