Beijing Boyce

The 42 BELOW Cocktail World Cup will hold its qualifying rounds for China on July 19 in Shanghai and July 25 in Beijing, and when the booze settles, three bartenders will have won themselves a one-week trip to New Zealand in September with 39 other mixologists from around the planet (that’d be 42 bartenders total: either the organizers are marketing geniuses or big Douglas Adams fans).

“The idea is to search for China’s top three bartenders and to fly them to Queensland for the world competition,” said 42 BELOW’s Martin Newell, yesterday over a cocktail at Q Bar.

For a shot at being among the 10 participants in the Beijing qualifier, bartenders should apply by the end of June (details here) and create a new cocktail that utilizes 42 BELOW products, which include a vodka flavored with feijoa, a green fruit found in New Zealand (for details on feijoa and on how bats ranked as the biggest mammal in the country until humans showed up, check my upcoming — and about two months overdue — interview with Martin).

Each participant will have a seven-minute slot in which to make their signature drink three times, once for each of the judges, says Phil Dorman of ConfuciusSays, which is doing marketing for the event.

This is the first time the event’s been held in Beijing, adds Newell, and says there has been strong interest from Lush, Zub, Centro, Aria, LAN and China Doll.

I think I’m in love and her name is Bubbly Sunday.

I’m not referring to some misguided local lass with an ill-advised English name, but to the title of Westin Hotel’s Champagne brunch. I’ve twice gone with a desire in my belly and twice left satisfied by a bounty of food and drink.

I went yesterday with my Mom, sister and friend, and, alongside the free-flow Piper-Heidsieck, we could choose from 20 wines (ASC Fine Wine’s Fanny Severe circulated and gave friendly advice), a selection of vodkas (the pineapple was refreshing, the hot pepper should come with a fire extinguisher), and an outdoor BBQ (including Taiwan-style sausages).

This was in addition to everything you’d expect at a five-star hotel Sunday brunch, from blue cheese to caviar to sushi to roast beef, with chocolate fondue, soufflé and black cherry ice cream leading the dessert charge. There’re also local dishes,  from Beijing duck to marinated fungus.

Throw in the lounge singers, fan dancers, magician, balloon twister (she makes a mean poodle), and a dynamic duo on electric violin and standup bass, and this brunch is a good place to bring some out-of-town visitors.

Note: Brunch runs from 11:30 AM to 3 PM and is RMB 298 + 15% with alcohol and RMB 228 + 15% with soft drinks, juice and mocktails. Call 6606-8866 for reservations and, if you’re cabbing it, keep that phone number handy, as the Westin isn’t always the easiest place to find.

Sundays on top are back at Kokomo (formerly Top Club, which shares half of Tongli’s rooftop with Bar Blu).The events are held on the last Sunday of each month - which means today, May 27, from 3 PM - with summer drink specials, Caribbean food, DJs, and a free manicure booth by Dragonfly (available from 4 PM to 7 PM).

Palette Vino will mark its second anniversary with a wine and BBQ party on May 26, from 6 PM. The wine will go for 25 kuai and 30 kuai per glass, while the BBQ is 100 kuai. Archie’s Band will provide the music. (To RSVP, contact Irene at 8046-4461 / irene@palettewines.cn.)

The Friday night wine tastings at Sequoia Cafe (Sanlitun branch) continue as owner Frank gets Franc this week. Try a selection of Cabernet Franc from France, China and, it’s hoped, California. The event is 100 kuai and includes the usual snacks. (To get on the weekly invite list, email Frank at frank.siegel@gmail.com.)

Pop, pop and pop – the invitations to wine dinners were dropping into my inbox tonight like freshly yanked corks. Here are three that practically came in on top of each other:

ASC will hold a Beringer wine dinner at Aria on May 26 (888 kuai), with the vineyard’s director of food and wine education, Jerry Comfort, in attendance. This event includes a pre-dinner tasting, a four-course meal, and no less than nine wines (contact Dennis at dennis@asc-wines.com).

