Beijing Boyce

Welcome to Readers’ Writes week, starring the collective wisdom of 17 fellow bar-goers who answered my survey about their favorite Beijing drinking holes and the city’s nightlife scene. They include men and women, span five decades in age, hail from four continents, and provide some appreciated insights. (Note: This first appeared in last week’s newsletter. To get the newsletter, send an email with “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” in the subject line to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.)

Without further ado…

OLIVER SEDLINGER, Austrian, 6 years

Favorite Beijing Bar(s)
Cafe Pause and Cafe Europa for wine from home (Austria), Q Bar and Bed for drinks and cocktails, Maggie’s for 80s music and eye candy.

All-time Favorite Bar(s)
First Cafe, Neo Lounge

The Beijing scene
Beijing needs a place like YY in Shanghai

BH, American, business manager, 9 years in China

Favorites
As a thirty-something ex-pat, the Pavillion works for me. Nice atmosphere (especially during the warm weather months), few if any twenty-something riff-raff, lots of screens playing sporting events, and a “real” bar with footrests. For similar atmosphere (a la Lost in Translation), Red Moon is also a nice spot. Centro has somehow managed to retain its reasonably hip and comfortable “see-and-be-seen” atmosphere.

All-time
No Name at Houhai - the low-key atmosphere is the perfect alternative for those who can’t stand Babyface (or similar). Goose and Duck is, IMO, the single best “drinker’s bar” in Beijing. Good cheap draft beer. Genuinely friendly staff. Always a fun crowd (as opposed to Suzie Wong’s, across the street, where it seems everyone is itching to get into a fistfight - over girls, perhaps? Could that be possible in a town that has Maggie’s?). And pretty good snacks to match (best Sloppy Joe in town, IMO).

The scene
There are truly, positively, 100 percent without a doubt, not enough “real” bars in Beijing. And by “bars” I mean places where people go to unwind after a long day, perhaps catch a game on TV, chit chat with the bartender, etc. This must be the case if I find the bar at Friday’s (by St. Regis) to be among the best “bars” in town. At some point, the night scene here became usurped by an obsession with fashion, design (often bad), and bar-owner narcissism. Beyond that, the “pure” dance scene seems to be great. However, it is clear (from comments made to me by both men and women) that there is very little here between the traditional “bar” and “can’t hear you screaming over the music” nightclubs. There is a large group of frustrated singles out there who find it virtually impossible to find a nice little place with good music where nice people can mingle (The Tree comes to mind here, in terms of what Beijing needs more of).

STELLA GUO, Chinese, freelancer, 20 years

Favorites
Q-Bar: The place to end the evening (slumped over the bar ;- ) ). Great mixed drinks and friendly owners / bartenders
All-time
The Tree: Stinky four cheese pizza and Belgian beers
Touch Bar by Houhai: Not for the drinks, but a place to relax and watch the world go by, especially good on a warm spring afternoon
The scene
While there’re lots of bars in Beijing and new ones coming up every day, most kind of run together and good drinking spots are still hard to come by.

CHELSEY “LIVING THE DREAM” MARK, Canadian, performer / host / actor / singer / artist / model / freedom fighter / nightlife writer, 7 years

Favorites
Zeta, mainly because my friend is the manager there and the DJ is also my friend… ha! It’s like my Cheers in Beijing. I’ll always know that Sammy, Norm and Cliff will always be there… :)
I usually follow my party friends, which have finally moved from Suzie Wong to China Doll, which is nice… People at China Doll seem to be more polite and a little less “tipsy.”
Goose and Duck … John is going to rock it with the new space … he also sponsors my ice hockey team here! Go Hot Wings! The Jerseys are the coolest thing on ice…

All-time
Kai, because you can drop in any time, the staff are always calm and will never give you attitude, the drinks are cheap, the music is always an adventure, in a good way! And people are always ready to have fun and meet people. The size is perfect. Summer time … man, look out!

