Club Culture

Suzie Wong Gets Plastic Surgery

Not like they weren’t upscale enough already, but Club Suzie Wong, Beijing’s premiere dress-to-impress nightspot, has gone in for a boob job, face lift and full body scrub and is set to re-emerge as a classy, swinging dowager at the end of May. PR ops say the new SW features classic Chinese paintings, more old-school Chinese furniture and a whole lot more bubbly. Never fear, party people, management insists that the classier version will still be just a “fun” (i.e. drunken and debaucherous) as the old version.

A Very Nice Club

Guomao’s first megaclub, Nice Club, is gone, gone, gone. Well, not really. New management has come in, slapped on a new coat of paint, re-wired the joint and re-christened it Club Nice, presumably to save having to order new stationary or change the neon sign out front.

Houhai Zoo

According to ex-manager of Huxley’s, the Houhai Zoo/Huxley’s/Nanjie trio is soon to be whittled down to a duo as Houhai Zoo is on the market. Apparently the Zoo isn’t wild enough to hold its own among other raucous Houhai venues.

Nuage

The sporadically opened Club Nuage has closed (again) with a newly minted jazz bar taking its place. Now patrons who enjoy the pebbles and rickshaws upstairs can continue the night downstairs with drinks and live jazz.

More BBQ

If you love the authentic American feel of Tim’s Texas Barbeque, you can soon love it twice as much. Tim is opening Tim’s Texas Roadhouse on Super Bar Street in mid-June. The Roadhouse will serve up a mix of Cajun food, Tex-Mex and more of the barbeque that made Tim famous.

No Wonder

Tongli’s Taniwha was shuttered last month without a word. According to Beijing Boyce, Roger Huong, co-manager of the old First Café, has taken over and will re-launch the space as Wonder Bar. Will wonders never cease?

Pomegranate Upgrade

Things just keep on moving in fair Shunyi. Beijing Boyce reports that the the Pomegranate has renovated their cellar into a wine cellar. Management plans to install a wood-fired pizza oven in the near future.