Jebsen will launch Bava wines, from Italy, on May 25 at Prego in the Westin Hotel (588 kuai). The event aims “to discover a real affinity between wine and music” (contact Laurie at jfwbj@jebsen.com)

Finally, Summergate presents “South of France” lifestyle on China Lounge’s rooftop on May 24 (100 kuai). This event includes a whopping 11 wines from Georges Duboeuf (contact Jessie at Jessie.xiao@summergate.com).

Since opening just over a month ago, The Rickshaw has pulled in a steady stream of customers. Cheap beer, good food, decent location and a loyal following due to the owners’ previous establishments, COX and Saddle, have done wonders. Based on more than a half-dozen visits, I sat down this weekend and wrote out a dozen thoughts about The Rickshaw.

1. The medium wings might well be the tastiest pub grub in town. The only suggestion - and this one comes from my Mom, who’s visiting Beijing - is to provide wet wipes at the end of the meal.

2. On top of that, the overall menu is impressive, in terms of design and scope. The Mexican food, spicy chicken burgers, and chips with blue cheese and Alfredo sauce melted over them (”heart attack in a bowl”) are good, with the pizza needing some work.

3. Qingdao is 10 kuai for a pint, during happy hour, 5-7 PM. Yes, there are cheaper places in town, but few that are as clean and spacious as this one.

4. Speaking of which, co-owner Kris Ryan has done a good job of creating an unpretentious space. Simple and open, and with the added balcony providing a nice place to rest, enjoy a drink, and watch the constant traffic jams as cars turn up that street toward The Bookworm, Banana Leaf and Browns.

5. Speaking of which (again), this place has become an excellent alternative to Bookworm for those wishing to use wireless - cheaper drinks and, generally, a relaxed environment. I walked by the other day, and saw a half-dozen people, with their laptops, on the first floor.

6. Even so, The Rickshaw can be loud. In a matter of minutes, it can go from a space where three or four groups of people are chatting to one in which everything is overwhelmed by an incoming soccer team or by a “DJ” who arrives and cranks up the music.

7. Speaking of which (yet again), I am curious about the economics of sponsoring a sports team. Let’s say I’m with three friends and we’re drinking cocktails and pigging out on burritos. I’m guessing we’re spending as much as a dozen soccer guys who are guzzling draft beer and wings, and, with their chug-a-lug culture, making so much noise we leave. I’m not criticizing, I’m wondering, and I realize it’s hard to reconcile widely divergent types of patrons - I guess that supply and demand will work it out for this place.

8. The Rickshaw installed a sitter to go with the squatter. Never underestimate the power of matching toilet facilities to customer niche.

9. The staff gets high marks for being friendly and the management gets the same for being open to suggestions. Lu Ke - hope I spelled his name right - is a bar legend.

10. Even so, several staff members are unable to recognize key words such as “Jack Daniels,” which is a problem given how many foreigners patronize the place. Here’s my suggestion: record three customers reading out the different alcohols on the shelf. Then mix up the bottles, play the recording, and have the staff pick the correct alcohol as they hear it. Repeat. Once the Rickshaw staff knows their booze, open a school and teach the city’s other bar employees the same information.

11. How long will it be before someone gets hurt on the step that separates the upstairs billiards and eating areas? I saw a woman wipe out - how she didn’t break an elbow or wrist, I don’t know - and more than a dozen people nearly take spills. Re-model, put reflector tape on it (as Q Bar does on its deck), whatever, but something should be done about this.

12. Overall, the Rickshaw is a winner, offering a modest and open space with good food, cheap drinks and a friendly staff. Call it the high-end of low-end bars - this is a well-thought out place, and one that addresses, rather than tries to create (as do so many other places), market demand. Plus, the medium wings are fantastic…

This is a bit late, but here are four excellent things about the recent May holiday weekend.

1. Friday night wine tasting at Sequoia: It’s hard to pass up these weekly get-togethers since Frank continues to pour out unique value-for-money events that draw a diverse and interesting crowd. On this night, we sampled six rose wines, including one from China - a Taillan - which faired well. Add on the BBQ and good conversation, and it was another fun night.

