Update: I met with Chad Lager of Fubar this week to pick the winners of the 100 bottles of vodka and gin in the Beijing Bar Rescue Contest. All valid comments went into a draw, with Lager overseeing the process and bartender / fashion model (see the August issue of Esquire) Seven Zhang pulling out five winners, each of which gets six bottles of alcohol — three vodka and three gin. Here are his picks:
- Matt: 12 bottles (drawn twice)
- Colin: 6 bottles
- Octopus: 6 bottles
- Richard: 6 bottles
Lager and I (so much for a panel) decided how to split the other 70 bottles. We liked many of the ideas, from the proposed revamp of Eudora in Lido to the creation of a live music venue in Sanlitun, although in some cases the entries were too long or didn’t strike us as quite right. (Re the entry that said Fubar needs to be rescued: Lager says he is quite happy with his profits, thank you very much.)
In the end, we agreed Matt and Blake had the best entries, though not on which one. With Matt, it was Green T. House and Havana Bar, with Blake it was Stone Boat and Miss Saigon. We also liked the unexpected suggestions from Zach for Metro and Pliers, though the latter entry was too long and didn’t make the cut, and the ideas from Octopus for Kura Kura and, as an aside, Tim’s Texas BBQ. (We’re not saying Tim’s needs a rescue, we just want to see which sea shanties he knows).
Here is how we decided to divide the 70 bottles:
Blake: 34 bottles
Matt: 24 bottles
Octopus: 6 bottles
Zach: 6 bottles
The prizes are available at Fubar. Winners should phone Lager ahead of pickup. (I will forward his phone number to the winners.)
Thanks to everyone who participated. I think most of us have been in a so-so bar, or walked by an empty spot, and thought, “You know, this place would be amazing if only someone [fill in the blank].” It was fun see some of those ideas.
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- A global phenomenon (southwarknews.co.uk)
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Update: The contest is closed. I’ll post re the winners on Monday afternoon (tomorrow, Wednesday, promise. We went over all the entries last night and I just need to write up the results).
100 bottles of booze on the wall, 100 bottles of booze…
Chad Lager of Fubar is fatigued from figuring out cocktail recipes for his stock of Strait guava gin and Strait vanilla vodka, and is donating 50 bottles of each for a contest. That means 100 bottles of booze. And this coincides with the start of a new U.S. TV show called Bar Rescue in which an expert tries to give a boost to a bar. And that makes it a natural to hold a Bar Rescue Beijing Contest for 100 Bottles of Booze from Fubar.
The challenge: Tell us what Beijing bar needs rescuing and how, and do so in 100 words or less.
(One of Chad’s picks is to re-launch Powerhouse: he says the great outdoor space and perfect location would make it ideal for a thriving live rock and roll scene. One of my picks is Pavillion: given the layout, both the interior and that lovely patio, and location in the Sanlitun-Workers Stadium zone, this would work well as an upscale restaurant and lounge, with a special focus on the post-2 AM crowd. Think D Lounge’s chicness with Twilight’s attitude and drinks.)
Winners will be chosen based both on merit and luck.
In terms of luck, we will draw five winners, each of whom will get a six-pack of booze — three bottles of gin, three bottles of vodka.
In terms of merit, several bar scene observers, to be announced shortly, will narrow the entries to a few finalists and decide how many of the remaining 70 bottles each one gets. A finalist might get 1 bottle or 20 bottles or even all 70 bottles.
(It is possible, though unlikely, for someone who enters five times to win all 100 bottles.)
The details, in bullet points…
- To enter the contest, tell us — in no more than 100 words — which Beijing bar should be rescued and how.
- You may post an entry about a bar already mentioned but you need to come up with a different rescue plan.
- You may enter up to five times. Each entry must be submitted as a separate entry to be eligible for the draw.
- All reasonable comments will be entered into the draw.
- The deadline is next Tuesday at 5 PM.
- Winners need to pick up their prizes at Fubar.
Finally, there is still time — about two hours — for those interested in entering the contest for 10 Gung Ho pizzas and 48 bottles of Vedett. Details here.
