the Beijinger November/December 2017

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nov/dec 2017

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As the dust

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a year in f&B defined By Bricks, resilience, and resurrection

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nov/dec 2017

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CITY SCENE

What’s Happening: The most important dates this month Stat: China’s growing Christian trend Best of the Blog: The most popular stories from theBeijinger.com Scene & Heard: Take a look at yourselves, you beautiful people

COVER FEATURE

Take a look back at Beijing’s year in flux as we talk to historians, preservationists, and venue owners to try and make sense of why The Brickening happened and where the city’s F&B businesses are headed next.

Dining Hall of Fame: The venues and people inducted into this year’s Dining Hall of Fame

Food & Drink

Nibbles and Sips What’s New Restaurants: Ramo, Lievito Prov Gov: Qinghai Provincial Government Restaurant Wokipedia: Y What’s New Bars & Clubs: Jing-A Brewpub Xingfucun, Zhao Dai Back for More: Karaiya Spice House P.S. We Ate You Just Desserts: Art de Sweets Maovember Pizza Cup Champions: Pie Squared Advertorial: InfraRouge

Go

Feature: Revisiting Thirsty Ghosts Get Out: Pingyao Get Out: Luang Prabang Feature: 2017 Gallery Roundup Feature: Vintage Shopping Guide

MEET

Playlist: Alice Tingting of Borderless Interview: Bombino A Drink With: Ethan Liu of Proof and Company Old China Hand: Moto Uchiyama of Mokihi

rear view

Testin’ times

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Cover photograph taken

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by Tom Arnstein.

Dining hall of fame

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bombino

As the dust

settles

a year in f&B defined By Bricks, resilience, and resurrection

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The most important upcoming dates

WHAT’S HAPPENING Nov 18

Loreli 2ndAnniversary The Loreli crew celebrate two years of art, interviews, sardonic wit, and of course, drunken poetry at their default home (read: the only people that will have them): Temple Bar. Head on down for all of the above, plus bands, DJs, and some supervised coloring to keep things light.

Nov 25

T.A.U.M. Indoor Festival Techno + Advance + United + Massive is a three-day united showcase of Chinese techno labels from various cities (prajnasonic (Beijing), 4x4x4x4 (Shanghai), rom303 (Shanghai), atmen (Chengdu), and Konekt Asia). The Nov 25 party at Dada Beijing will focus on powerful live and DJ sets from these talented local producers.

Dec 16-Jan 28

Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza The famed acrobatic company is back in China after making its debut a decade ago, and this time it’s here to stay. Yes, Cirque du Soleil will bring a new show to China every year, kicking things off this winter with Kooza, the story of a young clown who delves into the world of magic.

Visit theBeijinger.com for even more events and details.

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Photos courtesy of Loreli, courtesy of the hutong, courtesy of prajnasonic, presidentmommy.com

Dec 10

Hutong Winter Fayre Though this beloved annual Christmas bazaar was almost canceled – due to neighborhood demolitions that claimed parts of the venue’s terrace – the Hutong’s staff soldier on regardless.

Drop by for Christmas wares and a mug of mulled wine to wish them the best for the new year.

Letter from THE Editor

A

nd just like that, another year in Beijing is coming to a close, except this time we’re left to piece together what’s left of the city after having the planning equivalent of a brick upside the ol’ noggin’. In total, 2017’s “beautification” onslaught brought F&B business in the hutongs, as well as in a number of other notable hubs, to a messy and frustrating end. But the effect has been bittersweet, with many of those affected having since started looking elsewhere for new opportunities or already settling into new digs, bringing great food and drink to new communities. We’ve decided to make that resilience the focus of our cover feature this issue, taking a deeper look at what is left as the dust settles, and interviewing those who were unlucky enough to be in the line of concrete fire.

Elsewhere in the issue, Jeremiah Jenne frames the recent renovations within the context of Beijing’s former commercial hub, Dashilan. We also honor those venues and individuals that have demonstrated their staying power prowess via our annual industry-insider balloted Dining Hall of Fame awards. In contrast, Tracy Wang gives us a look at Beijing’s newest contenders on the scene, including Jing-A’s Xingfucun Brewpub and the almost-too-pretty-to-eat cakes of Art de Sweets. There’s also Lievito, Ramo, and a first look at what promises to be a jolt to Beijing’s underground club scene in the form of Zhao Dai. In our Get Out section, I’ll guide you through China’s (if not the world’s) best-preserved walled city, Pingyao; Robynne Tindall details what to see, eat, and do in Laos’ UNESCO Heritage city of Luang Prabang; and Tautvile Daugelaite rummages around Beijing to bring you the city’s best vintage shopping opportunities.