2. Medium chicken wings at COX: These things are addictive. In a post-wine tasting bliss, I mowed down on these critters, stopping only to see that ER was doing me one better. (Others in our party took a liking to the beef quesadillas and especially the sour cream.) Good times…

3. Burger magic by ex-Mexican Wave / current IT guy Trevor Kuchar: This man knows how to make and cook a patty, and showed it with a BBQ on the Q Bar deck. Even better, he brought along a few sirloins marinated overnight in Jim Beam among other ingredients. This all-you-can-eat BBQ strangely inspired some of us to head to Rickshaw afterward for more of those COX-style wings (Rickshaw and COX have the same owners). Wouldn’t it be great if he set up shop some weekend at Stone Boat, so we could enjoy some quality BBQ and do some fishin’?

4. The Westin Sunday brunch: Along with the usual massive spread of food and free-flow Champagne, this brunch offers a vodka buffet, about 20 different wines, and live entertainment (not surprisingly, scantily clad women playing electric violins – is there a factory producing them somewhere? – as well as a fan dance and some lounge singers). At 350 kuai per, this is a great deal, and I think FY, ER and I got our money’s worth. (Note: kudos to the wait staff for professionally dealing with a corked bottle).

Finally, it sounds this sounds unbeliebeable, but about two hours after the brunch, FY, ER and I ended up at The Rickshaw eating… chicken wings! I’m telling you, there’s something addictive in those things…

Talk about not noticing the cork beneath your nose: I was walking toward The Den during the May holiday when I spotted a wine club called Big 9 - yes, a wine club, in my ‘hood, sitting there and aging as I took my sweet time to discover it. (It’s beside City Hotel, just down from The Den, with another outlet in Dongshishitiao.)

A nice place it is, too - a long and narrow combination of wine racks, rough-hewn wood, casks turned into tables, and sofas. It’s dimly lit, but pleasant, and the projector suggests it could be a great venue for wine classes. The staff is friendly and efficient, though with limited English, and brought us proper glassware for our bottle of Indis Shiraz Rose 2006 (this is the only venue where I’ve seen this wine).

This Western Australian wine came with confected fruit (berry) flavors, and - I mean this in a positive way - notes of strawberry Kool-Aid. In short, it was extremely refreshing. Fongyee Walker and Edward Ragg, with whom I visited Big 9, also gave it thumbs up. Even better, this wine was easy on the wallet, at 152 kuai a bottle. And even better, it inspired further research, since as Edward put it, “I’d try their other wines based on this one.”

Aria emerged as the winner for best wine selection at the annual that’s Beijing reader restaurant awards held earlier this week. Some 4,000 readers voted this year.

that’s Beijing reports that, “Alameda won a total of six awards including best lunch, best service, and the grand prize, restaurant of the year. It also picked up three outstanding prizes in the steak, for a date and value for money categories. Annie’s Cafe, Cépe and Hatsune each tied with four awards, while The CourtYard pulled in three awards and Aria, Da Dong Roast Duck, Din Tai Fung, Grandma’s Kitchen, Green T. House, Jin Ding Xuan, Lan and The Tree each tied with two awards each.”

In the category of best wine selection, Aria came out on top, with Cafe Europa and The Courtyard also recognized for outstanding selections.

For details on all of the winners, check this page.

This is the Opening Shots section of my last newsletter, released last week. Some of the info has been on the blog, but I’ve revised and added some stuff. To join the newsletter mailing list, send a “sign me up” email to beijingboyce@yahoo.com. 