Reason we thought of this contest is that every bar owner and bar customer loves to walk place a vacant spot and think what if… that’s very subject…. Powerhouse…
Many people have been pining for a new Browns since it closed ~4 years ago. With growing numbers of late-night imbibers at Stumble Inn, Blue Frog, Union, etc, plus those in Sanlitun, that Zazou space on 3F — which the renters seem to be sitting on – might work. I know the “but it’s in a mall” argument, but so are Union et al and they are drawing late-night crowds…
Many times I have found myself with guests in town after 2 AM in Sanlitun, in need of a place for them to chill out and wishing I had more higher-end options. Given its location and deck, I wish Pavillion would emerge as an option — a slightly upscale restaurant / bar during the day / evening, then go-to lounge late at night. Thinking chicness of D Lounge, the attitude / drinks of Twilight. This space has so much potential…
Would love to see Tun Bar become a brew pub / live music venue. Those earthy digs, with enough space to put the brewing process on display, plus a stage facing tiers of seating, including a loft… would love to enjoy brews and blues here. And there’s a patio. Tun Bar could do in Sanlitun what Great Leap is doing in the hutongs…
I nominate LAN Club as a place that deserves rescuing, if only to allow the owner to recoup the outlandish money she paid for the decor. It started out with great fanfare and a heady crowd of TV stars and film actresses, but seems to have lost favour. Last time I was there, it was empty. Reduce the drink prices, ease up on the blaring music and allow punters to actually enjoy being there.
12mm. For surviving this long in the midst of the NLGX hubris without losing its distinct character. For dodging wrecking balls and greedy landlords. For getting away serving Ozzie beer! We all need a bit of respite while waiting for our better halves to finish their shopping. Someone please buy this place already.
My second choice would be Ned’s – a place where refined Australian sportsmen could gather after a hard day chasing cricket balls or kicking footballs, to relax quietly and discuss the day’s play. As gentlemen of the finest breeding, drinkers would happily accept the house rules – blazers and ties essential, no swearing, no peeing on passing cars, no virtually/visually undressing passing young women.
Floor area was a problem, so perhaps break through the ceiling and add a floor – no-one would notice. Heck, add two floors!
Danger Doyles! It was a sports fan’s dream. Friendly staff, tasty grub and the cosy upstairs on a Saturday night had sports and games wherever you looked! It needs rescuing from clueless non F&B businessmen and the love put back in it. All it needs is happy staff (??!!), the prices reduced and daily events to put it back on track! Shame no one listens to punters and drunks!
Rickshaw, that was the place where you either started the night or ended the night, and most of the time for me it was both. If we bring it back, this time, make it bigger, more seats, a nice dart board, a pool table that doesn’t lean, a high tech automated beer pong table, and of course the cleanest public bathroom in the city would be underneath. You would be hard pressed to find anybody who lived here before 2010 that never had a beer at the old rickshaw, bring it back!!!
There’s too many bars in the sanlitun area already. Posh, cheap, classy, trashy, elitist, down to earth… you name it! What that side of town needs is a proper Livehouse! like D-22 or Jianghu! So I say we should rescue “Poachers”
The place was one of the few ones in SLT that had live music and I don’t mean random ponytailed guys singing bad covers of Hotel California.
If the greater Gulou area can accommodate 17 live music venues with proper sound systems and concert schedules, why shouldn’t Sanlitun have one?
The foot traffic is there! The rowdy crowds are there! The back street has a seedy twisted dirty rock n roll feeling to it where if the right person took charge of a place like Poachers used to be with the right vision and business plan, they would make a killing.
To me the Powerhouse, anything on bar street, together bar all could use a dose of fun. For the Powerhouse , I just had another idea…..Tim’s Texas Powerhouse!!! Get on it , Tim
Agree with Badr , Live music with full schedules..Poachers would be ideal. But, Powerhouse, Tun, the old browns all could pull it in if done right. The key would be rent and Beijing keeps going up.
@ Zach,
Tait at Bar Blu said a few months ago that, with the changes to Bar Blu, he was kind of trying to capture some of the old Rickshaw spirit – with the wings, the pool table and general vibe. Can we count that as an attempted rescue!?
Cheers, Boyce
@ Colin,
Agree: there are some risks but there is also plenty of potential to make a nice living from this place. Though I’ll missing having a Cooper’s there and chatting with Joseph Kornides…
Cheers, Boyce
@ Chad, Badr,
It’d be nice if Poachers went the live music route but they seem to be doing pretty well so not sure if they would see the need to be rescued. Actually, I see that place as being ideal for a Brownst-type venue, perhaps not right away but when destruction of that area looms and a Browns-type spot might be seen as something that is worth saving, especially if the investors included, say, Swire…
Cheers, Boyce
Smugglers. It’s old friend, the Kai Bar, has up and left it sitting alone at the end of a strangely dank and urine-soaked barren street that seems to end in unwelcoming gates and some sort of tree-related watering hole. Many bars have forgotten why we leave our homes — but not Smugglers. With cheap drinks, bench seating, and the definition of “background music”, this is the closest you can get to having 20+ mostly-friends crowding your own apartment. Let us not forget this magnificent destination before it is too late, and the once-lively street goes dark on what really is Beijing’s best bar.
