Beijing Boyce

UPDATE: Here is the full list of winners from last night’s bars and clubs awards.

The Beijinger Bars and Clubs Awards are tonight and, wireless signal and power source willing, I plan live blog and tweet the ceremony (you can follow me on twitter here). I aim to provide an update every 10 to 15 minutes about the award winners, about any cat fights between employees of competing bars and clubs, about the joy of drinking draft Stella outside, and about anything else interesting that is happening. The updates will be listed with the most recent one at the top of this post. Finally, here are my favorites for the awards – these are the places I like, not the ones I necessarily think will win.

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9:11 Actually, the only thing that will make this make sense is a double shot of Ouzo…

9:10 Bar of the year: Mesh (Block 8, Paddy O’Shea’s, Q Bar) <– Well, that makes about as much sense as Element Fresh winning as restaurant of the year.

9:07 Best new bar or club: Chocolate (Mesh and The Stumble Inn) <– Sweet

9:05 Kudos to Elyse Ribbons for keeping the spirit going. She’s throwing out the quips and now she has a bunch of people up dancing.

9:01  Best survivor, that is, in business before January 1, 2004: The Tree  (Lush, Suzie Wong) <– Where is Charlie’s bar! Where is The Den?

8:59 Best night club: White Rabbit (Suzie Wong, Vics)

8:57 Best place for business networking: Centro (Aria, The Bookworm)

8:44 (The Ouzo – including Ouzo and Sprite, hmmm – seems to be going over big now.)

8:53 Bar most worthy of a long cab ride: Lush (Bed, Progapanda)

8:51 Best value for money: Tun (Nanjie, The Den) <– Too places under the Huxley influence

8:28 Best decor: LAN (Chocolate, Face) <– Disappointing given that Chocolate out-LANs Lan

8:26 Best place to find a date: Suzie Wong (Propaganda, Tun) <– Yes, but the day after?

8:24 By the way, Sneaky Pete from China Radio International won a six-pack of Hoegaarden. You think that is making it out of here? Me neither.

8:24 Best place to bring a date: Bed (Face, Q Bar) <– Hoped for Ichikura, but maybe better more people don’t want to go there.

8:22 Best bathrooms: LAN (didn’t catch the honorable mentions)

8:20 Best outdoor drinking: Kokomo (Q Bar, Saddle Cantina, Stone Boat)
Most beautiful people: Suzie Wong (didn’t catch the honorable mentions)

8:14 More awards (with “honorable mentions” in brackets):

Best regular event: Syndicate at White Rabbit (Cinco de Drinko at Saddle Cantina, ladies night at Tun)
Best live music: Yugong Yishan (D22, MAO Livehouse)
Best for dancing: White Rabbit (Vics, Salsa Caribe)
Best happy hour: Saddle Cantina (The Rickshaw, The Den)

8:11 Ouzo shots and Stella are flowing and there is some dance thing going on with minimally clothed people banging sticks together.

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7:52 More awards (with “honorable mentions” in brackets):
Best after-hours spot: White Rabbit (Suzie Wong, The Den)
Best hotel bar: Centro (Mesh, Punk) <– You think Mesh and Punk split the vote on this one? I’m guessing so…
Best bar food: The Tree (Rickshaw, Lush)
Best lounge: Bed (Bling, Q Bar)
Best sports Bar: Paddy O’Shea’s (All-Star, The Den) <– Methinks Bling voters helped All-Star big time

7:44 Lots of people, lots of beer, and great weather. This is working out well.

7:32 More awards (with “honorable mentions” in brackets):
Best drink selection: Q Bar (Mesh, The Tree)
Best draft beer: The Tree (Paddy O’Shea’s, The Den)
Best Bartender: George from Q Bar (Claire from Pyro, Andy from The Rickshaw)

7:25 Awards so far (with “honorable mentions” in brackets):
Best cocktails: Q Bar (Centro, Mesh)
Best cheap drinks: Nanjie (Tun, Kai Club)
Best wine list: La Baie des Anges (Aperitivo, Aria, Centro)

7:20 Elyse Ribbons of Cheeky Monkey is co-emcee. Her male partner has no idea how to pronounce Chinese names.

6:22 In the cozy confines of Douban Cafe with a double espresso sitting in my tummy. The place is starting to fill up, but no sign things are about to start. Anyway, it is time to venture out and see if: a) I can find a power source and b) I can get a wireless signal. If I can, I’ll start posting the award winners as they are announced. If I can’t, I’m heading straight to the Stella bar.

6:oo This thing is supposed to start now but not many people are here yet. Maybe they’re: a) in traffic; b) getting  their hair done at the last minute; c) being fashionably late, or d) at the wrong Soho. At least we have a wide open space to enjoy tasty beer (Stella), wine and cocktails and enjoy the weather.

5:44 Mike Wester, GM of True Run Media, which publishes The Beijinger, says there will be four ten-minute performances tonight, plus awards in 29 readers choice categories, and 10 editors choice awards. Whew, this looking like a long night…