Finally, in Meet, Kyle Mullin speaks to the incredible Nigerien troubadour Bombino before his show at Yugong Yishan on Dec 12, as well as Mokihi’s effortlessly cool proprietor, Moto Uchiyama.

With that, we here at the Beijinger would like to say thank you to all of you that made 2017 special for us and we can’t wait to continue bringing you the best of Beijing come 2018.

Tom Arnstein Managing Editor

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CITY SCENE STAT // BEST OF THE BLOG // SCENE & HEARD

70 million

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to this day.

However, a third, and increasingly powerful element has come into play in the battle between government, people, and religion: money. China’s powerhouses of commerce have a vested interest in making Christmas just as successful as the other holiday-centric orgies of consumerism – think Alibaba’s own and unabashed Double 12 (Dec 12), and Singles’ Day (Nov 11), the biggest day for e-commerce on the planet.

Regardless of whether China’s Christian population and a general taste for Christmas continues on its ascent or is forced further underground by tightening of policies, one thing is for sure: bible makers are also cashing in, big-time, with the Nanjing-based Amity Printing Company producing its 150 millionth copy last year, half of which were sold in China. nov/dec 2017

PHOTo courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery

he approximate number of practicing Christians in China today, accounting for 5 percent of the population. Not a huge fraction of China’s 1.3 billion citizens, you might say, but proselytisation is on the rise and some estimates decree that China will be home to the world’s largest Christian population by 2025, overtaking America’s 240 million (where, in contrast, Christians now account for 70 percent of the population compared to 86 percent in 1990).

Subscription to such ideologies presents a complex problem for the Chinese government, which is officially atheist, and sees religion as something to be monitored, controlled, and counterintuitive to their own staunch political agenda. However, as varying beliefs are tolerated rather than banished outright, symbols of worship, including 56,000 churches, exist across the country

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best of the blog Every issue, we tally the hits from theBeijinger.com and bring you the most-viewed blogs from our website.

2. Two Divers Missing at Underwater Section of the Great Wall Two scuba divers went missing in early September while exploring a little-known underwater section of the Great Wall in Hebei province. The two divers, identified as Denovo Xu and Sun Hao, failed to surface and after four days missing, underwater searches were suspended.

1. Beijing Bans Airbnb Bookings, Forces Clubs and Bars to Shut, and Boosts Security in Advance of 19th Plenum

3. Beijing-Based Photographer Luo Yang Shoots to Smash Stereotypes of Chinese Girls Ahead of the successful funding of the Kickstarter campaign for her new book, we spoke to Shenyang-born, Beijing-based photographer Luo Yang about her images, which often pose subjects partially clothed, atop overpasses, in back alleys, on rooftops, or simply relaxing at home.

Through her photographs, Yang captures the exceptional, the benign, and most importantly, the truthful fragments of what compose modern women (Asian or otherwise).

4. Snowing is Half the Battle: Beijing Receives Year’s First Snowfall Another notoriously short autumn drew to a close this year as Beijing welcomed its very first snowfall early in October. Snow of up to 6cm was reported in the Haituo Mountain area in Beijing’s northern Yanqing District, as well as on Mentougou Mountain, located just 100 kilometers west of the city’s center.

For these stories and more, check out theBeijinger.com/blog

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nov/dec 2017

Photos: Daily Mail, Colin Lee, courtesy of Luo Yang, NewEase, courtesy of Bruce Connolly, courtesy Edward E. Duke, News.cn, New York Times

Demonstrating how important the 19th Party Plenum was for the future of China, weeks of disruptions and inconveniences were prepared for Beijing residents. Those included new security measures restricting transportation, communications, internet use, and lodging, as well as bans on fireworks, the forced closure of bars and clubs, and even the deployment of cattle prod-wielding robots. The end couldn’t come soon enough.

best of the blog

5. Spiffed-Up Dirty Bar Street Gets Mixed Reception as Businesses Struggle to Rebound Lush, freshly planted flowers. Wide, manicured walkways. A perfect place to take your date for a stroll. All of these descriptions would never, ever spring to mind when most Beijingers thought of the strip north of Taikooli infamously nicknamed “Dirty Bar Street,” yet they are now shockingly apt, as rampant construction wound down on the once-wild party throughway.

