Heat
From the brushed metal crossbones above the door, it’s evident that the latest addition to Sanlitun’s Courtyard 4 area (Nanjie, Salsa Caribe) has paid attention to its décor. Inside this two-storey, gangsta’s paradise, Sanlitun booze hunters find black walls, black couches and a black bar, all ... Read More
Sure the newest hip kid on the Beijing electronica block has a shopping mall (The Place) sitting on top of it, but Song won’t suffer commercial suffocation. Neebing, one of the founders of the Chinese techno scene, has tentacles spread throughout the global art-osphere. He wears designer glasses and ... Read More
Guiness Genius
In just over a month since opening, Paddy O’Shea’s, has become a phenomenon. On any evening of the week, this Irish pub is brimming with rosy cheeked professionals eager to enjoy pints of Guiness (¥50) while cheering on their home teams, racing to and fro on ... Read More
All that Glitters is Not Chivas
Golden Club is the latest bar to take up residence in Sanlitun’s Tong Li Studios, which despite a string of recent troubles, is still a major artery of expat boozing. Curiously, Golden Club’s Gongti-lite décor–with its illuminated Chivas case and plasma ... Read More
Party Like It’s 1984
This European pub, named after the fabled room in Orwell’s 1984, is run by a happy-go-lucky contingent of three-Frenchmen and one Chinese with extensive hospitality experience. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and caters to a regular crowd of ... Read More
Big Things Come in Tiny Packages
Nanluo Guxiang’s cozy café-bar 12SQM may very well be the smallest watering hole in Beijing. But, that isn’t to say it’s lacking in any amenity—other than space—you would find elsewhere. The bar has a range of vodkas and other ... Read More
A year from now you’ll remember the name Vivo Club. You’ll be joyriding around the Olympic village playing phone tag with NBC staffers and IOC interns, wondering where to go for the tackiest, most local disco experience possible and it’ll come dislodged from the deep recesses of ... Read More
A place like Verandah can only work in the dusty north where it rains once every three months (save the odd government cloud seeding) for this bar is just that: a verandah. Layed out on a broad ledge hanging off 3.3 and without any roofing, this chill patio is ... Read More
You'll be excused for feeling like you've wandered into someone's living room when you enter Wain Wain; that's pretty much what it is. Carved out of a corner apartment on the 35th floor of the Xiandai SOHO complex (and taking advantage of some rather lenient zoning ... Read More
Heretofore confined to expensive hotel bars and pre-arranged tastings, Beijing's wine culture has found a human-sized home here. Featuring a full range of wines, Big 9 keeps prices low by skipping the middle man and importing directly. Numerous bottles sell for under ¥150, the best of the bunch being ... Read More
Despite billing itself as a “lingerie pub,” manageress (and owner) Qiqi assures that it’s not “that” kind of place. You’d be excused for thinking otherwise what with its purple and pink lighting scheme reminiscent of a seedy massage parlor. In all innocence, it’s actually a cute little ... Read More
Wander Gongti Beilu, ask around for the gay bar that’s not Destination, and you’ll be pointed here. It’s only been open for a few weeks, but the buzz has already started and the place is packed on the weekends.
Opened by Destination ex-managers Xiao Long and Charles ... Read More
Reviewing a bar involves a lot
of “what if’s” and in the case of
this new Spanish-themed hangout,
the question is “what if
people actually come?” Sangria
Club, opened by owner of
Souk, is spread over two floors,
completely underground.
Aside
from a few big parties, though,
it’s ... Read More
Those lucky enough to have
experienced the heyday of Club 7 on
Nuren Jie, know that Chinese clubbing is
not all Chivas and green tea sweetened
with vanilla techno. For Ivan Zhang,
manager of the defunct club, it was
where the party raged all night long.
But times change. Club ... Read More
What Lucky Street always seemed to lack most was luck. But after checking out the new Master Club, we realize that what it actually lacked was a three storey hip hop club housed entirely underground. Like most venues on Lucky Street, Master seems like it was thought up either before ... Read More
In the crowded world of Sanlitun back street bars, A Lil High has big plans. “The name, it’s got nothing to do with smoking, it’s about buzz … and we’re planning on maybe opening a couple more bars like ‘Pretty High,’ ‘Really High’ and ‘F***ing High,’” says ... Read More
“A cigar is like a woman,” says Eric, CJW’s energetic Taiwanese boss, waving around a half-smoked Cuban, “both of them you must take very good care of.” That is the kind of place the new CJW is. It’s for cigar-smokers, it’s for champagne connoisseurs, it’s for ... Read More
Though the name implies otherwise, Club Obi Wan has nothing to do with “Star Wars.” It’s actually named after the bar in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Housed in a hutong off Jishuitan, this three-story affair is all dim red lighting and polished wooden floors, true to ... Read More
There is a belief, surprisingly widely held, that some spots in Beijing are cursed. “Bad feng shui,” the locals say, shaking their heads. The nook occupied by Club Fusion is a good example. It’s changed hands more times than a Mongolian hooker. The corner of Sanlitun Lu and Gongti ... Read More
Vic’s re-opening bash was completely over the top, with celebs like Huang Lixing, Furong Jiejie and Li Xiaolu posing for the paparazzi while media types slurped champagne and gawked. It was also long overdue. For a couple of years, Vic’s has languished in second place in the Gongti ... Read More
Imagine the same layout as Nameless Highland—same entrance, stage, bar, bathroom and the U shaped second floor—only one size smaller. Imagine the same style of bands on stage–punk, funk, heavy metal and folk—only B-grade. Imagine the same kind of décor–pictures and posters of rockers on ... Read More
“We’re the first Greek-themed bar in Beijing,” the amiable owner, Tim, assures me. Grilled chicken wings and cold, Qingdao beer as the shadows lengthen around the Bell Tower are pretty nice, but are a far cry from lamb pita and goblets of retsina on a cliff overlooking the Aegean ... Read More
Perhaps Halloween night wasn’t the perfect time to review a new club. And yet, there is something about Regal’s tacky decadence that was perfectly complemented by the All Hallows Eve shindig. Rumor has it the venue used to be a private club for Beijing’s luminaries, and maybe ... Read More
Located in the depths of Phoenix City in Sanyuanqiao, BOKB is less and more than it seems. The three giant red copper tureens behind the bar say Munich, but the brew house is really a spin-off of a popular Japanese pub called OKB.
The Japanese managed to recreate Germany pretty ... Read More
Arena wowed clubbers this February, not only with a slam opening jam featuring DJs, MCs and head-spinning breakdancers, but with how quickly Taiwanese nightlife impresario and uber-designer, Patrick Lee, put the whole thing together. He carved a lounge spot out of bare concrete in just under three months, giving Beijing ... Read More
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Middle 8th: The New Sanlitun Village Location Has Creative Zest
By JPDM
I tried the new Middle 8 location last night. We tried to make a reservation... >>