Beijing Boyce

-

Two reasons I rarely went to Enoteca in The Place: 1) it was near-impossible to get a taxi there at night and 2) there were no toilets and thus wine recycling required a trip into the mall. Neither is an issue at the new Enoteca–temporarily known as Enoterra–on the fourth floor of Nali Patio just above Mosto and next to the future Agua. Even better, the new place is open and airy, has more than a dozen chalkboards that list the foods and wines (in categories such as “playful” and “sensual“), and will launch its rooftop once spring comes.

The popular Friday Night Fever continues: anyone buying a RMB200 bottle of wine gets free tapas (8 PM to 10 PM). There is also two-for-one wine by the glass from 4 PM to 7 PM each weekday, live music on Thursday nights, and Sunday brunch options at RMB75, RMB98, and RMB130. Look for cheese fondue to join the menu in November. The long table at back should will work well for group tastings.

I visited last night to talk to Tomaz Hladnik, soon to leave Beijing for Shanghai to take over as the company’s operations director –Ludovic Lafleur will manage the Beijing operation. I asked him to recommend three dishes. Here they are:

• Chef’s platter with salami, cooked ham, proscuito, brie, emental, olives, sun dried tomatos, foie gras, salmon tartar, mango chutney, and bread and butter (RMB220)
• Crostini trio: baguette with blue cheese and proscuitt (RMB32) [I tried these on Saturday night: tasty]
• Terrine: goat cheese and tomato (RMB74)

Enoteca is open from 11 AM to 2 AM daily. It imports most of its own wines and I’ll have more on these after a few more visits.

The Beijing branch of Shanghai-based Enoteca wine bar chain will hold its closing party tomorrow from 6 PM at The Place with a 20 percent discount on bottled wine. Enoteca is slated to reopen a two-floor venue on September 30 just above Mosto on the fourth floor of Nali Patio. While Enoteca has its fans and won numerous awards since opening in June 2008, the lack of toilet facilities and the difficulty of getting taxis at The Place made it a tough go for me. Looking forward to seeing what the team behind the place comes up with in Sanlitun…

See also:

• Enoteca: Set to pour wine all over The Place

• Beijing Olympics picks: Wine bars

• Top five Beijing bar: Brandon Chemers

• Enoteca wine bar: Now (finally) with beer and 50% off food

• Enoteca: Wine flights, two-for-one, live jazz, the mother of all monitors

• Top five Beijing bars: Tom O’Malley

So many bars and restaurants are opening when so many people I know are on vacation, but such is the current state of getting fire safety, business license, etc chops these days that delays are the norm and you open when you can. Anyway, some happenings in the Saniltun area…

The second edition of Stumble Inn opens tomorrow night (Friday) on the third floor of Sanlitun Village. Like the first edition, it has two floors, though this one is above ground and includes a deck. The public launch is at 10 PM and will have drink specials.

Also on floor three, bar and grill Flamme opened last Friday (the very hungry can try the massive steak for two for RMB398). And Queen’s Cafe, with a nod toward Russian food, opened today (the RMB70 lunch special, with soup, salad, main, dessert, and coffee or tea, is good value). Still to come is Modo, which is in the midst of a series of food tastings as it fine-tunes the menu. As far as I know, Modo will have the first enomatic machines in Beijing that allow customers to use a prepaid card to select from among 16 wines.

Speaking of wine, in about a month Enoteca will leave The Place and reopen on two floors of Nali Patio, above Mosto and close to where former Legation Quarter outfit Agua is expected to go in.

DJ Phil, long-time music mixer at Poacher’s on Friday nights and at Tun on Saturday nights, says come to 1F on Wednesdays as he spins American indie music and some eighties tunes from 10 PM. Poacher’s was recently sold, so expect some changes there.

Finally, the moose is loose: Canuck brew Moosehead is now available in Beijing, with Fubar at Workers Stadium and Union Bar & Grille in Sanlitun Village both stocking it.

