Pipes Cafe: In and out in a puff
In contrast to its eye-catching and arty name cards, this place on Gongti North felt cluttered and disorderly. Unfortunately, I never fully experienced the ambience given the following dialogue with the waiter:
[Hands us a menu]
“It’s 40 kuai for all-you-can-drink Great Wall wine or draft beer.”
[I look at the menu and see bottled Qingdao for 15 kuai.]
“Can I just have a bottle of Qingdao?”
“Yes.”
“Great!”
“But it will cost 55 kuai - 40 for the all-you-can-drink special and 15 for the Qingdao.”
“That’s really smart, isn’t it?” [Yes, I got sarcastic, which doesn’t usually work in these places. They take you literally.]
In any case, Pipes Cafe is supposedly a hangout for the lesbian crowd and my friend speculated that the 40-kuai deal is a way of keeping out riff raff like us (hey, I love women, too!).
(From Beijing Boyce VIII, first emailed on January 13, 2006)
1 Comment so far
Leave a reply
[...] Cafe was a ten-minute experience for M-Dawg and yours truly, but seeing how this Gongti South spot has dropped the “s” [...]