OK, one more from me, and then I’m going to back off…
Story Ship, that floating restaurant / bar in the waters of SE Workers Stadium. Great location, good decor, large rooftop with a good view and… parking! Yet empty. I’d like to see Bellagio or a similar outfit team up with an events company take it over — it could function as restaurant / event space / catering outfit from lunch to the wee hours and be run by a team with a track record.
Cheers, Boyce
Lido is a great area of town except there is no where to get a decent drink without some young girl on either a professional or personal mission buzzing around your table.
Th best candidate in the area for a rescue mission is Eudora Station. The food is deplorable. The drinks are a random assortment of mediocre mixes and overpriced beers. The service, even by Beijing standards, is lacking. But the have a great space, a good patio and a decent enough house band so there is some potential there.
In a perfect world, it would miraculously become a real steak house with good drinks and a sense of fun. Kind of Flamme-ish, but with more of a bar feel later in the evening. I don’t know who could pull it off. Or where the girls in the back corner would go…
One last idea from me, slipping further into the realms of fantasy…. Yusuf/Joseph to make a triumphant return to Beijing, and revive his Escobar, renaming it “Bi-Polar” in recognition of his previous reputation. The new Escobar/Bi-Polar would welcome all comers, with no fear of being ejected because you wanted extra ice in your drink, or an extra olive. Couples wanting a quiet evening together can do so, without interruption from the Maitre D’. It would carry a full range of drinks, distributors being delighted to extend credit terms. And the bar would have free wi-fi so that bloggers can work there all day if they wish, free from hassle or threat of imminent injury.
Rickshaw for having the best toilet in China while also offering an aromatic public version in the same building. Also, real classy interior, perfectly presented burgers that never resembled the remnants of a food fight. Plus the owner was well liked by every customer that never met him.
@ Boyce, Chad
Ditto on Browns for live music but it’s too big and most likely too pricey for a concept that would work in the area. Need it so that 50 people can be comfortable inside and to max out at 100 when they’re squeezed tight!
The place can look decently occupied with even 20 people in it and hopefully help drag some wonderers off the street if possible.
Tun would make one hell of a live music venue if done right. Far enough from any potential place that would complain of noise.
one more possible rescue that’s been brought up before: The Rickshaw as the best sports bar to ever grace Beijing:
Forget the drinking and the deals, one of the strengths of the Rickshaw was showing all sports and actually advertising it. NFL, NBA, Champions League, whatever… you knew that they’d find a way to show it if it was possible and they would make it known that they have it.
Sure, Paddy’s is filling in the niche but it’s very much euro-centric.. It feels sometimes like being in England! The rickshaw managed to collect a motley crue of customers and felt a heck of a lot more international from all sides: food, sports, athmosphere etc..
Probably a bit uncouth to say it but Fubar needs some pepping up, it just seemed to lose a lot of cool factor and turned a lot of people I know off. I say this with love, I used to go all the time and want them to get back to being great. To fix it just reset all the changes that have been made and focus on doing the original things well.
Improve all these basic areas and you will have a winner again:
High quality alcohol
Great hot dogs
Cool decor and style
Consistent and good music
Cool fuwuyuan
Also in lido, there is a hidden gem named Metro bar. It’s a dark, dank, little basement bar across from landscape. The location is great but the bar is a little sub par. The staff and drinks are great but the equipment needs updated. We could get some dark wood comfy tables and chairs and turn it into a great whiskey bar for the lido crowd. Add sports on the tv and It would kill it in the winter
Ditto on Rickshaw because I met Mikey there and isn’t as funny of a story unless you actaully know what the rickshaw is like, and given it looks like we will never leave Beijing, I need the Rickshaw to be in operation. My proposal: Opening night will be our wedding reception.
Boyce will have to do a live blog there during the entire time.
Chad will have to usher.
and the event will be catered by all the cokeed up angry bartenders from 2009.
The bar that meant more to me than any other in Beijing was always the Stone Boat. It’s still there, sitting vacant, ever since the owner forced out J.A., who had turned this simple space into an idyllic respite from the glitz of the capital’s garish nightlife scene. Back in the day, Beijingren saw acts like Soundtrack of Our Lives play unannounced shows here, and every night of the week, you could get away from the city’s barrage of smog and neon by sitting under the trees by Ritan Park lake and kicking back with some wine or tsingtao. How to save the bar? Simple: hand it back over to J.A.