Roger Houng, who with Keiko Shirata co-ran the sorely missed First Cafe, is taking over Tongli Studio’s Taniwha [teaming up with Taniwha owner Kang Da]. He plans to rename the place Wonder Bar and provide good seating, a better layout (a central circular bar will match the long one by the door), jazz, and, one hopes, the First Cafe cocktail culture. Check my blog for details on Wonder Bar’s opening date [Ed: Wonder Bar is now open]. / Henry Li (Neo Lounge, Vogue, Public Spaces) aims to sell his latest joint, Rui Fu, and pursue other projects. The cavernous bar opened about a year ago and combines historical digs with modern furnishings. Despite early reservations about Rui Fu, it became one of my regular stops for two months until the never-ending theme parties scared me off - honestly, how many times does Henry expect me to dress like a schoolgirl? IMHO, this would be a great live music venue. / Perennial bartender of the year candidate and Centro icon Bruce Li has moved down the street to China World Hotel, where he’ll manage Aria bar. / Saddle and COX co-owner Kris Ryan opened The Rickshaw (formerly Midnight, Grappa) a few weeks ago. He’s stripped the place to the cement floor at places and replaced the unbearable heaviness of the sofas with light furniture and open space. Key features include a pool table, several flat-panel TVs, a balcony with views up Sanlitun South, 15-kuai Qingdao draft, and a solid menu, including favorites from COX and Saddle, as well as individual pizzas and 4 AM breakfast. I’ll soon have more on The Rickshaw. / The all-male crowd has abandoned Q Bar as its Thursday night watering hole, taking a sizeable chunk out of the place’s customer base. The Q has added frozen dragon fruit margaritas (55 kuai) to the menu. / With first-floor renovations complete, including a new fish tank, Kokomo hosted a beach party a few weeks back. The deafening music was a mismatch with the bar’s Caribbean theme, but sizeable pours made the drinks good value and it’s the only spot I know with Texan vodka (Tito’s, 20 kuai per shot, while the bottle lasts). The rooftop opened last Friday and while it has potential, the music simply didn’t fit the atmosphere. / The Pomegranate renovated a recently discovered cellar beneath its second room. “We’re now using it to store wine and drinks, and embarking on building a wood-fired pizza oven area in the space above,” says The P-Granate’s Mike. This Shunyi bar is among the rare ones that combines draft Beamish Irish Stout, a 42-inch flat panel screen, wireless, a weekly pub quiz (Wednesdays), and South African biltong (beef jerky), citronella candles and bundled firewood for sale (they deliver). Its annual “Rynostock” music festival is on May 19. / TRIO, home of the new Frank’s Place, announced - with blinding red highlighter and multiple exclamation marks, no less - that a shuttle bus will stop Fridays at Workers’ Stadium North Gate (9 PM), opposite Yashow Market (9:15 PM), and at Chaoyang Park West Gate (9:30 PM) to save drinkers the taxi fare to the Lido area establishment. / Open less than six months, Tim’s Texas BBQ (formerly John Bull Pub) is ready to rustle up more business among the city’s smoked-meat lovers. A second branch will open on Super Bar Street in late May or early June, says owner Tim, who surely must be counting on the new U.S. Embassy being built nearby (thanks to DM for the tip.) / The old nhu bid farewell about a month go and will be remodeled to become a new, and apparently more upscale, nhu. / Cafe Europa marked its one-year anniversary last month with a full house enjoying a pig roast and 25-kuai glasses of wine. / Finally, Torres China’s celebrated its tenth anniversary with a party at the Ritz Carlton, with Miguel Torres, among the world’s bigwigs of wine, in attendance. Congratulations to Torres on its success in what is a very tough market.

In the BB33 piece “Readers Writes,” 17 people named their favorite Beijing bars. Here is one of three responses to that piece, as published in the most recent newsletter. (To get the newsletter, email beijingboyce@yahoo.com with “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” in the subject line.)

ADAM STEINBERG, director of communications, ASC Fine Wines

Favorites
The Bookworm: For their customer-friendly wine list, relaxing upstairs outdoor patio, and being THE place in town to find copies of Wine Spectator magazine!

Centro: The BMW of Beijing bars

Souk: Excellent summer venue; Middle Eastern oasis in an otherwise rowdy Chaoyang Park scene

The Pavilion: Best place in town to beat the summer heat with crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Press Club Bar: A bar where just about anyone can imagine being a foreign correspondent on a third overseas assignment.

Cafe Pause: Best place to sip wine while soaking up the Dashanzi atmosphere.

The Saddle: Renowned for its “fishbowl” margaritas, good service and surprisingly good nachos

All-time
The original South Sanlitun versions of The Hidden Tree and Durty Nellies: They both captured the energy and freshness of the late 90s Beijing nightlife scene.

