Beijing Boyce

Fancy an eve of claustrophobic fun? The bomb shelter bar below Red Capital Residence might be your glass of maotai. It’s definitely one of the more interesting drinking holes (in the ground). Getting there is half the adventure as you climb into a manhole-sized opening and down steep stairs under a low ceiling: awkward for all but the most nimble. (Note: The toilet is upstairs, so go before starting your journey to the center of the earth.)

The house drinks are, uh, revolutionary. I tried the “Lin Biao Crash” (88 kuai), which includes vodka, apricot and lemon juice, and peppermint white and blue caracao. It’s topped off with maotai and lit afire: thus, the “crash.” (I took mine “un-crashed.”) When my friend M-Dawg returned from the bathroom (again, go BEFORE you descend), he asked, “What stinks?” That would be the maotai, although the drink was surprisingly good. Other house cocktails include “The Long March” (”for fierce steadfast drinkers”), “Dream of Red Capital” (”in the morning you will feel as if the market has undergone a correction”) and “Black Cat / White Cat” (”excessive intake may inhibit one’s ability to catch mice”). Five-star Beer is 30 kuai.

The bar has three rooms, roughly measuring three by eight meters in totality, and two-meter ceilings. The orange brick walls feature Mao-era memorabilia, including posters, figurines and posters, a couple of guns and a projector.

The small, cluttered and cozy lounge on the first floor is also worth a look. Park in the “decision-making chairs” which, according to a plaque, were used by Premier Zhou Enlai and Marshalls Chen Yi, Nie Rongzhan and Peng Dehuai when receiving guests or discussing serious affairs during the fifties and sixties. “One may sit here only when considering an important issue,” states the plaque (i.e. martinis: vodka versus gin). You might also read “Red Star over China,” “Foreign Devils on the Silk Road,” or one of the other available books. Like the bomb shelter, the lounge sports Mao-era propaganda.

(From Beijing Boyce X, first emailed on February 10, 2006).