Beijing Boyce

A second update on the South China Morning Post story that claims Beijing is “secretly” trying to ban blacks and Mongolians from bars during the Olympics.

I hit some Sanlitun bars last night and made some phone calls today, and this is what I found:

- An owner said police met with Sanlitun bar reps and told them to monitor black patrons. He said the police told the reps that drug dealers are predominantly black in the area. He said the police did not ask bar owners to ban blacks.

- Several Sanlitun area bar owners said they had not been told by police to ban blacks or Mongolians.

- I also spoke to several people in the restaurant business and they told me they have not heard of police telling city eateries to ban people.

- Most interesting, two people working at one bar had different perspectives on the terminology used by the police. One said the police used “black” in reference to skin color; while the other said it was used in terms of bad elements (the Chinese character for “black” is part of a phrase used to describe criminals).

I will provide more info as it becomes available.

An update on my earlier post about the South China Morning Post claim that Beijing secretly plans to ban blacks and Mongolians from bars during the Olympics. Unfortunately, duty called this afternoon, so I didn’t have much time for this issue, but here is where things stand:

- The owners of five bars in and around Sanlitun told me that the police did not ask them to undertake any such ban during the Olympics (these bars tend to be frequented by residents rather than tourists). Several other people, including in the restaurant and the wine business, also told me they were unaware of any such police action.

- Three reporters from the international media contacted me and said they had called numerous bars and, like me, found no one to confirm the SCMP claim.

- The bar owner I noted who said the police told him a few months ago to not serve blacks clarified that this did not seem to be part of any official policy.

- The only way I can see the SCMP story as plausible is if the newspaper is talking about an isolated bar area, such as that neon-lit strip on Sanlitun North or the clubs on Workers Stadium West. Even then, this is yet to be confirmed by anyone I have talked to.

If I hear any more information, I will pass it on.

Tom Miller of the South China Morning Post reported today that bars in central Beijing have been instructed to not serve blacks or Mongolians during the Olympics:

Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city’s bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, “One World, One Dream”.

Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises….

Security officials are targeting Sanlitun, which Olympic organisers expect to be a key destination for foreign tourists looking for a party during the Games.

The pledges that Sanlitun bar owners had been instructed to sign agreed to stop a variety of activities in their establishments, including dancing and serving customers with black skin, they said.

The owners of five bars that cater to an international clientele in the Sanlitun area separately told me today that they had not been contacted by police recently about enforcing such a ban or signing a related pledge, though one said he had been asked several months ago to not serve blacks. I will pass on more information as it becomes available.

Note: Miller also writes, “A few months ago, police launched a violent sting on black men drinking in the Sanlitun bar district…” I think he is confusing this raid in April with this one last September.

Those hoping for a last slice at the Workers Stadium branch of Kro’s Nest will be disappointed – the popular pizza joint has been shut a few days ahead of its originally planned July 20 close. Kro says the venue will reopen on August 24 and that his new Nest will open on July 24. I’ll have more details on the latter soon.

Thanks to Andrew Schorr from Mobile Native for this photo of a sign outside Propaganda. As he notes, “funny how they would ‘decide’ to close during the potentially busiest time of their lives.” Yes, indeed, an interesting time for a paint job. As he also notes, the live music scene will be further squeezed during the Olympics with the ban on performances at places such as D-22 and The Stone Boat.

You are in a Beijing bar, you don’t speak Mandarin, the staff doesn’t speak English, and you want to know if there is a happy hour. After asking a dozen times, each at an increased volume, and miming a happy face while pointing at your watch, things appear dire.

Fear not, because I have permission to distribute a pdf of the nightlife section of the Immersion Guides Mandarin Phrasebook. This should be useful both for residents and Olympics visitors on the bar circuit. The phrases are provided in English, in Chinese characters, and in pinyin (with tone marks), meaning you can either spout out the appropriate phrase or point at it with your finger:

When is happy hour?
- 欢乐时光是什么时候？Huānlè shíguāng shì shénme shíhou?

