Beijing Boyce

Paddy O’Shea’s (map) is holding a contest during May that should appeal to every warm-blooded [insert nationality here]. The pub calls it the “Guinness drinking world championships.” The idea: When you drink a pint of Guinness,  the staff asks your nationality, and then puts a tick beside your nation’s name. The country standings are updated daily.

The patrons of the winning nation will be rewarded with a free keg of Guinness at Paddy O’Shea’s at month’s end. And, it goes without saying, see their names go down in history. Expect a similar contest in June, that one focused on Stella.

(Note: A pint of Guinness at Paddy O’Shea’s is RMB55, though you can grab one for RMB39 during the happy hours from 3 PM to 8 PM).

Tough times for Mexico these days, so perhaps it is a welcome respite that today marks Cinco de Mayo, the defeat of French forces by Mexican troops on May 5, 1862, at “The Battle of Puebla.” There will be several Cinco de Mayo parties around town tonight. Here are three of them:

• The Saddle Cantina (map), which holds it monthly Cinco de Drinko party featuring half-price drinks all day and night, followed by a similar deal at “The Hair of the Dog” party at sibling establishment The Rickshaw on May 6.
• Pyro (map), best known for its pizza, which will offer drink specials.
• Luga’s Villa (map), which offers buckets of six Coronas for RMB98.

Irish bar Danger Doyle’s (map) – located in the former Stadium sports bar site on Workers Stadium East – will serve free pizza from its wood-fired oven from 5 PM tonight. Monday is also martini night, with drinks at RMB20 per glass.

Last week, I wrote about my mixed experiences at Danger Doyle’s. Yesterday, I arrived with five people at 1:30 PM for a menu tasting. I won’t write about the food, since our mission was to provide feedback  – and ours was mixed – to help finalize the menu for the rooftop deck. But I will note that after the tasting, DJ Chunky and I retired to the deck to finish off the bucket of Coronas – six bottles for RMB120 – our table had ordered. We stayed for three hours - chilling, chatting, and enjoying the afternoon breeze, with the jackhammers at the new Soho providing a slight annoyance.

This is a strength of Danger Doyle’s: You can park downstairs at the bar or at a table, upstairs near the pool table, on the back deck (shaded against the afternoon sun), or spread out on a lounge chair on the rooftop deck. I suppose that could also be seen as a weakness, namely, that it will take a momentous effort to fill this space. But the potential is there, and if Danger Doyle’s can continue to improve its service and deliver on reasonably priced drinks, and soon turn into reality plans for a BBQ and spit on the roof, this would provide another excellent outdoor space in our city.

I have been to Chocolate (map) a lot the past few weeks. I have written about Chocolate a lot the past few weeks. But the place is worth another post given that: 1) the place rocked on Thursday night; 2) I had my camera; and 3) the place rocked on Thursday night. Thus, the gallery below includes a few shots of the floor show, of the dance floor, and some people that somehow, despite ample imbibing, managed to not end up on the floor. By the way, anyone else notice how many people who work in the media, bar business, or five-star hotel sector – people who tend to know value – are showing up at Chocolate? A lot of Chocoholics out there…

Who knows what bowing could lead to?

-

7-ELEVEN ranks among my favorite franchises because it is clean and well-lit, is open 24 hours a day, and offers a good selection of foods, beverages, publications, and daily necessities. But I don’t like this recent practice of employees bowing to customers. Beijing ren bowing? Are you kidding? What’s next? Kowtowing?

A recent visit to my neighborhood 7-ELEVEN showed how misplaced is this behavior. I saw a group of trainees practicing some bowing and then shouting things such as “welcome!”, “come again!”, and “sorry, we once again have no copies of China Daily!”, all while blocking the beverage and food coolers. I uttered “excuse me” several times, and eventually pushed past the trainees, so that I could, you know, buy stuff and put money into the company that will provide them paychecks.

7-ELEVEN, here is my advice for improving customer service:

1. Stop the bowing: it makes me feel uncomfortable and does nothing to make my experience at your store better.

2. Train employees how to properly pack my purchases in that two-mao bag. (Hint: The sandwiches should not be placed under the large bottle of water.)

3. Follow your fellow franchies in other countries and get some Slurpee machines.

Twenty Vancouver Canucks fans – and one Chicago Black Hawks fan – got their NHL playoff fix at The Irish Canadian Volunteer (map) yesterday morning. Along with an excellent game – Vancouver won after Chicago came back with a trio of goals to tie it at three – patrons enjoyed plenty of banter, RMB30 breakfasts, beer, coffee, and that Great White North specialty poutine (see photo below). Catch the next game tomorrow, Sunday, at 9 AM.