Beijing Boyce

After a recent visit to the JW Marriott restaurant Pinot, Sir Campbell Thompson and I headed to the hotel’s bar, Loong, which means “dragon.” Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the perfect set for the next Jackie Chan action flick.

I can visualize Jackie kung fu-ing his way past a half-dozen bad guys against a backdrop of black marble and back-lit onyx-colored marble, flipping across the bar as a shotgun blast blows apart the large crystal dragon above it, and landing gingerly in front of the giant Chinese character for the place’s name. He could even stop for a split-second sip of the bar’s ho-hum martinis before mopping up the trouble-makers as Sir C shakes up bottles of Bollinger and launches corks at them.

Anyway, the main bar area is nicely lit, heavy on the marble, and whispers “we want the nouveau riche” (see “buckets of booze” below). The focus is an oval bar - with precious little space for the bartenders behind it - and a gold-lit dragon (made of hundreds, if not thousands, of crystal pieces) surrounded by silver clouds (made of hundreds more).

The second room is a lounge, with swivel and regular chairs, and a stage for live jazz. It’s also nicely lit save for some shelves edged with glowing lights (hmmm, prime real estate for an alcohol sponsor, no?).

In back is another lounge - “the cigar room” - done in oranges, chocolates and burgundies, with plush chairs and dark wood furniture. It’s an upscale combo of recreation room and den.

As for the drinks, my martini was so-so and at ~70 kuai nothing to write home about. The wine list is extensive, with 23 wines by the glass (10 reds, 10 whites, two sparkling and one Champagne) and 97 by the bottle. Qingdao is 40 kuai; other beers are 48-78 kuai. Loong is among the few places I know that has Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

As mentioned above, the menu includes three “bucket of booze” specials, a name that’s a mismatch for a place like this. How about “dragon lair I, II and III” or “dragon’s delight”, “dragon’s desire” and “dragon’s dream”? I don’t know… anything but “bucket of booze”.

In any case, each package gets you Heineken, a bottle of liqueur, mixers and four Cuban cigars (the more expensive the package, the better the smokes). At the RMB3,888 level, you also get bottles of Moet Chandon, Johnnie Walker Black and Absolute vodka, while at the highest level, RMB9,888, you also get bottles of Dom Perignon 1998, Johnnie Walker Blue and Absolute something [can’t recall which one]. If you’re mixing drinks this much, let’s hope you’re not working the next day.

I’ve long been a fan of China Law Blog, not only because it provides excellent coverage of the business scene and thus makes me feel like I understand things a bit better, but also because authors Dan Harris and Steve Moure cover wine, whiskey and beer. If you’ve not checked out the blog, I recommend doing so. If you like it, then I urge you to vote for the site in the “Black Letter Law” blog contest being held by the ABA Journal.

For more on China Law Blog’s coverage of the alcohol sector, see my post Thinking Blogs? Strike “Th”, replace with ”Dr”.