This excerpt includes translations of alcohol names (Whiskey, vodka, Champagne), places (pubs, discos, karaokes), music types (reggae / 雷鬼 / léiguǐ), and other handy phrases (Do we pay for drinks now or at the end? / 我们是现在给酒钱还是最 后结？/ Wǒmen shì xiànzài gěi jiǔqián háishì zuìhòu jié?).

For some reason, it also has a lengthy “romance” section, with pick-up lines, rejections, and the like.

Click here for the nightlife section; get the Mandarin Phrasebook here.

For each of the 88 days until the 2008 Olympics, I will [try to] strip-mine my brain to unearth a thought related to Beijing and The Games. That’s one thought per brain cell. It’s called teamwork, people!

In honor of the five Fuwa, today’s post on the bar and restaurant scene features five thoughts for the price of one.

13.
After the Olympics, our overcrowded bar scene will stand at a crossroads. One path will lead to too many bars holding out as they chase too few patrons. The other will lead to many bars quickly closing and then an equal number of bars opening and holding out as they chase too few patrons. Let us pray we pick the right path.

14.
Diners will have pressing questions after The Games. Among them: 1) Why is there a Michelin-star chef on every street corner but a decent burger is nowhere to be found?; 2) Will millions of workers in the scorpion on a stick sector go jobless now that the tourists and journalists are gone?; and 3) Is it just me or does The Legation Quarter seem like the city’s biggest food court?

The answers: 1) Try Chef Too, Tim’s, or The Den; 2) Yes, and we’ll see skyrocketing unemployment for scorpions, who sadly have no social safety net; and 3) No, It’s not just you – I came up with that ‘food court’ quip months ago!

15.
Drinkers will also have serious questions. Among them: 1) What is this new term “soft opening redux” I keep hearing?; 2) After being spoiled by a month of free-spending tourists, will every Beijing cabbie, bartender, and waiter expect me to tip?; and 3) Do Q Bar’s George and Echo have any fingerprints after making an Olympian number of cocktails?

The answers: 1) It will be a new PR tool for bars that have failed once and plan to go bankrupt again; 2) Not all of them – I think 10 to 15 percent is a fair amount; and 3) Prints? They’ll be lucky if they haven’t ground their fingers to the second knuckle.

16.
The most popular pre-Olympics sport in the bar business has been the free-standing premeditated back stab, usually performed by a short-term thinking foreigner on another short-term thinking foreigner. As they say, a well-placed knife is one way to make a killing (and burn calories). But what happens after The Games?

The optimist in me says that those who stabbed will see their folly (i.e., they did not make a killing), ease out the knives, and use them to carve nourishing Peking duck for their victims as a way to heal the wounds. The pessimist says China’s recyclers get the cutlery first (have you seen the price of base metals?).

17.
Finally, consider this case: “Three weeks ago, my roommate was bawling because her Olympics event deal fell through, two weeks ago she was bragging because she found a new business partner, one week ago she was bumming because she got shafted by the guy, and today she is back to bragging because the original event deal might come through. How should I deal with her?”

Your roommate has a common pre-Olympics business condition known as extreme ego fluctuation (it is similar in theory to that of a rapidly contracting and expanding universe). Your best bet is to make audio and/or video recordings of her temporary insanity in order to gain post-Olympics concessions in areas such as guest sleepover rights and toilet cleaning duties. Trust me: arrogance tolerated today is arrogance exploited tomorrow.

Previously
Thought 1: If they build it, we may come
Thought 2: “Whether or not” in Sanlitun
Thought 3: Living the lowlife on Lotus Lane
Thought 4: The F&B scene takes a pre-Olympics breather?
Thought 5: Flaming Fuwa
Thought 6: Continental drink
Thought 7: The Parallel Bars?
Thought 8: No kangaroos, and other guidelines
Thought 9: A few good men
Thought 10: Someone call programming
Thought 11: Going, going, gone
Thought 12: Think globally, drink locally

Oh, traffic jam got more cars than a beach got sand.
- “Too Much”, Dave Matthews Band

Look for a new four-foot-high lane divider on Sanlitun Bar Street to slow traffic to a snail’s place. The divider, which separates the Swire complex from the neon-lit bar strip, offers only two openings – a crosswalk near the 3.3 Building and a turning lane near new Nali Studio. This means pedestrians will be crowded into a few bottlenecks, parking will be much more difficult, and cars will be unable to pass each other – expect traffic to back up EVERY time someone enters or exits a cab.

