To the Good Life

“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 hopeless romantics with the cash to make things happen.

CJW (Cigar Jazz Wine) is actually a chain of clubs which started in Taipei, spread to Shanghai and only now has set down roots in the capital. Eric is rolling the dice that Beijingers are finally ready to appreciate things other than chua’r and 10 kuai shots. He may be right. Opening night was packed to the hilt and the house band, fronted by a genuinely talented Vegas jazz singer, wowed the crowds. By the end of the night, the dance floor was moving.

Numerous details set up CJW as the high end of the high-end. The acoustics, helped immeasurably by the back alcove, are excellent; the waitstaff has received more training than most Olympic athletes; and the cocktails (RMB68) are mixed expertly, not just thrown together. But it’s the dance floor that’s so intriguing, it’s what sets it apart from Centro and what will ultimately portend CJW’s fate. If you see the high-rollers swaying their way around the dance floor, CJW will go down in legend. Otherwise, it will just go down.

THE DETAILS

Perfect for: puffing a Cuban

Add: L-137, The Place, 9 Guanghua Lu 光华路9号世贸天阶L-137

Tel: 6587-1222

The Verdict: 4/5