In the latest episode of Top Five Watering Holes, former restaurants editor for The Beijinger and current freelance writer Tom O’Malley lets us know where he grabs something to drink after he’s had something to eat. Learn about every O’Morsel O’Malley O’Masticates by following him on Twitter at tomomalleyBJ. By the way, he sent me this list two weeks ago, so he’s even further ahead of the curve than he appears, perhaps so far that’s he’s almost all the way around and sneaking up behind us. Here are his top five…

-

O'Malley's O'Margaritas...

“Amigo

“My muse, my goddess of inspiration, is called Margarita. She is cheap and intoxicating. Her lips are salty and her bosom is broad. And she lives in a shoebox on Gulou Dongdajie. To drink from her 15 kuai cup on a Saturday, Monday, or Wednesday is to experience twice the pleasure for half the price. Or at least it was until Amigo’s laoban sneakily tried to do away with half-price drinks after the World Cup. The gall of it! Until he undoes this madness, I for one will only be attending once a week. Maybe twice, but that’s it.

“Amilal

“Nothing groundbreaking here: boss is a cool dude (he bought me Sichaun noodles the other night), place is homey and cosy inside and out, cute cats, nice Mojito for the ladies, good whiskey selection (and feels like a place to sip liquor), and occasional live minority music. The older crowd is generally free of those Zara-shirted BMW execs you find at Bed Bar. Concealed alleyway location adds to the fun, plus, it’s the sort of haunt that still gets a crowd when all else is offline for the night.

“Bar 59 / El Nido

“Newish hipster dive on Fangjia Hutong in Andingmen has around 80 different beers, a dozen brands of absinthe, plus a mid-sized Jenny Lou’s worth of wine — all in a place with three bench tables in the alley, a few fairy lights, and a sheet strung up between lampposts showing Neil Young youtube videos. Right now, the kids are drinking Kwak beer from Belgium at RMB30 a bottle. Full-bodied and dark as hell, it packs a kick at 8.4 percent. If you’ve never experienced getting pleasantly sloshed on three small bottles of beer, give it a try.

“Enoteca

“Manager Tomaz is an exceedingly nice man, and his wine menu is compact and fun to browse. Friday Wine Fever with unlimited snacks for RMB200 per bottle is a choice deal, especially if you’re in a group of three or four — stay long enough and you can pretty much skip dinner. Lack of toilets might stress out some folks, and live music can be intrusive, but few better or more affordable places to imbibe the ruby nectar in Beijing.

“Tao Yao Bar

‘I’m here every Friday for the RMB50 open bar featuring Harbin beers and five cocktails plus top London DJ (me, ha ha). I know the manager well but this isn’t just a shameless plug — Houhai could almost be a nice place to drink if a few more venues tried to break the mould. Tao Yao Bar does with a great drinks deal and that’s why Fridays have a really friendly, chaotic vibe into the early hours, with a cool mix of Western and Chinese patrons. The outdoor garden has lake views and big sofas, and inside is Tibetan-styled with private booths and lots of trinkets. But no Yak. They’re working on it.”

I joined a small gathering on Thursday night to sample wines and snacks at Enoteca (map). The Beijing branch of a Shanghai-based wine bar chain, it opened more than a year ago and is doing some fine-tuning. I earlier mentioned Stella is now available, thus making Enoteca a draw for groups that have a person or two who prefer beer to wine. A few more items I learned about on Thursday:

• Any wine by the glass is two for one from 4 PM to 7 PM, Monday to Friday.
• A flight of three wines with three appetizers is RMB88. (Note: These are not full pours, but smaller ones used to compare the wines.)
• After a half-off food deal during August, Enoteca has settled its prices at RMB40 for paninis (five choices), RMB45 for salads (seven choices), and RMB60 for pastas (five choices). Set lunch menus, available from 11 AM to 4 PM and inclusive of a soft drink, range from RMB57 to RMB72.
• The place has live jazz from 8 PM to 11 PM on Thursdays.

The comfortable design and seating at Enoteca have never been an issue. And given the weather, sitting on the deck is pleasant, especially when you have a view of The Mother of All Monitors.

