Beijing Boyce

Every night is ladies night – well, almost – for bar explorer Samantha Ma. Here are her five favorite spots to go in Beijing. (See more top fives here.)

Tun (map): The best ladies night in town! Big drinks to lighten things up, and crazy dancing. A great way to release your stress after a hard week’s work – and free to boot.

Red Moon (map) (the one at the Grand Hyatt, not the one in Sanlitun): Great lounge band that performs Western and Chinese classics, making use of traditional instruments like the erhu and guzheng. And great cocktails!

Salud (map) (Sanlitun): I liked their spiced rums. Sitting outside on a weekend night watching Sanlitun go by is fantastic fun.

Danger Doyles (map): A great bar  and the rooftop is perfect on a nice summer night. The pool table is a little beat up, but there is hardly ever a wait, and they have free pizza on Wednesdays.

Xiu (map): Bejing’s new “it” bar really is nice. An elegant atmosphere, good drinks (although pretty expensive), and great live bands when I’ve been.

Just time to quickly list a few items for this weekend…

The first 80 pints of Guinness are free at Danger Doyle’s (map) from 5:59 tonight as part of the 250th anniversary salute-pour to Arthur Guinness. The free drinks continue, as least for the fairer sex, as ladies night runs from 8 PM to 11:30 PM – the list of select cocktails includes a number of martinis, including mango and lychee.

The Village Grouch might turn into The Village Grin given that a band he has praised – and with a lead singer he says “has one of the most terrifying tattoos I’ve ever seen, and looks like she was down at the wharf last night and won a fist fight – barely” – will perform at 2 Kolegas (map) on Saturday night at 10 PM <- 2 Kolegas web site says 8 PM, while City Weekend say 9 PM, with Propeller opening. That band is DH and the Hellcats and, based on catching them once, it should be a good show.

One of the best wine portfolio tastings of the year is this Saturday as Torres holds its third annual Taste of the Nations. More than 150 wines will be available for sampling. More details here.

As mentioned here, the Australian Football League final will be shown at several bars in Beijing tomorrow. This is your chance to see grown men cry – we’ll know which ones after the final score – into their Crowns, Cascades, and VBs.

Last but not least, a non-bar related event: There will be an exhibition of photos by Luna Zhang, who recently died, at Yugong Yishan (map) on Saturday at 2 PM. I worked with Luna Zhang a few times and she had a knack for catching people’s emotions with her camera.

Before I list some bars that will show the Australian Football League final this Saturday, a quick primer – for the newbies – on rugby terminology:

• Goal: When the ball is kicked through the big posts; worth six points.
• Torpedo kick: A kicked ball that spirals through the air.
• Handball: When a ball is “punched” as a way to pass it to another player.
• Double-dingo ticketyboo: Two players giving high-fives after a score.
• One tinnie too many: A player performing as though he had too much beer the night before.
• Going Dame Edna – Cross-dressing on the field.

(Confession: I made up the last three.)

There will be plenty of tinnies – translation: beers – at Danger Doyle’s (map) and The Den (map) for this 12:30 PM match between the Geelong Cats and St. K.F.C. (about the latter team, I feel obliged to make the “can we call them the Holy Fried Chickens” joke). My mate is a huge Geelong fan, which was doing well in its last finals until I showed up and started rooting for them. At that point, they became the equivalent of a row of camels licking the dew off the rail line just as the Indian Pacific train blows through from Sydney to Perth.

The doors open at 11 PM at Danger Doyle’s, which is holding the party with the Beijing Bombers and Australian Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are RMB250 for members, RMB300 for nonmembers, and that gets all-you-can-drink sodas, wine, Aussie beers, and selected cocktails, as well as all-you-can-eat BBQ.

The Den, as evidenced by the huge tarp inside the place, is also going the all-you-can-swallow route, with a menu of meat pies and beers for RMB100.

Winner of the Miss AFL contest (SMH)