I’m guessing the first three slides of the “Sanlitun traffic options” Powerpoint presentation somehow got lost: 1) leave things as they are; 2) make the street pedestrian-only, or 3) take some of the Swire sidewalk and widen the road. Instead, it went directly to slide 4: Erect a metal barrier to make things worse for drivers and pedestrians. Hopefully, there is no slide 5: Add a speed bump every five meters.

Despite all this, getting a cab in Sanlitun should still be easier than at The Place. Over the past month, I have been a regular at Pacific Coffee there and it seems that getting a Z visa is easier than hailing a cab at The Place after 5 PM.

Consider a recent weekday, when I tried to catch a cab at 9:40 PM. I waited: 1) near the entrance, 2) 200 meters north, hoping a cab would round the corner from Ritan Park, 3) 200 meters north of the back end of The Place, hoping a cab would come out of Central Park, 4) the back end of The Place, and 5) 200 meters north of there (again). I finally caught at taxi at 10:35 PM, at which point we had to drive past the back end of The Place, along its southern flank, and past its entrance, thereby unfairly exciting dozens of people still hoping to catch a ride by midnight.

Isolated incident? Other recent adventures include: 1) waiting so long for a cab that I gave up, went back into The Place, ate, and returned an hour later in the hope that the queue had shortened; 2) giving up and walking south to Guanghua Road to grab a cab; and 3) walking home.

Shops are opening left, right, and center in the Swire complex at the corner of Workers Stadium North and Sanlitun North. The prominent Adidas building sports four floors of gear on one side and a smattering of stores on the other (where the escalators take up way too much space and the highlight, at least today, is watching a worker randomly spray bug killer out of sheer boredom).

Moseying through the complex, I spotted Nike, Puma, Starbuck’s, Levi’s, North Face, Nautica and Birkenstock, among others, all of which should make for interesting comparison shopping with Yashow Market next door. No word yet on when blue frog or the new Hatsune will open.

Meanwhile, the street dividing Swire on one side from that strip of neon-lit copycat bars on the other now sports a four-foot-high lane divider. It extends north past the 3.3 Building. I’ll have more on this in a second post.

Look for Second Floor (formerly L’Etage) to open this Friday around the corner from Le Bistrot Parisienne in Tongli Studio. Cocktails are RMB35 to RMB40; bottled beer is RMB15 (Tsingtao) to RMB30-40 (Stella, Hoegaarden, Duvel). Co-owner Gin is a veteran of The Tree and was part of Shooters until the parting of ways. He’ll split time between The Tree and Second Floor, a venue I always thought perfect for a wine bar.

A sign at new Nali Studio states that Indian and Pakistani restaurant Mughal’s will open on the fourth floor. Meanwhile, the new Muse, in that long narrow white building between 3.3 and Nali, looks ready to go.

Are establishments rationing air conditioning to save money? I noticed today and yesterday that despite the muggy weather several Sanlitun spots had the windows wide open and the air con on minimum at best. Luckily, I stumbled into Nearby the Tree today: The air is cool, the Ricotta and spinach tortellini is spiced, and the music is chill (Reggae).

UPDATE: By the way, I’m the only customer at Nearby the Tree but the staff is too mesmerized with comic books to pay attention to me. I manage to attract a second customer, Special K, who orders a drink and a panini, thus interrupting the comic book reading. But no worries, the staff is soon back to page-turning and oblivious that it is possible to bring out the drink before the sandwich.

Question: Do I really need my passport when I go out in Beijing?

