Container Top Lounge. [Photo / chinadaily.com.cn]

During the hot summer, it's not always easy to dine in comfort.

Eating at a high-end restaurant with central air conditioning cooling you down or sitting at a hole in the wall with sweat dripping from your brow might do for most people. But for a better choice in Beijing, why not consider Container Top Lounge?

Just image the scene: You and your friends are sitting at an open-air bar with the cooling breeze drifting by as you talk about life, work or whatever. When you raise your head, one of Beijing's landmarks Wangjing Soho, a stunning complex of three curvilinear asymmetric skyscrapers, comes into view.

There's great music that might move you to shake your body and dance. With the 2018 FIFA World Cup underway in Russia, you can even watch the live games on the bar's extra-large screen, with some beef and refreshments at your side. And if you're lucky enough, you might even see someone taking a dip in the mini swimming pool.

Covering an area of over 500 square meters, Container Top Lounge is renowned as Wangjing's largest open-air terrace and the best place to view Wangjing Soho. Because of weather limitations, it is only open from May to October, with this year marking the fourth time the bar has reopened to the public.

According to Li Wen, the bar's owner, Container Top Lounge got its name after Li placed a secondhand container there, and some customers nicknamed the place the "container bar". Li gladly embraced the idea and adapted it to become the bar's namesake. The bar has three levels, with the first called Container Beer Shop, the second known as Cocktail Lounge, and the third referred to as the very Container Top Lounge.

Li himself is very particular about food, so his carefully curated menu allows you to sample a variety of fine offerings, including T-bone steak, pizza, pasta, sausage, beef, wine or even soft drinks.

All you have to do is go there and enjoy your precious midsummer evenings with the people you love.

If you go

3rd floor, Hesheng Qilin Xintaindi, No 11 Futong West Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Hours: 6 pm - 3 am