Miss Saigon atop the Swire building: gorgeous space, grotesque management. Solution? Ditch the decor, build a real roof garden that grows organic mint, soda, sugar, lime and rum plants … and mix home-grown mojitos. Maybe that’s a stretch, but you get the idea: healthy, well made cocktails and juices high above Sanlitun … oh, and they need to change the name to Element Fresh – The Bar.
Drum and Bell – I always want to drink on this rooftop overlooking the Drum and Bell Towers, but I don’t always want the five day hangover that results from its fake booze. Solution: serve real booze. I don’t even care if the drinks are well mixed, just please, use real booze.
Club Gaga – It’s always empty while the rest of the Gongti glitterati are bouncing elsewhere. Solution: a Lady Gaga impersonator (assuming Beijing Boyce is up to it) five nights a week.
Luga’s – What happened here? The original Luga’s is suddenly always empty. Solution: start having the Sanlitun lady bar touts bring the lost tourists here and rename it Luga’s Lady Bar.
Blake,
Yer on fire.
Agree re Stone Boat, though any rescue should include an elbow strengthening course for the staff since the place had some of the weakest drinks in town.
And Miss Saigon: they should add an elevator, a la Block 8, while doing the makeover…
Cheers, Boyce
Nice try, Boyce, but if The Pavilion couldn’t establish itself as an upmarket venue in that spot in six years, I think that means there’s no hope for the idea. Gongti Ximen is a godless wasteland and no foreigner wants to be seen dead there. You might as well just turn The Pavilion’s space into another generic disco like all those nightmares over the road, and call it something like Mojo Caramba (actually, come to think of it, that’s a much better name for a disco than Coco Banana).
Second thoughts for The Pavilion… go for the low end of the market. Since two thirds of the expat population these days is Americans fresh out of college (or still in college, or not yet in college), there should surely be an opening for a tiki lounge kind of place. Serving stations with palm-leaf thatch, dancing girls in grass skirts, perhaps a small pool installed in the terrace out back. And of course, “tropical cocktails” served in 500ml plastic glasses.
Doyle’s is doomed by its awful location and divided space. But, given there’s such a pressing need for a decent sports bar in the city centre, it might yet be redeemed. Biggest problem is the two floors: it’s not one bar, but two (weirdly identical) bars. They need to give up on that idea – separate the space, make the upstairs something completely different, a cocktail bar or wine bar. Will need some remodelling, toilets (and perhaps a small kitchen) on each floor; but it would be worth it. Make the downstairs a proper sports bar, and make The Den weep.
Perhaps this doesn’t really count, but I’d like to rescue the whole of The Village from being an ugly and pointless mall. Yes, sure, when the Zombie Apocalypse finally arrives, it may come into its own as a Last Citadel for the surviving remnants of humanity. But that’s a long time to wait. The Apple Store – and the half a dozen other worthwhile businesses there – could relocate to the not-quite-such-an-eyesore Sanlitun SOHO over the road. Then we could bulldoze the whole place and erect some low-rise redbrick apartment buildings instead, with just a few bars hidden amongst them.
Could we rescue Amilal from being overrun by trendies? Take down the illuminated sign, remove all listings from the expat mags, and pretend to be closed for renovations for a month or two. And we should probably brick up the entrance to the lane – or at least have a stinky dofu vendor set up a stall there: that should keep people away. Perhaps we should have that scary throat-singing dude from Ajinai sitting on the door and demanding a password in Mongolian as well. Then we might be back to the good old days.
Let’s rescue D-Lounge. Its easily the coolest space in town, its just run by, and usually populated by, Beijing’s douchiest. Such great design… its like the Batcave. But, you know, full of a-holes. Making it more like… er… the Buttcave.
For that matter, a tweak or two could make Apothecary amazing. I’m not sure how you dial down pretentiousness and self-importance, but if three’s a manageable way to do that, it could also be returned to the glory of its earliest days…
First one – Hooters to the rescue – retrain the girls in their pompom dance steps, and retrain their cookie as the food is awful…so much for drinking there
Second one – Bring back the Sports Bar in the Gloria Plaza Hotel – they demolished the whole thing but it was one of the first sports bars in town with an amazing interior back in the day.
Third one – Bring back the original Frank’s Place near the Den…miss that location, only memories remain…good food, good drinks, good times…and bring back Frank!
Hooters could be rescued by hiring girls with massive…
Most bars in China, especially in second tier cities, could be rescued with three simple steps: 1. Remove all fairy lights. They are for Christmas trees. 2. Play music quiet enough that people can hear each other. 3. Rather than selling two bottles of Tsingdao at 40RMB a bottle, consider selling two hundred at 20RMB.