Answer: Yes. Most definitely, absolutely, unequivocally yes. Well, unless you like taking unnecessary risks, talking at length with the local authorities, and possibly making a visit to the police station.

Several Sanlitun bar owners told me today that the authorities will be making the rounds and checking patrons’ ID, and that bars are now expected to check patrons’ bags for anything “dangerous.” Add in the general increased security measures in Beijing ahead of The Games and the previous crackdowns in the city, and carrying your passport or a copy of it should be a ‘no brainer.’

As many readers know, I launched a blog called Grape Wall of China last year to focus on the local wine scene, and since then a bunch of contributors have pitched in. Here are some recent highlights:

Friday food fight

Wine and Chinese food go together like… oil and vinegar? Cats and dogs? Air pollution and Olympic marathon runners? Well, let’s just say they’re tough to pair, so every Friday I’ll post a photo of a Chinese dish and ask readers to suggest wines for it. In the spirit of my recent media monitoring pledge, the first week featured a tourist-friendly treat – scorpions on a stick.

Hell hath no fury like Canucks scorned

“Oh, it’s getting hot in here / Must be something in the atmosphere”

- You Got the Style, Athlete

I have no other reason for citing Athlete than: 1) Jebsen’s Ethan Perk said I should use more quotes, 2) I alluded to heat in the title, 3) that’s the first lyric that came to mind.

The point is that things did heat up a bit between distributors and patrons at a Sequoia Cafe ice wine tasting, though all had a good time in the end.

Wine Word

Since day one, Grape Wall has been picking the brains of people in the wine world, whether its global personalities ranging from writers such as Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson to makers such as Wolf Blass and Peter Gago, local personalities such as Don St. Pierre Jr., John Gai, Wu Kegang and Judy Leissner, or regular blog contributors such as Ma Huiqin and Campbell Thompson. A list of these interviews is now available here. You can also check out the four most recent “wine word” segments:

- Food & Wine magazine editor Arcy Yin

- Red, White, and Drunk All Over author Natalie acLean

- Penfolds chief wine maker Peter Gago

- Louis Latour winery president Louis-Fabrice Latour

Upcoming Beijing wine-related events

Friday, July 11, 7-10 PM, Oh! Marco, free for members, RMB50 for nonmembers
Chateau Bolongbao tasting; fee includes one glass of wine; call 6622-0566 for more info.

Friday, July 11, 6:30 PM, Sequoia Cafe (Guanghua Lu), pay as you go
‘Buy your own bottle’ featuring Sequoia’s 26 wines as selected by Alain Leroux; for more info, contact Frank at 13701-178-073.

Saturday, July 12, Aria (China World Hotel), 6:30 PM, RMB1888
Wine dinner with Robert Joseph, with 4 vintages of Chateau Leoville Le Case (2005, 1993, 1983, 1975), by Jebsen; RSVP with Danny at danny.kane@shangri-la.com

Thursday, July 17, 7-8:30 PM, Amigo by Top Cellar (Central Park), free
White and rose tasting, with 5 wines (France, New Zealand); RSVP: www.topcellar.com.cn, marketing@topcellar.com.cn or 13521-434-994.

Friday, July 18, 7-9 PM, Cellar Le Pinot (near Hyatt Hotel), RMB80
White wine tasting, featuring 5 countries (Portugal, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany); 8515-1715 or zhoumeixing@lepinot.com for more info.

August 5-7, Blu Lobster (Shangri-la Hotel), RMB2888 + 15%)
Creative cuisines with Pascal Barbot and Christophe Rohat of L’Astrance; more details to come.

August 14, 7-8.30 PM, Amigo by Top Cellar (Central Park), free
French wine fair, with 8 wines; RSVP at www.topcellar.com.cn or contact marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13521-434-994.

August 28, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries (Kerry Centre Hotel), free.
Wine tasting; RSVP at www.topcellar.com.cn or contact marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13521-434-994.

Note: If you intend to attend any of the above events, it is best to confirm the details with the venue ahead of time. To get a wine event listed, send event info, preferably in text format, to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.

