Beijing Boyce

Browns (Sanlitun South; 22:45) Carnegie’s in Taipei is famous (infamous?) as the city’s most raucous night spot, featuring great service, a massive beverage selection (including 366 shooters), an admirable layout and a long bar where the wilder (and usually drunker) clients get up and dance the night and early morning away. It’s a runaway success and now Browns is seeking to emulate it in Beijing (there are also Carnegie’s in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Perth, and a Browns in London). With RJ heading home, Agent Red Wolf and WF joined us to check it out.

Although only open for two days, and having details to work out - the menu desperately needs a spell check: “Soff drinks”, “Carlsbery”, and on and on; there are some weird prices: 42 kuai for a martini, 43 kuai for a “martini favorite”; and the toilets need a cleaning - Browns has the potential to be a great bar and possibly the best of the year.

The martini was decent (though not particularly dry), the beer was reasonably priced (pints of Kilkenny and Guinness at 35 kuai), and the thin-crust pizza was tasty. The staff, which includes five Filipinos, was polite and efficient (though they could drop the “ma’am” and “sir” stuff). Lisa, who handled our table, was excellent. When Agent Red Wolf felt her Long Island Iced Tea needed more rum and lime, it was quickly topped up.

The long bar has a brass railing up top to keep the expected dancers from falling into the employees and massive shelves of alcohol. In front of the bar is a standing / dancing area, and behind that two levels of seating. The decor is flat black and white, with dark wood, brass and glass accents, and the walls contain music-themed pictures and instruments. The high ceilings will minimize smoke.

We had a nice chat with Lawrence Chen, the general manager, and Jacky Kong, the supervisor, who said they plan to open adjoining Mexican, Japanese and other themed rooms. Hmmm. In any case, it’s a great start for Browns, with the only downside being that the spotlights and dance music were out of sync with the feel of the bar, especially given the sparse crowd. It just doesn’t seem right to have electric guitars and pictures of Jimi Hendrix on the walls and then only play music typified by Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.”

(From Beijing Boyce IX, first emailed on January 26, 2006; this writeup is also included in the post “A Beijing Saturday night” and is listed separately here in order to included it in the “First Impressions” category.)