Beijing Boyce

Part 4 of a series on where Beijing residents enjoy a beverage (or two). This round is with beverage quality control expert Paul Adkins.

First an honourable mention to Havana Bar. It has the potential to be a great little bar, once people discover it. Nicely decorated, with an excellent selection of drinks, along with some slick music from the house band, The Eleventh Commandment. Management just needs to hang in there and get some marketing happening. But don’t rush – sometimes it’s nice to have the place to myself.

Coming in at number 5, Cheers in Tongli. Cheap beer, great Xinjiang music. But the feature that most attracts me (not the art) is the world’s worst pool table. It’s the pool equivalent to crazy golf, but it evens up the scoring, so that’s OK by me.

Aria takes spot number 4. Maybe because I am Australian, and my usual Aria outing is Friday nights. It’s always great to get back to the tribal roots, say “g’day” to mates, and talk about the important things in life – cricket, footy and sheilas. Aria would have got a higher rating, but the AustCham Kooka Pub organisers have been kicked out for the Olympics.

Sequoia Café is in many ways the inverse of Aria. Where Aria offers the tribal roots, Sequoia gives me a chance to meet friends from all over the world. Any time I go there, I am likely to meet acquaintances from Slovenia, France, USA, Ireland, Germany – Frank even lets Canadians in. Frank’s Friday night wine tastings are usually a magical mystery tour – wines from parts of the world that I have never tried before. Frank and Jennifer are always friendly and take the time to say hello, which is nice.

Second prize goes to Saddle Cantina. I love the music, the burritos, the drinks list and the deck. Their pool table is too new yet, with a true surface – so I tend to lose more often.

Top place however goes to a private little place. It’s well-stocked with everything I like to drink, and music that I can choose according to how I feel. It’s a spot where I can sit quietly and veg out or enjoy the company of friends. It’s an oasis – but it’s my bar at home, and it’s where I go when I am not out on the town. Not only that, but the bartender there makes the best margaritas in town.

Finally, I want to put down a ghost vote for Maggie’s. Why this dead den of iniquity? Because my girlfriend and I used to love going along and bopping to the music. A couple of hours on the dance floor there was a night well-spent. Sure it got a bit sleazy when the “ladies of the night” arrived, but they never went anywhere near the dancers.

We are looking forward to seeing it re-open after the Olympics.

Previously:
Chandler Jurinka, Local Noodles
Kevin Shen, T3 Terminal
Steven Schwankert, SinoScuba

Courtesy of some foreign media in Beijing, welcome to the trend of the week- the ‘no fun’ Olympics (just Google the phrase and you’ll see). I’ll post something detailed on why I think some reports are inaccurate, but here are some talking points I wrote for interviews with, ironically, the media.

“No fun” for whom?
Most media reports do not distinguish between local residents, foreign residents, local tourists, foreign tourists, corporate guests, and so on. It feels like they are talking in good part about what foreign residents consider fun and, given many of the reporters live here, thus about themselves.

What do they mean “no fun”?
It seems they mean things like: 1) a half-dozen venues closed at the entrance to Workers’ Stadium*, 2) a handful of venues banned from hosting live music outside, and 3) ID checks by police. They also disproportionately cite people who have been personally and negatively impacted by these measures, hardly the kind to be objective about “fun.”  Please note that at the time of writing, hundreds of spots – thousands if you are open to more localized venues – are still slated to be open.

What do they mean by “fun”?
They mean nightlife. But they should consider, for example, that foreign tourists might prefer to not spend all their time in bars and instead watch events, eat Beijing duck and scorpions on a stick, visit the Great Wall and Forbidden City, shop, try some Mandarin on the locals, and ogle the size of the city, all things they will find fun.

The thing is, we don’t know if the Olympics will be fun, because we don’t know what other measures the government might take or, in terms of nightlife, exactly how many people will be out and about (due to corporate parties and, what I consider the biggest factor, visa issues). But my guess is that those who do come will define fun as more than nightlife, that if they do hit the bars they will find most of them open, , and that many residents – including foreign journalists – will end up having a good time.

I’ll have a more detailed post either later today or tomorrow morning.

Note: Interestingly, numerous long-term foreign residents in Beijing say some of their best partying came amidst the doom and gloom of SARS. I wonder if they’ll find the same during the “no fun” Olympics.

* These venues are a stone’s throw from Workers Stadium, which will host some soccer matches. The media portrays their closing as part of the “no fun” Olympics. But if they had remained open, and some major security breach occurred, the media would then have portrayed it as part of the “no security” Olympics. Sometimes you just can’t win.