Update number two on my “scorpions on a stick” media monitoring project (for full details, see: On a stick? In Beijing? No way!).

–

Category: Wait, do GIANT scorpions on a stick count? (See photo here.)

Candidate: Chris O’Brien, Forbes

Clip:

A traditional Chinese medicine doctor will tell you that scorpions have a potent medicinal value, but in Beijing they are skewered on sticks at Donghuamen night market, deep-fried in oil and sprinkled with spice. They are mainly munched by giggling overseas tourists who, unlike long-term residents, don’t shy away from the $7 asking price. (From the photo caption)

Comment: Um, exactly. Way to go O’Brien and wreck all my fun! An informative piece that covers some Beijing food background, a street food alternative to Wangfujing, and dishes ranging from the common kebab to fusion cuisine (example: bean curd and foie gras), with a few historical anecdotes thrown in. And it puts those scorpions into context, both in the clip above and at the end of the article:

A world away from fine dining, the daily Donghuamen night market in Wangfujing, Beijing’s premier shopping district, offers some unusual–at least for Westerners–eats, such as dog penises, silkworms and snake skins.

However, overseas tourists are often the most enthusiastic and adventurous when it comes to sampling these delicacies. One Chinese pensioner recoiled in horror at the sight of an American tourist biting off the head, and then tail, of a giant scorpion on a stick.

“That scares me,” she said, chewing on a rather plain-looking bing, a dry pancake.

–

Category: I like mine with jam?

Candidate: Matt Forney, Wall Street Journal

Clip:

In Beijing, where my family lives, I once returned home from a restaurant with a doggy bag full of deep-fried scorpions. The next morning, I poured them instead of imported raisin bran into my 11-year-old son’s cereal bowl. I wanted to freak him out. The scorpions were black and an inch long, with dagger tails.

“Scorpions!” shrieked my son, Roy. “Awesome!”

Comment: OK, these are scorpions in a bowl, not on a stick, so they fall outside the jurisdiction of this media monitoring project, but I found this a creative non-night market, non-stick related way of talking about scorpions. Nice. I bet Forney poured fermented mare’s milk on to those scorpions, but he didn’t want to gross us out.

The Beijing outlet of wine bar chain Enoteca closed for renovations almost as soon as it opened a few weeks ago in The Place, but the vino is again flowing. Enoteca offers about 100 wine options, food, and good views of that massive sky screen.

Paddy O’Shea’s has joined the brain-teasing brigade by holding a weekly quiz every Wednesday at 8 PM. Each round will see prizes, ranging from a RMB300 gift certificate to A-Che to RMB1200 worth of “golf simulation” (you’ll need to ask Paddy’s Gleann Phealan about that one). The top five teams will reap their rewards in beverages.

The bar previously known as L’Etage, just around the corner from Le Bistrot Parisienne in Tongli Studio, is under renovation and will re-open as Second Floor. I’ll have more on this soon.

China Doll (3.3 building) will start a happy hour on July 14 – expect two-for-one cocktails from 6 to 9 PM.

The Shunyi outlet of blue frog is open from 10 AM until late (management informs that the mall doors close at 10 PM and thus patrons need to be inside Europlaza by then if they plan to stick around). The Sanlitun outlet is “coming soon.”

For each of the 88 days until the 2008 Olympics, I will [try to] strip-mine my brain to unearth a thought related to Beijing and The Games. That’s one thought per brain cell. It’s called teamwork, people!

Today we have a “guest thought” brought to you by S. Schwankert:

“There has never been a better time for local bars to push domestic booze than the Olympics. With a flood of first-time visitors about to hit Beijing, why not capitalize by using local spirits in new, Games-only cocktails? Sure, Erguotou is the whipping booze of many foreign aficionados, but now is the time to mix it with, well, something else and taste the results, then serve up the best as drink specials.