Fourth one – The Hard Rock Cafe – great venue and Rock ‘n Roll decor but what the heck happened? Need to rescue the place by generating more people there!
@ Barbara,
I’ll gladly live blog your wedding reception as long as the meal includes Rickshaw-style Buffalo chicken wings.
Cheers, Boyce
@ Blake,
This city desperately needs a place called Lady Bar. The media coverage alone of such a place would make it worth the effort. Maybe Luga could open that in the basement of his “villa” project — it’s got a slightly dodgy feel that I’d associate with any place called Lady Bar…
Cheers, Boyce
@ Richard,
That (former) sports bar at the Gloria Plaza would go down on my top ten all-time underutilized Beijing bar spaces.
Cheers, Boyce
The old Le Cafe Igosso south of Guomao that was chai’d never regained the same feeling when it moved. I miss that place, especially the bar.
Together reggae bar need to reopen somewhere. Small family run operation with super cheap beers and friendly clientele.
I think Song Bar was good for a while; especially the Hotpot night (which is now in Punk). Sadly there seems to be a theme (Stone Boat, Danger Doyle’s etc.) that one of the main things that could be done in Beijing is the returning of foreign managers who were unceremoniously fired when the venue started making some money. So I think that an essential rescue package for a lot of places would be to think about atmosphere, service and clientele and not how much money you can make in the shortest time possible.
Tim’s Texas BBQ could be rescued by replacing all the Texan memorabilia with paintings and photographs of the rolling hills and rugged coastline of Devon in England. He should also replace the BBQ menu with scones and clotted cream, replace all American ales with cider and only play old English sea shanties on the stereo. Then he could rename as Tim’s Genteel West-Country Coast Cream Teas and Ciders.
I love Ichikura but Kurakura is exceedingly weak. It’s not terrible but I never feel any desire to go there… it doesn’t have anything that I can’t find cheaper or with more atmosphere elsewhere. I think that, given the management, they should do a modern riff on something uniquely Japanese and create a niche with some food/cocktail concoctions that are unavailable anywhere else in the city.
My last choice and just in time for the deadline, is a place I bet no one has even heard of or stepped foot in and it’s in lido. It’s called pliers club, it’s on the -2 floor of piao homes building 2. I stumbled on this one drunken night over the winter, I’ve never seen it open, and I knocked a few times heard noise from inside but never a answer, this place is clouded in mystery. No one knows what it is or even what’s inside, I say we break the doors down keep the ghost there and market it as Beijing first haunted club, just model it after the after haunted mansion in Disney, zombie door men, werewolf bartenders, sexy vampire cocktail girls, might be a bit of fun and it’s tacky enough to work in china!
I guess you couldn’t rescue a bar thats already dead if you could that would make this much more interesting. The Hard Rock Cafe defiantly doesn’t live up to it’s world wide reputation and what the brand stands for . I say set fire to that place and start all over again and give us a real HARD ROCK.
Green T HOUSE near gongti ximen needs to be rescued. Back in the 90′s and early 2000′s they ruled the business traveler scene. They still attract a good steady crowd but no one seems to know that they has some of the most tasty and creative cocktails in the city. I say keep that place open after hours, add more beds, pump some nice budda bar type music and we will have ourselves a new hot location. The decor is already stunning and the location is perfect.
Someone please throw club LAN a life line. With award winning decor, good space, high quality pours and a high-end kitchen the only reason they haven’t been more successful and consistent is because of their location and lack of coordination and marketing. Take LAN and transport them to SANLITUN SOHO on a top floor and see how fast the place packs up.
Havana Club in the Grand Millennium hotel is perfect they just need more customers. They run good drink promotions every now and again, they had a great jazz singer once upon a time the mood is right in that place. However it just never took off like some of the other hotel bars in the city. I think allot people just don’t know that it exist, but thats an easy fix.
CJW all the right vibes but that lack the know how and execution to make a Cigar and jazz bar successful. I would give them a recipe for success but I rather show them at our new place coming this winter in Sanlitun. Close to where I met you the other day near refresh Boyce.
The Door in SLT has always been my favorite dive in the area and for the past few weeks they’ve been shuttered, although this past weekend they were set up outside serving booze. The staff and owner are always nice and quick on the service. I’d love to see them (somehow) expand Beijing’s smallest dance floor, keep the fun mix of funky tunes, cheap drinks, and still avoid the obnoxious crowds of Smugglers and Youth Club.