One of the neat things about living in a mega-city is that the opportunities for urban adventures are literally endless. Beijing is a place which seems to constantly be under construction, so it’s important to get out and explore all those local shops and markets before they meet with the inevitable bulldozer. It was in this spirit of adventure that, as the sun rose up on a frigid winter’s day, we set off in search of that legendary nostalgia site, the Friends Cafe.
I have to admit, I’d never actually seen a full episode of Friends, a ‘90s television show that was wildly popular back when I was in high school and college. I’m not sure why, really— I guess it just never happened. Of course this was back in the day before Netflix and Tivo, so if you wanted to follow a certain show, you had to clear the same block of time each week. The closest encounter I’d ever had with Ross, Joey, Chandler, Rachel, Monica and Phoebe was in 1999, when I was working a soulless part-time retail job over the holidays. One of my colleagues had recorded the show’s Thanksgiving episode, in which one of the characters somehow managed to get a turkey stuck on his head. The store sales crew must have only had a single VHS tape in the break room, because I remember walking in on that one segment a couple dozen of times. I don’t recall the circumstances which conspired to make that scene happen, though— even more strangely, I can’t imagine how this “hit show” got away with blatantly recycling a gag that British comedian Rowan Atkinson had invented several years before.
But even though I’d never been more than passing acquaintances with the “Friends” crew, even twenty years after they’d come into my life, the concept of a cafe dedicated to their show was simply too much to resist. As the story goes, some Chinese exchange student who’d been studying overseas in New York had fallen madly in love with the show, so naturally, after returning to Beijing and making his fortune, he set about indulging his obsession. The end result was a small cafe designed after “Central Perk,” the backdrop for many of the show’s famous scenes. This place sounded like more than a hobby— it was an full-on obsession, turned into a profitable business. Naturally, it was a must-visit for me.
We navigated the thick Beijing traffic easily enough, pulling into the garage of the Chaowai Soho mall at a respectable nine o’clock on a quiet weekday morning. And as it turned out, the drive across town was only the beginning of our journey. Leaving the underground garage, it was a blundering, stumbling trip up the unlit stairwell, using our cell phone screens to light the way. The scene wasn’t much brighter once we reached surface level— the mall looked open, but most of the stores were still shuttered at that hour. Oddly enough, the Chaowai Soho didn’t have nearly as many stores as small businesses— English language training centers, tailors and copy shops were all crammed in between the occasional boutique clothing stand. We wandered through the merchants for some time, until finally coming across a Chinese directory that pointed us up towards the mall’s seventh floor. And once there, finally, just off the elevator and past the restrooms, stood Beijing’s legendary Friends Cafe.
And it was closed.
What kind of coffee shop doesn’t open until noon?? This one, apparently. But I guess when you’re so financially well off that you can afford to start a business based on one of your favorite TV shows, you can also choose not to work mornings. But there, standing in that empty hallway and peeking in through the door which was held fast by a bicycle lock, this one-of-a-kind restaurant seemed more attractive than ever. I was determined to visit it, even if that meant killing a few hours in an empty mall.
Finally, after walking in circles around the empty, frigid city blocks, and then putting away a huge plate of dumplings from one of the nearby lunch counters, we climbed back up to the cafe along with a handful of other customers. The inside of the place was worth the wait— even though the wallpapered faux brick was faded and peeling in places, the enthusiasm still shone through. Surprisingly, the mochas weren’t half-bad either, and we sat there enjoying the warmth as I watched my first full episode of Friends on a flat-screen tube TV set (Season 2, Episode 2: “The One with the Breast Milk”). The show wasn’t half-bad, but honestly, I was more interested in the house cats who were making themselves at home in the place. Like a lot of other cafes in the ‘Jing, these felines had the run of the place, jumping up on the bar and climbing across the tables at will.
When the episode ended, we paid our respects with a token visit to the reproduction set of some character’s apartment, then bundled up and headed back out into the cold Chinese winter. And even though this pilgrimage hasn’t driven me to watch any more old episodes of “Friends,” I’m definitely glad I got the opportunity to re-visit the ‘90s, if only for a half-hour.
