Beijing Boyce

My last visit to Frank’s Place - with M-Dawg during the World Cup – was shortly after it opened and a disaster of forgotten orders, improperly cooked food and miscalculated bills. My most recent - with colleagues two Fridays ago - was better. Frank’s opened in June as a reincarnation of Beijing’s first non-hotel bar (b. 1989, fringes of Workers’ Stadium, d. 2005) and is part of TRIO, which includes The Park Grill upstairs and wine-centric The Cellar downstairs.

We got to Frank’s at 8 and, since most of the tables were occupied inside, parked on the deck, which will be covered with a tent and warmed with heaters during the winter, says Nicole Pang, who does marketing for TRIO. We ordered Qingdao and food. The nasi goreng was tasty, the wings okay and the chicken burger (55 kuai) huge, though the thick-cut fries were dead cold. The only annoyance was a considerable gap between when our dishes arrived. Oh, and one other thing: the two nearby patrons who thought it amusing to grab and tickle the female staff. One guy ultimately barreled into the restaurant (and the crowd) as he chased one waitress. Even worse, the staff kept coming back for more, the management apparently content to tolerate this hour-long show. My Chinese colleague asked several times in disbelief, “Is this common behavior in Western restaurants?” I pretended I didn’t hear the question…

Frank’s is a long haul for CBD dwellers, but one attractive feature is the new wine list. The original was ambitiously upscale and saw most bottles priced at 600 kuai or more. The revised one includes expensive vintages – Phelps Insignia 2002, for example – but also plenty of reasonably priced wines. Some 22 reds and 15 whites come in at 500 kuai or less, bottoming out with a Bodega Norton Barrel Select Malbec 2003 at 145 kuai, and there are five reds and four whites available by the glass (ASC is the exclusive wine supplier). I could see popping in with a group of friends and working through three or four bottles (as long as no large drunk men are trying to tickle my neighbors or me).

(From Beijing Boyce XXVI, first emailed on November 5, 2006)