“Some Beijing beverages will be a far easier sell, namely local beers and wines. The Olympics is perhaps the best opportunity that these China-made products have ever had to gain new customers, as they will be a lower-priced alternative to foreign brands, and visitors will be more open to “tasting China” than they would be even at a themed event in their home country. Think globally, drink locally.

Previously
Thought 1: If they build it, we may come
Thought 2: “Whether or not” in Sanlitun
Thought 3: Living the lowlife on Lotus Lane
Thought 4: The F&B scene takes a pre-Olympics breather?
Thought 5: Flaming Fuwa
Thought 6: Continental drink
Thought 7: The Parallel Bars?
Thought 8: No kangaroos, and other guidelines
Thought 9: A few good men
Thought 10: Someone call programming
Thought 11: Going, going, gone

Here’s an update on my “scorpions on a stick” media monitoring project (for full details, see: On a stick? In Beijing? No way!).

Category: I would have put the scorpions at number 6

Candidate: Alan Paul, NBC

Clip:

After dark, Wangfujing, the busy commercial street located just Northeast of Tiananmen Square, becomes a bustling, wild and wooly food market, populated by individual vendors selling everything from deep fried scorpions and sparrows on a stick to lamb kebabs. And that’s not to mention cicadas, grasshoppers, stinky tofu, quail’s eggs and strawberry kebabs.

Comment: The story is titled, “Beijing after dark: Five things to do at night in China’s capital.” It begins, “Open any guidebook and you can pretty quickly find the main tourist sites in China’s capital city. But dig a little deeper, and you can find plenty of experiences that will make your visit truly memorable.”

Thanks Buddha that NBC is here to “dig a little deeper” and let us know that, in addition to eating scorpions on a stick, visitors can also: get a massage, go to an acrobatic show, visit Houhai, and take a pedicab ride around The Forbidden City. Ha, you pesky guidebook writers, you just got owned (not really)!

‘Cause I get crazy on a Saturday night
I get crazy on a Saturday night
Ho, ho, ho, ho
I get crazy!

- David Hasselhoff

I hit the town with Special K on Saturday night and it’s only proper to start this post by paying tribute to one of his favorite singers (see above). With that out of the way, the lowdown:

Salt
Is it any surprise this place is packed? Consider: 1) Salt appeals to the under-served “I hate paying hotel prices” crowd (see also: Chef Too); 2) owner Gaby has a following (see also: Alameda); 3) the limited menu means the kitchen staff is focused and delivery is speedy; 4) the owner is on hand to ensure good consistent service. It sounds simple in theory but is difficult in practice.

I start with the tuna with mango and watercress salad. The fish ought to rule, but too much pepper and mango trumps it, though this dish pairs well with the Peter Lehmahn Shiraz-Grenache. As for the main, I find the sauce too rich for my perfectly cooked medium steak, though it again matches well with the wine. The side of garlic mashed potatoes and the salad, especially the tomatoes, are tasty.

Given the service, food, and two glasses of wine, RMB426 is reasonable. The only problem: Special K has a hot light shining in his face and thus sweats his way through the meal. (By the way, thank Buddha we didn’t have six more people or we would have faced a “suggested” 10-percent service charge for tables of eight, according to the menu.)

Frank’s Place
Downstairs from Salt, we grab a beer and watch the women’s Wimbledon final. (By the way, a good story: two players battling it out as they reach the far end of their careers. An excellent story: They are both black in a largely white sport. An amazing story: they are sisters. Explain to me again why we need reality TV?)

Anyway, Frank’s is half-full, though the deck is empty. The staff is efficient in serving drinks and turning on the tennis. We stick to Newcastle Brown Ale at RMB30 per bottle, though I notice the place has a very good happy hour, with RMB12 local draft and deep discounts on other beverages. By the way, I get the feeling that if I didn’t come back for three years, I’d pretty much find the same crowd here (and no, that’s not a criticism).

The Cave
I twice pop my head into this basement wine bar below Frank’s – it’s empty both before and after dinner. This is unfortunate because the owners are friendly and the wine list is extensive.