6. Activists in Beijing and Wuhan Successfully Spike Art Exhibit That Compared Africans to Animals A Hubei Provincial Museum exhibit in Wuhan this October displayed works by Chinese photographer Yu Huiping, whereby photos of animals and people from Africa were placed side-by-side, in a manner swiftly deemed derogatory. Members of the African expat community in both Wuhan and Beijing rallied together and, via diplomatic channels at embassies in the capital, were able to reach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and convince them to remove the exhibit.

7. So Crazy, It Might Actually Work: Beijing Proposes Exclusive Cycle Path for Northern Commuters In early October, it was announced that Beijing is considering building a “bicycle highway” that will allow northern residents to commute to downtown areas on their own exclusive road, independent of vehicular traffic. Currently in the research phase, the proposal would construct a dedicated bike path that would begin at Huilongguan, located on the northern arc of Beijing Metro Line 13, and follow through to Shangdi before terminating at Zhongguancun, Beijing’s newly allocated high-tech area.

8. China, China, China, China: US President Donald Trump to Visit Beijing in November The White House confirmed that US President Donald Trump would make his first visit to Beijing on Nov 8, a year to the day since being elected to office, for a three-day visit.

The trip will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping where the two “will participate in a series of bilateral, commercial, and cultural activities.” According to the White House, the US President “intends to reaffirm his commitment to US allies and partnerships and its leadership in the region.”

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nov/dec 2017

SCENE & HEARD Boxing Cat Pop-Up Launch Oct 18, Boxing Cat. Photos courtesy of Boxing Cat

Beijingkids Halloween Party Oct 28-29, Canadian International School of Beijing. Photos by Uni You

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SCENE & HEARD The Beijinger Pizza Cup Launch Festival Sep 16-17, Wangjing Soho. Photos by Uni You

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business partner Zak Elmasri have relocated their Fangjia Hutong cocktail bar Fang south to Jiaodoukou, and he tries to remain optimistic.

“The hutongs are colder and colder,” Xiaoshuai said, clearly not referring to the weather. “There’s hardly anything here in Fangjia anymore, except for the public toilets! Many interesting businesses are gone. But it’s a process. I can’t recover what we had, but maybe we can keep going and maybe eventually it will be better. After all, I’m still living in the hutongs, and am determined to stay.”

The same can’t be said for many other former streetlevel business owners like Rain, who plans to move to the UK with her family. Nor for Ross Harris, who relocated to Cambodia after his Beixinqiao Toutiao cocktail bar Más was shuttered. Before his departure, he recalls “arguing with a construction crew trying to keep the front from being bricked for at least a few more nights. I pleaded and got just enough time for a cathartic final few closing

which they themselves know are all lies. Soon the rich, good, proper Chinese people can just do everything in the big shopping malls.”

Rain had spent much of this past summer struggling to keep her bar Cellar Door open despite both intensifying complaints of the local residents living nearby, colloquially referred to as “the neighbors,” and renovations that partially blocked her business’ doorway, leaving only a small gap through which to peer inside. She cheekily set up a ladder outside for patrons to climb onto and place their orders, renaming the place Cellar Window, but business slowed. In mid-September, she and her neighboring bar and restaurant owners were finally ordered to vacate.

Xiaoshuai, her neighbor and owner of one of the alley’s longest-running bars, El Nido, accompanied Rain for the interview and photo shoot. Despite having lost El Nido after owning and operating it for years, Xiaoshuai and his

parties.”

Such bittersweet farewells for Ross and his Más cohorts were fleeting, however, especially as construction on Beixinqiao Toutiao began in earnest. He was especially galled by how laborers sledge hammered and destroyed the bar’s bathroom, despite his pleas, in what amounted to “a vicious free-for-all with no recourse. If you were licensed and paid taxes like we did, or operated in a DIY way, it was irrelevant in the end.”

Though such refrains reverberated throughout the hutongs in 2017, several streetside businesses in Sanlitun and other neighborhoods met similar fates. Claudia Masüger, CEO of Cheers Wines, recalls how Sanlitun North was one of the first haunts to be hit by bricklaying this past April. Though she has many other branches of her wine shops around town, she says that one was special because “it was the store which made us famous within the Sanlitun area. It was the place to meet friends and

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photos: UNi you

hough the wall had gone up to cease their rowdiness, Rain and Xiaoshuai refused to be silenced. Yes, the renovations of Fangjia Hutong have long since pushed the respective owners of Cellar Door and El Nido out, turning the once vibrant party alley into a barren byway. But they're both unafraid to speak about, and against, what they deem to be businessbusting, culture-slaying bricklaying.