In the BB33 piece “Readers Writes,” 17 people named their favorite Beijing bars. Here is one of three responses to that piece, as published in the most recent newsletter. (To get the newsletter, email beijingboyce@yahoo.com with “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” in the subject line.)

H. MOE, Scottish, 18 months in Beijing

Favorites
Bus Bar: My favourite bar in Beijing often gets overlooked (or looked down on), and granted the toilets are skanky, but they serve cheap, cold beer, the staff are friendly and nonjudgmental, and it’s the only place I know that’ll play Bob Marley on repeat for three hours, just because we asked them to.

Honorable mentions…
Cheers, although the beer’s not the cheapest in town and the band are far too bloody loud, it gets respect for playing “My Sharona” practically every weekend.

Candy Floss: Excellent summer drinking

Shooters: But only before 10 PM, cos that’s when the drinks are ridiculously cheap and all the school kids haven’t arrived yet (still doing their homework).

The jia chang cai place next to my house: It’s not really a bar, but they serve cheap cold beer, chuan’r and it’s always rocking well into the early hours

In the BB33 piece “Readers Writes,” 17 people named their favorite Beijing bars. Here is one of three responses to that piece, as published in the most recent newsletter. (To get the newsletter, email beijingboyce@yahoo.com with “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” in the subject line.)

CHRIS DEVONSHIRE-ELLIS, lawyer, publisher and adventurer, produces China Briefing, China Expat, Mongolia Expat and 2point6billion.com, senior partner of Dezan Shira & Associates in China and India, 20 years in Beijing this year

Favorite bars
Centro: Bruce is the coolest barman in town, though he just moved back to Aria, and I get a great deal on Champagne. Pretty girls, jazz, Cuban cigars, and Pol Roger - what more could you want?

The Writers Bar: Newly reopened in the Beijing Raffles Hotel, this is where foreign correspondents used to hang out in the 1920s and 1930s. As far as I know, the only remaining pine sprung dance floor in the city.

Aria: To read the day’s flown-in International and Hong Kong newspapers from 6 PM for sundowners. Quiet, relaxed and good cocktails

Maggies: Well, I thought it should be mentioned. But I never go.

All-time favorites
Charlie’s Bar: Sadly now a pale shadow of its former self at the Jianguo Hotel, this was the place in the late 70s early 80s. It was a major event when the hotel got the first fax machine in Beijing. Man, there were some deals done in that bar.

The Snake Pit, Shekou: Near Shenzhen, this was one of the first bars in China. Serving the oil industry, so it was full of Scots and Texans. Nonprofit making, so the cheapest beer in town. No ties, no mobile phones and a disgusting snake-infused baijiu ritual to join. Brilliant.

Thoughts on the Beijing scene
To be honest, a bit repetitive. Hopefully, some of the old hotels will refurbish some of the bars that used to be the places to hang about in about 80 years ago. All wood paneled, steeped in intrigue and history. I find the insistence on Beijing’s new glitz a little wearing and rather tacky to be honest. There’s no real historic classic bar in Beijing.

Call me crazy, but my Saturday visit to Timeout’s “affordable art fair” in Dashanzi felt a bit like buying souvenirs in Silk Alley. True, no vendor tugged at my sleeve, but the place crawled with laowai drooling for bargains and snapping up those pieces of art that evoked China, whether it meant themes involving flags, monks or the Cultural Revolution.* Art imitates life, as they say, and had only the city’s sellers of Chinese character-adorned t-shirts set up a booth near the gallery, they coulda made some kuai.

The art fair is a weeklong event and features some 600 pieces of art, each priced at 8000 kuai or less. And to be honest, the “art fair = souvenir market” feeling was brief. Timeout bigwig and art fair organizer Tom P. said about 50 diehards were waiting when the doors opened on Saturday morning. They scooped up some of the better stuff - one guy blew past me, in a panic, as he sought the order counter - and then the masses, most of them more interested in viewing than shopping, flowed in during the day. All in all, the art fair was worth waking up early for, and I recommend people check it out before things wrap up at week’s end.