The scene
Beijing’s drinking scene is vast, don’t get sucked into always frequenting the same bars, have some fun and go to random places. Stick the bar list on the wall, and take your pick. Get used to having bad cocktails - there are few places in the city that can actually mix proper drinks, i.e. Centro, Zeta. Also, be aware of the fake alcohol, so if you want play it safe, stick to bottled drinks. When ordering, speak slowly, check it twice, and get used to the slow service in receiving your drink and change.

Cafe Pause will feature German music and Jagermeister cocktails on September 23 (8 PM on), and co-owner Stefan Fleischer is offering a free shooter to anyone wearing Leiderhosen. / Crowne Plaza Hotel’s Champagne Bar has 鈥渂ubbles for babes鈥?every Thursday from 9 PM, with free Van Gogh vodka cocktails and Champagne cocktails for women. / Zeta Bar starts with 鈥渮,鈥?which apparently requires the Hilton Hotel’s zany marketers to zealously use this zippy letter a zillion times (yes, I can do it, too). Thus, the bar has half off martinis on Mondaze, two-for-one Zeta-themed cocktails on Tuesdays, and 50 percent off Whizky on Wednesdays, all before 9 PM. There’s Champagne and Zequins (sequins? sea queens? segues?) on Thursday, with two-for-one Moet Chandon for ladies from 6 PM to midnight, and half off select bottles from 9 PM to midnight on Pingzi Fridays. By the way, if you have not checked out Zeta, the decor alone is worth the trip. / The wine will flow free courtesy of Summergate at that’s Beijing ’s five-year anniversary and starving artists’ party at C5 Gallery (2-6 PM), between Peter Pan and Serve the People in Sanlitun. The event will include performances by Panjir Trio and Ah-Q, with the latter about to release its first CD. / Jebsen will hold a tasting of six Rosemount wines on September 23 at Stone Boat (7-9 PM, 100 kuai). Ethan Perk, formerly with Montrose, has joined Jebsen as deputy general manager. / YPHH and The Tree will hold a Belgian beer night on September 26 on the Youyi Hostel terrace (6:30-11 PM; 100 kuai YPHH members, 150 kuai non-members). / China World Hotel and Torres team up on September 28 for a five-course gourmet dinner, by Aria Chef de Cuisine Nicholas Blaira, paired with Peter Lehmann wines (888 kuai). / ASC Fine Wines has a full slate of wine tasting events, including a Penfolds dinner at Garden of Delights (October 13), a Skalli dinner at Aria (October 18) and a Bollinger dinner at Jaan, Raffles (October 24; 988 kuai). / Montrose sent me emails about a Herradura tequila launch party at China Lounge and a wine club event on September 21, but I was unable to access the company’s Web site (www.montrosechina.com).

(From Beijing Boyce XXIV, first emailed on September 21, 2006)

Traces of Austin Powers, The Jetsons and Laugh In come together fabulously in Zeta, a lounge and dance club that opened Monday as part of Hilton Hotel’s US$18 million upgrade. Pronounced Zee-tah, the place has eye candy galore, with sherbet oranges and antifreeze blues, groovy chairs, a twisty bar and plush carpet, and sculpted columns supporting a lofty roof zigzagged by spotlights and festooned with enough shiny stuff to keep chrome fetishists in heaven. Add in a toilet with bird cage-like stalls, a private room with backlit lemon-colored walls, and a balcony — up a wide spiral staircase — with a parrot’s-eye view of this rainbow riot, and Zeta is as must-see as a venue gets in Beijing. I popped in Tuesday night with The Flash and ran into the Hilton’s Chris Roberts, who said the default music is house (live DJs) and the alcohol focus is Champagne, wine and cocktails, though others drinks are available (case in point: I was the first to ever have a Budweiser there, another milestones in my life.) As for cocktails, the Manhattan was decent, the Wasabi and Sashimi Martini less potent than expected (though interesting), and the Zeta Long Island permeated with apricot. The only low-point: the standard martini with lemon twist was an unsatisfying marriage of vodka and vermouth. Prices are at five-star hotel levels — 75 kuai and up, with the complimentary bowls of wasabi peanuts nearly the size of small rowboats — and listed on a cylindrical menu the size of three stacked martini glasses and encircled with a wide plastic ring that slides its length and “decodes” the otherwise blurry text. This is an impressive place with the potential to make a major mark on the Beijing bar scene. Decor: A. Music: A-. Drinks: Need improvement (and yes, I realize it is early days). The will-power needed to avoid including that overworked Austin Powers phrase “Yeah, Baby!” in this write-up: sheer.

