Beijing Boyce

When I dropped into The Rickshaw last Friday morning to watch the Chicago Cubs - Arizona Diamondbacks game, I didn’t imagine that 24 hours later I would be blogging live about nearly 20 foreigner-driven three-wheeled “rickshaws” racing around the Houhai area on a pub crawl. (Then again, I didn’t imagine the Cubs would get swept and extend their failure to win the World Series to 99 years, but I digress.)

I blogged six times about the event on Saturday (see all of the posts here). Now that the event is a few days behind, my overwhelming memory is of the many locals, from bar owners and employees to bystanders, who seemed to have had nearly as much fun as the participants. From taking photos of and with the rickshaw racers, to watching a few of them go for a dip in Houhai, to sharing dance moves at the post-race bash, it was good times all-around.

In any case, I spent half of the day at Houhai Zoo and the other half touring the course with race marshal Alistair:

The racers took 90 minutes to three hours to finish, with only a few major incidents - one tipped over rickshaw at the beginning and three rickshaw-car scrapes (the owners of the autos were fully compensated).

Some of the more memorable moments:

- Befuddled racers trying to find The Reef or Drum & Bell or any other number of bars, but refusing - out of pride - to pay the one-drink penalty to the race marshal in exchange for directions.

- Racers busting moves on the deck of Houhai Zoo to the amusement of locals.

- What must have been a seventy-year-old man stopping his bike, parking it and showing some moves of his own.

- The further spread of pajama culture in Beijing.

- And couples taking wedding photos: what a contrast to see Chinese in Western wedding wear beside Westerners about to race Chinese rickshaws. Perhaps not globalization at its finest, but certainly in its explicitness.

As for the serious business, according to Mike Iannini for whom the race was his going away party, the winners seem to have been the team of Gary, Grace and Max, though  he adds that they may have played a trick or two on the other teams along the way.The following establishments participated and, noted the race marshal, did a superb job: No Name Bar, Hai Bar, Huxley’s (Shut Up Just Drink), Shui Gui Qi, Drum and Bell, Cafe Sambal, Ball House, Paper, Reef, Fish Nation, Pass By Bar, Houhai Zoo and, last but not least, the Xiao Mai Bu across from 20.

Props go to Mike Ianinni, Alistair, Chad Lager of The Rickshaw and Huxley of Houhai Zoo, where the race began and ended. Sadly, it coincided with the final weekend for the Zoo as Huxley will put more focus on the new Nanjie, which has done a rocking business since opening about a month ago. Good luck to Huxley and the Zoo staff, pictured here:

Hopefully, East meets West again…

… next year.

I recently ran a poll in the nightlife section of that’s Beijing’s online forums, asking people to choose one of four late-night snacking options in the Tongli Studio area. Here were the choices:

Cox (wings…)
Fish Nation (fish n’ chips…)
Kebab Nation (kebabs…)
Saddle (burritos…)

(I know you can order Saddle’s food at Cox, and Cox’s food at Saddle, so the poll is based on the food those places offer on their respective menus. I left off The Tree because its menu is much more diverse and high-end than those of the other four spots).

In any case, this was partly inspired by a visit to Cox with a friend who hails from Buffalo and was impressed by this little spot’s medium wings. The voting to date:

Kebab Nation 6
Cox 5
Fish Nation 3
Saddle 1

On the Beijing Boyce scorecard, my patronage looks like this over the past few months: Cox 4, Keban Nation 2, Saddle 1, Fish Nation 0.

The bigger point is that we have some decent choices for snacks after a night at Cheers, China Doll or Shooters. Now, if we could only get a decent hamburger stand down there.

that’s Beijing announces its annual bars and clubs awards tonight. Below, in capital letters, are the places I think deserve to win (all in my extremely humble opinion, of course).