The pair returned to the now all but empty hutong for a photo shoot and interview in October, a few months after the chai-ing forced them out. Rain said: “Maybe the authorities think it is good for themselves to not to have to manage too much, and to get more tax revenue by making Beijing like a standard international city. But the way they manage the problem is quite brainless and careless.” She feels that the citywide street-level renovations only benefit prosperous Beijingers. “They just smash down little businesses by using some excuses

have a drink before partying in Sanlitun, a kind of foreplay in the city.” She adds that the bricking up of the area is a “heartbreaking memory.”

Not everyone was sad to see such businesses gone, especially on that ground-level Sanlitun strip once occupied by Cheers, the Turkish Doner, and several shops.

The Beijing Radio 774 FM Lifestyle program, for instance, conducted touching interviews with everyday tenants living in apartments above ground-floor businesses, some of whom contended with backed up plumbing because the unlicensed restaurant below didn’t have its pipes up to code, while others dealt with so much noise from neighboring businesses that their children had trouble studying for the gaokao and other crucial exams.

While such sentiments may not have occurred to (and might give pause to) much of the throngs of foreigners who frequented streetside businesses, little of it comes as a surprise to Michael Meyer. After all, the travel and

nightlife without tearing down either.”

Many business owners, like Harris, can sympathize in that regard. However, he’s quick to point out: “the most affected by demolitions near Más were residents, not businesses. Our neighbors lost their front door and kitchen. It happened quickly and spiraled into almost a blood lust, with piles of rubble in every alley.”

That’s the kind of nuanced take that hutong historian Zhang Jinqi has spent much of his career on. The Dashilan resident and author of numerous books about those famed Beijing courtyards and alleyways says that everyday hutong dwellers will, if they don’t already, grow to miss the small shops, restaurants, and other facets of street life that have been razed along with noisy bars and careless eateries that back up the plumbing of nearby apartments, and other businesses that they’d rather see gone.

For Zhang, chai-ing and wall-building are only superficial measures that in no way address the true

history writer began researching such relentless hutong redevelopment more than a decade ago for his 2009 book The Last Days of Old Beijing, a project that helped him realize the redevelopment’s “pattern has remained unchanged since the early ‘90s, when Beijing's modern makeover began: a lack of transparency, and no debate in public forums or in the media about the shape the city is taking. What's different this time around is the targeting of businesses which, by and large, were started by migrants to the city. The hutongs have always excelled at making more Beijingers; migrants start businesses, settle, and buy into the status quo. But officials have long wanted migrants out of central Beijing.”

Meyer goes on to concede that “Beijingers often feel like tenants in their own city, unable to shape the place to their community's needs. No one should have to live above a noisy bar, but as other global capitals have proven, there are ways to assimilate residences with

issues plaguing Beijing streetside proprietors and dwellers – incoherent property laws, population density, and concentration of resources and economic opportunity. Zhang wishes the authorities would focus on all that, rather than chai-ing neighborhood noodles shops and hipster expat bars. “Urban ecology must be naturally born, and it should be like an ecosystem. You can’t just rely on executive orders, like a grand knife that comes down from on high to carve the solutions out.”

Instead, Zhang – like so many other Beijingers that prefer vibrant streets to glossy shopping centers – says he would at least like to see “more houses and properties in the hutongs of Beijing classified as heritage areas.

Yes, of course it's harder to protect history than to build something new. But I feel that the UK, France, Italy, and other countries have done well to solve these problems.

Although China has many differences from them, I still think we can do it, too.”

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he shakeup to Beijing’s food and beverage industry in 2017 was unprecedented, even to those most seasoned and hardened to the fluid nature of the scene. For those of us who watched on, it was difficult to keep up with the closures, fatality after fatality squeezing owners and taking away their projects of love as authorities swept through the city with a vow to “beautify” and reclaim. For those directly affected by the tumult, answers were elusive but the results couldn’t be clearer – windows disappeared, business dried up, and licenses were ultimately revoked. However, we can see this episode as more of a reshaping of the landscape rather than a complete decimation. Many of the businesses that fell have since cut their losses and gone elsewhere to begin again, this time working outside of the loopholes and gray areas that Beijing building

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photos: Dave's Studio

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planning, or lack thereof, had allowed over the past 20 years of growth.

Since 2008, there has been a conscious decision by the government to polish over some of the more unsightly aesthetic details – chai-ing of some unlicensed properties, the painting of walls and doors, repaving of the streets etc.

