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 screens that play muted hip-hop videos out of synch with booming house music–seems to target the Chinese dance club set that rarely makes it up to Tong Li’s expat Neverland. Nevertheless, this Chivas-sponsored micro-disco mixes excellent drinks, using Bombay Sapphire for its gin and tonic (¥35) and Absolut for its stellar Lemon Drop (¥40). It also offers a range of martinis (¥40), as well as the usual Tong Li fare of Qingdaos (¥20) and cheap shooters (¥25). It’s rare that one can find both Chivas and a well mixed cosmopolitan in the same place. If it can solve its identity crisis, Golden Club might someday strike gold.

–Blake Stone-Banks