As noted last week, Enoteca (map) is offering 50 percent off food during August, so I headed there with JD last Friday for lunch. I tried the Enoteca Caesar salad and a panini, shown below, while JD went for the hefty item above. We both had sodas. Nice ambience, good presentation, tasty food (though my salad could have used less dressing), and excellent value… our meal totaled just under RMB90. (Compare this to RMB56 if you simply order two sodas at Enoteca.) One of the best deals out there this month…

File: Better late than never?

Let’s say you have a group of six colleagues in Central Park who want to go out for after-work drinks. And that four of them want wine and two want beer. Until now, that meant skipping Enoteca (map) in The Place.

For some reason, and despite suggestions, Enoteca has steadfastly refused to add even a single beer to its menu, thus losing business from not only those two beer fans above but also their four wine-drinking co-workers Until now. New manager Tomas Hladnik, formerly the rep for Strait vodka, says Stella will be available from Monday.

Even better, during August, Enoteca is offering a 50 percent discount on all food, including tapas, pastas, and a new selection of sandwiches and salads.

Enoteca is a cozy enough, with sofa and bar seating, and the range of wines – most imported by the owners – is decent, though it can be hit and miss. Perhaps the addition of this food special and beer option will finally bring in the traffic hoped for since the opening.

See also: Sips and bites, extended play: Tim’s, Kro’s, Luga’s, Enoteca, Nanjie, Tun, and more

In the latest installment of the “top five watering holes” series, Brandon Chemers, avid sports fan, man about town, and author of brand spanking new Beijing soccer blog “Gongti Legends“, provides his picks for the best places to grab a drink in town.

The Den (map)
Frequented by everyone from hipsters to hookers, The Den is an excellent spot for people watching. They totally miss the definition of “happy HOUR” by holding it daily from 5 PM to 10 PM (including weekends) – and I thank them for that. Their food isn’t the greatest, but it isn’t bad, especially considering the price. It is also sort of a security blanket: despite all the changes over the years to our fair city, The Den continues going strong, and sometimes even improving (the newer, bigger windows), while retaining what we’ve all come to expect. I have lots of great memories tied to the place and it is a great meet-up spot before an event (like a Guoan soccer match) at Workers Stadium. They have quirky policies and mediocre (at best) service, but when you can get a beer and a pizza for under RMB50, it’s hard to complain.

Enoteca (map)
I can understand all those who complain about The Place. It’s hellish getting cabs there a lot of the time, but Enoteca is close to my office and an honest to goodness wine bar, something Beijing doesn’t have a lot of (there are other options, but few stay open as late). The lounge has a cool feel to it, like it wouldn’t be out of place in any other major city, and the music is very chill. They sometimes even have live acts that are usually pretty good. There are plenty of bottles below RMB200 and they have a really excellent rose that is great on a hot summer day.

Mix (map)
While technically not a “bar”, it is a place where massive quantities of alcohol are consumed on a nightly basis. This is another place that has been going strong for a number of years. Sure, they play the same music over and over again (often during the same night), security can get a little over the top, and the interior probably hasn’t been cleaned since opening night, but it’s a fun place to go, dance, and drink. The drink of choice is typically bottled beer or the popular whiskey and green (or red) tea cocktails, and the music is decent (if too commercial) hip hop and R&B. Somehow it is packed almost every night with a largely Chinese crowd. Over the years I’ve spent a few too many nights there but it has always been fun.

Er Jie (across from Hotel Kapok, Dong Hua Men Jie)
Okay, so it is even less of a bar than Mix, but again it is a place where massive amounts of alcohol are consumed. This neighborhood hole in the wall offers decent food and you see a lot of the same people if you go there often. It also serves as a spot for the neighborhood guys to stop in and get away from their wives for a few hours or for people who have just finished a late shift and want to relax. They offer Qingdao and Yanjing, both at RMB4 for a large bottle, and offer baijiu by the liang. There’s a great chuanr and chicken wing guy close by who will deliver and the food the restaurant serves is great drinking food. It’s the place I go to when I want to eat, drink, and chat with a friend or four for a couple of hours.