Hotel Bar

I usually frequent hotel bars for work-related reasons and have to give Centro credit: there is always a decent number of people, usually decent martinis and sometimes decent live jazz. In terms of slickness, it’s about as dependable as Beijing bars get. Expect this category to be much more crowded next year with new bars in the Crowne Plaza, Hilton and other hotels competing against older ones such as Centro, Hyatt’s Redmoon and Shangri La’s Cloud Nine.

Bar Snacks

Saddle (burritos) and Fish Nation (our fine-finned friend with chips) both offer good filler in Sanlitun north, Bellagio has the Taiwanese angle covered, Cafe Pause, while technically not a bar, has tasty snacks up in the 798 Art District, and there are innumerable kebab stands where night owls may bulk up on meat and fat, not to mention a week’s worth of salt. Decent eats these are all, but I’m giving a slight edge to two places: Mojito, which despite it’s somewhat car-park like feel offers up the super tasty Mexican hamburger, and The Den, which pumps out the pizza and deep-fried goodies 24/7.

Place to Dance

A few years ago I did the White Man Shuffle as well as any endomorph. Alack and alas, I have now regressed to a mere wiggle, usually in the shadows, and what could be more ideal than a place where everyone else’s eyes are glued to the writhers busting moves on the bar top. The award thus goes to Browns, with honorable mentions to Suzie Wong’s and Maggie’s.

Cheap drinks

Phil’s Pub: A standout among the plethora of 10-kuai drink joints, with friendly owners, a decent layout and better-than-average drinks, not to mention a convenient location just 200 yards from my apartment (how selfish). Plus, the place lets patrons order in kebabs.

People Watching

Apertivo, No-name Bar, Centro, Maggie’s and numerous other places all merit mention in this tough category, but if a winner must be named, and if it counts as a bar, this award goes to The Bookworm, where you can not only scope out the patrons, but also overhear phone calls and conversations, discover a potential mate’s reading preferences (“Dan Brown? Next!“), and see if their caffeine fix comes from lattes, Diet Cokes or Irish coffees. (Yes, yes, The Bookworm is not exactly a bar or club, but they do sell ample quantities of beer, wine and cocktails, and besides, that’s Beijing has the place listed on its ballot, so blame them!)

Happy Hour

Centro offers great high-end value with their two-for-one cocktails, Beer Mania has 500 ML of Belgian draft for 40 kuai and discounted bottled Belgian Beer until 8 PM, The Den offers two-for-one pizza and beer, and Cheers pours two Wild Turkey shots for 30 RMB until 10 PM. What makes a happy hour superior depends on where you feel comfortable and what you like to drink, and the places all above excel in their own ways, so this is a four-way tie.

Best Outdoor

Another tough category, with contenders such as Bar Blu and Top Club (nice rooftops, same building), Q Bar (an even bigger rooftop, though the chairs are a bit hard), Hai Bar (a dark horse that offers cheap beers and views of Houhai on one side and the drum and bell towers on the other), Nuage (the same views, but fancier decor and higher prices), Suzie Wong’s (a nice getaway from the crowds inside, plus some of the best plastic plants in town), and The Pomegranate (for those in Shunyi). But the best of the bunch are Stone Boat, a small Qing-dynasty era spot set on a pond surrounded by trees and rocks in central Beijing‘s Ritan Park, and The Pavillion, with a lovely backyard made extremely cozy with comfortable wicker seating, elegant trees, and mellow lighting.

Business Networking

For drawing a diverse crowd that includes business executives, English teachers, homemakers, writers, MBA students and most everyone else, the award should go The Bookworm. There is no place, except perhaps for First Cafe last year, where I have made more connections.

Best Place for a Date

Le Cafe Igosso: Above-average food and a good wine list in a low-pressure atmosphere. If you’re looking at a Sunday afternoon, rather than a weekday dinner, then it’s No Name Bar. And if it’s an evening drink, rather than a meal, try the Q Bar, although going through that somewhat seedy hotel in which it is located might send some messages (possibly wanted, possibly not) to your significant other.