(From Beijing Boyce XXI, first emailed on July 27, 2006) 

Ch-ch-changes: Is Neo Lounge set to reappear? The bar had a cult following before it closed more than a year ago and is the topic of a forthcoming documentary. Which will come first: the new bar or the movie? / Hilton Beijing is making over its restaurants and bars. It will add a signature Zeta Bar (a la the Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and London Hiltons). / Huxley, who popularized the none-too-subtle slogan Shut Up, Just Drink, is apparently readying another bar. In my crystal ball, I see… 10-kuai Qingdao… low-priced shooters… noisy dice games. / Has anyone else cringed at the new Cask of Amontillado-like structure behind Sun City (near Alfa)? Turning to my ball again, I see possible names… Public Execution… Abu Ghirab… Dungeons and Dragons… Hairy [sic] Potter… and a home for the city’s S&M scene.

Wining about Beijing: My co-worker Andrew McDonald, whose family owns Seven Springs Vineyards (Oregon), ranked among American’s ten best by Food & Wine, will lead a tasting of five Pinot Noirs on January 20. The wines include 2001 Amity Pinot Noir, 2003 Rex Hill Pinot Noir, 2003 King Estates Pinot Noir, 2001 Ponzi Pinot Noir and the rare 2000 St. Innocent Seven Springs Pinot Noir. The event is RMB250 and limited to 18 tasters. Six spots are left. If you’re interested, let me know ASAP. First come, first served. / The Riedel crystal wine glass empire expands. ASC Fine Wines founder and Riedel distributor Don St. Pierre writes: “We are selling Riedel in about 40 cities now, including selected Carrefour outlets.” They start at 160 kuai per. ~ I didn’t list Torres Wines new address last issue because I couldn’t find it on the company’s website. Torres’ Galia Stern diplomatically noted that it was in all of her emails to me. Point taken: Annex House, Tian He Mansion, 7A Workers’ Stadium West Road, Chaoyang District (5165-5519). / Montrose’s Ethan Perk suggested I emulate that Johnny Mercer song (”accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative”) and praise wine distributors with functioning sites, rather than complain about those without (Summergate, Torres, Palette). Here they are: Montrose, with the best site, is at www.montrosechina.com, while ASC is at www.asc-wines.com. / A few issues ago, I claimed that the six sparkling wines at a tasting at John Bull Pub came from Torres. In fact, only the Bellavista Franciacorta is distributed by the company.

More shots: Try Polish, American, Russian, Mongolian and other vodkas on January 15 at John Bull Pub. The RMB150 fee includes a buffet with bratwurst, borsch, Russian salad and mash. Email frank_siegel@hotmail.com or call 13301-377-336 to reserve a spot. / If you’ve got the New Year’s blues and need some chuckles, catch Chopschticks on January 14 at 7:30pm at icehouse (6522-1389). The show features stand-up comedian Jim Dunn (Boston) and opener Tony Moschetto.  Tickets: RMB250 at door; RMB220 in advance (13701-210-489). ~ The Pavillion is planning a whisky club. And I plan to talk ideas with them as I’d like to start a whisky and bourbon society. Is anyone up for it? / Re my futile search for a toilet plunger, Damon Perry suggested I try Carrefour. Thanks for the tip. I also found some with wooden handles at Jingkelong on Gongti North Road and bought one with a steel handle (49 kuai) at Ikea. Note: Ikea will move sometime this year. I’ll let you know the exact address.

(From Beijing Boyce VIII, first emailed on January 13, 2006)