Centro (map)
I had a hell of a time thinking of a fifth bar because the first four truly stand out and because there are so many places that are just okay or that I haven’t visited to really claim love for (like Chocolate). I’m going with an easy choice: Centro is really close to my office and so it’s a nice place to pop in for a drink after work and still get home in time for dinner. During happy hour, their drinks are reasonably priced and are done very well. Plus, it is one of the few places that offers snacks with the beverages, a nice touch. (If Saddle still offered popcorn, maybe I’d have gone with that place.) It is also interesting to look around and seeing people who are important or simply think they are important in the Beijing expat scene.

-

Top fives:

• Jon, Jackson, Richard, Adam, Andy of RandomK(e)
• Andrew Schorr & Ellis Rahhal
• Pete Demola
• Shane Crombie
• Ben Shaw
• Kaiser Kuo
• Bjorn Stabell
• Phoebe Wong
• Diane Fermin
• Badr Benjelloun
• Elisabeth Tchoudjinoff & Katrina Arndt
• Paul Adkins
• Chandler Jurinka
• Kevin Shen
• Steven Schwankert

In response to this post about Element Fresh on Monday, regular commenter The Village Grouch asked, “How about doing a wrap-up of recent Shanghai entrants to the Beijing market and how they’re faring?”

Done and done: In alphabetical order, here are 3.5 places that hail from our sibling city to the south and opened in Beijing over the past six months. And yes, I realize some might be getting their houses in order*, so consider this post as based on first impressions (or in these cases, second, third, or even tenth impressions).

-

Blue Frog (Sanlitun Village)

If they knocked one-third off the prices, I might become a regular. But given RMB75 for not exactly the biggest hamburger, RMB35 for a small Carlsberg draft, and a staff that is a bit too keen, this will be an occasional retreat, especially in the winter when getting to the rooftop at The Village will be no treat. Good for casual business meetings or for watching televised sports in more upscale surroundings.

Why I would go: To watch a special sports event or because I am looking for a kid-friendly spot, I have an expense account, or they knocked one-third off the prices (speaking of which, cocktails are RMB25 on Tuesday nights).

Why I wouldn’t: The Den, The Rickshaw and Paddy O’Shea’s are nearby and offer good screens and, especially in the case of the first two, lower prices.

Grade: B

-

Element Fresh (Sanlitun Village)

As noted earlier, I’ve been there five times, been highly annoyed four times, and left without ordering the last time. Nice layout, decent coffee, and friendly staff, but something went awry with the training because the service is poor, while the food is getting mixed reviews.

Why I would go: To chill on the deck, have a coffee, and surf the Internet.

Why I wouldn’t: Given the service, nearby places such as Le Petit Gourmand and Panino Teco offer better value.

Grade: C

-

Enoteca (The Place)

I’ve walked by it dozens of times – at lunch, in the afternoon, and at night – and seen it not even half full. The view of the big screen at The Place is excellent. The wine choice is based on what is imported by the owners, which limits consumer choice, though some bottles do go for less than RMB100. Several readers have complained of “attitude” here. Perhaps the “official” opening tonight at 6 PM will mark a new phase.

Why I would go: To drink wine while watching a screen the size of a handful of football fields.

Why I wouldn’t: The nightmare of getting a taxi at The Place at night and the wealth of other wine options in this city.

Grade: C

-

Klubb Rouge

While not officially linked to Bar Rouge in Shanghai, a handful of top employees from that hot spot came north to open this pricey China View venue (they have since left). The staff ranks among the friendliest in town, the place is huge, and the rooftop deck offers excellent views. Unfortunately, this place has struggled to establish an identity and draw crowds, though new management is in place so perhaps some changes are on the way.

Why I would go: To hang out on the rooftop deck or to park at the bar and daydream while looking at those weird red glass blobs hanging from the ceiling.

Why I wouldn’t: The place often has a very light crowd, the drinks are expensive, and I always end up at The Den afterward eating my weight in deep-fried goods.

Grade: C

-

* Though still charging full prices.