Student Hangout

The Loo: A bar that is long-closed and from another lifetime (not to mention another country). For this category, I’ll make like a soccer player and pass.

Best Beer

Browns, for its draft selection (including recent additions Stella Artois and Beck’s), and Beer Mania for its wide range of bottled Belgian beers and its Belgian draft.

Best Cocktails

This depends more on the bartenders than the establishments. I’ve had solid drinks at Centro, great mint-based cocktails at Garden of Delights, and some good but cheap beverages, courtesy of Sally and Alex at Phil’s Pub. I also remember tasty cocktails at Alfa, Jazz Ya, Browns (hit and miss), 5:19, The Big Easy, and places too numerous to mention. But in the end, only one place consistently pumps out a wide range of high-quality drinks, and thus the award goes to George Zhou and Echo Sun at Q Bar.

Bar of the Year

This bar has raised its beer prices, lost key staff, struggled with its interior decorating, dealt with DJ turmoil, faced numerous other challenges and, despite it all, had a greater impact on Beijing’s drinking scene than any other establishment in the past year. This bar has exerted influence because it consistently provides good clean fun, because it scores well in terms of design, atmosphere, food and beer selection, and because it is frequented by a sizeable number of the city’s bar owners, managers and employees. Love it or hate it, this bar has firmly planted itself in the party landscape, providing not only great value for patrons, but also food for thought for those in the industry, and this combination should earn it the bar of the year award. This bar is Browns.

(From Beijing Boyce XX, first emailed on July 13, 2006)

Looking for your World Cup fix? The Pavillion and Frank’s Place promise large outdoor screens, while Club Football, Red Ball, John Bull Pub, The Den, Goose and Duck (see below), W Sports Bar, Mojito, and everyone else and their goalkeeper will also be showing games. Is anyone out there (besides me) looking for a place to instead watch the NBA finals? / Beer Mania has added Russian brews to its mostly Belgian menu. Canadian beers will soon be stocked, says management, meaning it’s time to brush up on Canuck-isms, such as “two-four,” “toque,” “take off” and “LCBO.” / Meanwhile, Browns has added Beck’s (Germany) and Stella Artois (Belgium) to its draft beer selection. / A friendly place with good live Xinjiang music, Cheers has a spiffy new look, though management has maintained the happy hour: two-for-one until 10 PM, which translates into 10-kuai Qingdao drafts. (A tip of the shot glass to BB reader Eddie O, for buying the place a bottle of Wild Turkey: “If you’re a Christian, you spread the Gospel. If you’re a bourbon lover, you spread the Bird,” he writes.) / Speaking of which, after visiting Cheers, I had the munchies and headed for nearby Saddle. Given my previous experiences with poor service and fapiao troubles there, it was no surprise that I could not procure a quick burrito as the staff closed up. I took my money instead to Fish Nation, where I soon had some tasty eats. / Dave McCullough, the Grand Poohba of 5:19, noted on that’s Beijing’s forums that, “PiliPili quietly reopened… It looks absolutely gorgeous inside.” / Finally, this issue was pieced together fairly quickly, since I’ve been extra busy at work, have guests in town, and did not have my notes while putting together the final draft. My apologies if it goes down a bit rougher than usual.

(From Beijing Boyce XVII, first emailed on May 27, 2006)

I finally went to Fish Nation (Sanlitun North), which I have passed dozens of times, but have always avoided given the crowds. Now I understand its popularity. Battered fish (one big and one small), chips (perfectly cooked and salted) and a Qingdao: 40 kuai. As I sat at the counter, I’m not sure which was gurgling louder, the deep fryers or my stomach in anticipation of the eats. Fish Nation ain’t fancy and only seats eight, but the staff knows how to use oil. (Note: Fish Nation delivers, Sundays to Thursday.)

(From Beijing Boyce XI, first emailed on February 23, 2006)