By the way, Dashanzi is glorious during this time of year - not too hot, not too cool, green sprouting all about. I ended up on the Cafe Pause patio for a good four hours, sipping my way through a regular coffee, two Cappucinos, a Galianno espresso, and two glasses of wine. Holding me there was the pleasant weather, the interesting people passing by, and the fact I was too caffed up to go anywhere - the latter might qualify as performance art in some circles…

* Among the exceptions was what seemed to be a pair of giant and modern clothespins - yellow and blue-green - on a traditional Chinese chair, with one either stepping ever-so lightly on the other or getting to ready to hump it. It’s hard to tell, but then again, isn’t it all relative?

Wonder Bar has opened in the Tongli Studio space formerly occupied by Taniwha, thus reducing by one the number of Beijing nightspots decorated with a slab of polished corrugated metal. I’m sure we’ll get over it, especially as the new place represents a much-needed redesign, including a central bar area that nicely breaks up the space, a balcony on the far side that provides depth, and plenty of seating options, including stools, sofas, booths and a long bar.

Wonder Bar is dimly lit and decked out in deep red and black with touches of mirror and chrome, hardly surprising since the designer is Roger Houng and he used a similar formula with the former and highly popular cocktail bar, First Cafe. While Wonder Bar doesn’t fully capture the feeling of First Cafe - it is, after all, a squarish one-floor bar in Tongli as opposed to a narrow two-floor stand-alone bar - patrons will find enough similarities, especially if Roger and partner Kang Da fulfill their goal of providing good seating, good jazz and good drinks.

Oddly, this holiday break seems to have a First Cafe theme:
- Roger is back and has former First Cafe bartender Daniel mixing drinks at Wonder Bar;
- I visited Q Bar several times, where ex-First Cafe bartenders George and Echo are co-owners;
- I attended a birthday party at Opener?, which Roger helped design and that ex-First Cafe manager Keiko helped to get going;
- I made several Buffalo wing runs to The Rickshaw, where yet another ex-First Cafe bartender works and which was formerly Midnight Bar, run by George and Echo;
- I visited Cafe Pause, in Dashanzi, co-owned by Stefan Fleischer, yet another person I first met at First Cafe.

For a city of 15 million, sometimes this place feels like a small town…

Ritan Park’s Stone Boat Cafe tonight (Wednesday) features indie bands from the Midi Music Festival. The following bands “go acoustic” from 8 PM (no entry fee): Kava Kava (UK), The Crimea (UK), Good Time Charlie (Norway), and The Soundtrack of our Lives (Sweden). Sambasia will bring its big-drum sound to Stone Boat on Friday, from 9:30 PM (entry free).

Meanwhile, Shunyi-area The Pomegranate will hold its Rynostock Music Festival on May 19, 1 PM to Midnight. Organizers promise a BBQ, drink specials and a lineup that so far includes Beta, Black Cat Bone, End of the World, Far from Home, Humble Mike & the Rhythm Dogs, The Moonshine Drifters, The Red Bean Ramblers and The Berlin Mummies. Call Mike at 138-0110-3933 if you’d like to play at Rynostock.

Ya heard it here first…

Roger’s back.

Most cocktail lovers associate First Cafe, the former and my all-time favorite Beijing bar, with the popular bartenders, George and Echo. In fact, First Cafe began with Roger and Keiko, and the former has a strong bar background in Taipei.

While George and Echo went on to Q Bar and Keiko went on to Opener? (then Japan), I lost contact with Roger - until about 30 minutes ago in The Rickshaw. What a pleasant surprise to learn he’s taking over the so-far underwhelming Taniwha in Tongli Studios, where ex-First Cafe bartender Daniel has been toiling as a bartender.

The new spot will be called Wonder Bar and, says Roger, redesigned to be “a bar”, which means good seating, breaking up that all-too-open space with a circular bar in the middle to match the long bar inside the door, and playing good jazz. If they can cozy the spot up and get the First Cafe-level cocktails going, that’ll be a nice addition to the bar scene.

(Note: Roger expects to open the bar next week. I’ll have more details on the opening and the bar during the next few days.)