Eudora Station
My thoughts about Eudora before Saturday night: That place is always empty. My thoughts about Eudora on Saturday night, after my first visit in more than a year: The deck is packed, they are showing Wimbledon, and Bacardi and Rum is only RMB15. Woot, woot! We didn’t plan to stop, but the bustling deck draws us in as we walk by. Three things I like about the place:

1) Friendly employees promptly deliver the drinks and remove empties, get along behind the bar, and always seem to be doing something useful. The only downside: one waiter takes our initial order for RMB40 Jack and Coke, another suggests we try the RMB15 Bacardi and Rum, and confusion eventually ensues as to how many of each we ordered.

2) Detailed sports schedules are posted on the wall, on a big chalkboard, and in the toilets – by the time you’ve washed your hands, you’ve decided to come back for the men’s tennis final and to avoid the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game.

3) A young couple, apparently on a date, sit at the bar. The woman drinks less than 10 percent of her drink during their 90-minute tete-a-tete and the situation looks hopeless. Then she quickly drains the guy’s Guinnness, finishes her cocktail in a half-dozen gulps, and they leave. I think that performance beat the Wimbledon final.

Bed
The place is crowded as usual, with a birthday party and a slew of regular patrons. I have mixed feelings about Bed. On one hand, I usually see a half-dozen people I know, the hutong feel is nice once in a while, and the place has plenty of nooks and crannies in which to chill and chat. On the other, I’m not a fan of bartenders who use their bare hands on the mint, the limes, and the ice when making Mojitos. Tongs are not expensive!

The next time you pick up booze in the T3 terminal, thank Kevin Shen: he’s in charge of picking the wines, Whiskies and other whistle-wetters there. Here are his Beijing bar picks:

Kro’s Nest
I am not a beer drinker, but I would not say no to Kro’s on a Tuesday night when Tsingtao flows for five kuai (sometimes into paper cups!) and goes well with the New-York style pizzas. At Kro’s, I can just be myself, talk sh*t, and nobody cares much. That’s how I like it.

Face
I simply adore the place: the interior design, the attentive staff, the wine selection, the food, and the gourmet chocolates.

Intercontinental Hotel (Financial Street)
Oscar Wilde, who famously said, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”, repeatedly expressed his love of Champagne. I totally agree with him. With Champagne prices up 10 to 15 percent per year, a Sunday brunch that includes free-flow Moet Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, Laurent Perrier, and Mumms is a bargain! Who needs food, when each glass contains 150 calories, no fat, and no carbs?

Q Bar
The cocktails here are about fresh ingredients, quality spirits, and the right garnishes by bartenders with know-how. Q Bar simply has it all. On top of that, they have the best vodka and Whiskey selection in town.

Awana
OK, it’s more restaurant than bar, but the lovely Chris lets me work behind the bar when I’m in the mood to make my own Martini. And let’s not forget the authentic Malaysian food!

File this under “good while it lasted.”

Sanlitun South restaurant Revelations ended its seven-month run on Friday. Despite highly touted chefs from Hong Kong and one of the better-value set lunch deals in Bejiing, Revelations usually had but a handful of full tables at any given meal. Frankly, the cavernous layout and eclectic decor didn’t help, as they gave the place the combined feel of a restaurant, lounge, three-star hotel lobby, Olympics tribute (huge pillars!) , gallery, and, with that massive ovular light above the bar, beaming station for a spaceship.

Early rumblings suggest Revelations, which opened in the space that once housed Browns, will return to the scene as a nightlife spot.

The live music program at The Stone Boat is taking an intermission as concerts at the Ritan Park spot have been suspended by authorities due to security concerns. The Stone Boat will continue to operate from 10 AM until late for those seeking to enjoy a beverage in the park (or some fishing).

Tonight will see numerous Fourth of July parties around town, including at China Doll, Lush, The Beach, and elsewhere. (See: American freedom? Thank China.)

And starting from midnight tonight, The Saddle Cantina has its monthly Cinco De Drinko, which means all drinks are half-price.