– but this newest iteration of the campaign has taken a much deeper line of attack, prioritizing spatial organization through the removing doors and reassignment of courtyard entrances, and making it difficult to predict what comes next.

Rosie Levine of the grassroots NGO Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) explains that the development that is occurring in the hutongs stems in some part from the “long-set ideology that hutongs are bad, they’re slums, they’re overcrowded and overpopulated and the future is more in high-rise buildings. Anything that is culturally of value in the hutongs is the aberration, rather than the norm, and that attitude is still quite prevalent in some aspects of city planning in Beijing … It’s a very narrow vision of what the city can look like rather than allowing for the diversity that had blossomed.”

Levine subscribes to the official line that the project is in effect an attempt to reduce and cap the city’s population at 23 million, saying, “That would mean removing those migrant workers and laborers who come in and often set up more informal businesses. There’s a general idea of modernization when it comes to the city which doesn’t involve a lot of the things that have been features of the city up until now: smaller local

markets and community-based xiaomaibu, preferring to have all the commerce happen on main streets rather than in the hutongs themselves.” F&B businesses were therefore just one victim swept up by the bricking.

Despite being fully licensed, Paca Lee of Fangjia Hutong favorite Ramo, was one of those forced out, since reopening in a designated business building in Jintai Xilu, Lido. Lee laments having to leave the hutongs, but what she was most disturbed by was some of the reactions from people in the neighborhood. Tearing up, Lee describes how, “I saw comments about the bricking [online] that said this was the best thing that had ever happened. I saw the worst side of people - lots of people that I don’t even know, not even my neighbors, came and were laughing outside – people who had nothing to do with it.” Lee adds, “The older generation perhaps see the hutong as somewhere that should be quiet and they prefer it the old way. I think most people are happy with the changes but Beijing is a modern city – what was best 50 years ago may not be the same now – it has to change.”

Zak Elsmari, a Beijing resident for 11 years and owner of the deceased Fangjia Hutong rendition of his Fang Bar, but who has since moved to Jiaodaokou’s Shoubi Hutong, takes a less sentimental stance. He says he has noticed a shift in the kind of people that were hanging out in Beijing’s alleyways and the proliferation of what he calls “popcorn hutong-goers,” those who frequent trendy watering holes because “it had become a thing.” That’s compared to past patronage; “people who knew their history and knew their language,” a change from “when I would find a small bar that only people in the hutongs knew about or had made the effort to go to.”

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The authorities are well aware of that tourist potential, gradually tapping into it with large site-specific renovation projects like Qianmen’s Pedestrian Street, Wudaoying, and of course, the infamous, albeit for different reasons, duo of Nanluogu Xiang and Sanlitun Dirty Bar Street. It’s safe to assume that once the small fish are out of the way, a standardization of commercial and residential centers will continue to emerge.

From these examples, it’s clear that this year was a marked departure in the way that businesses, F&B or otherwise, would be permitted to operate in Beijing, now foregoing hutong-based spaces for larger, more legitimate premises. The scheme’s opaque workings, coupled with permissions that operate outside of the law mean that the industry will continue to guess where lines lie and what steps will be taken next to elevate Beijing to the heights of an archetypal city. Thankfully, Beijingers are a hardy bunch, and as Elsmari surmises, “I’ve seen stages where things have gotten tough … but everyone seems to find a way.”

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Beijing was just emerging from the Mao era. On the map, shops are represented by icons, watches for sellers of timepieces, bicycles for those selling pedal-powered transportation and … well, you get the idea.

“It’s not that old, but this book of maps is a fascinating historical document,” says Thom. “It triggers so many memories. You show it to people in the neighborhood and they immediately can recall such-and-such a shop, long since gone, but alive in the collective memory of the local residents.”

According to Mr. Liu, who Thom interviewed for his new research project on the commercial community in Dashilan, the main shopping drag would be an endless stream of consumers. Shoppers would get caught up in the flow of humanity which descended on Dashilan on a daily basis, one stream of pedestrians flowing west, another rolling east, each on their own side of the streets, so thick were the crowds.

And yet today, areas such as Wangfujing and Dashilan are tourist attractions or afterthoughts to the current generation of Beijing uber-consumers.

The beginning of the end, according to Thom, was

nov/dec 2017

PHOTOs: Jens Schott knudsen / Beijing postcards

eijing has seen a lot of changes this year, but is this something new? Beijing has always been in a state of flux. Sometimes the busiest areas in one era give way to quiet lanes in another. Danish historian Lars Thom of Beijing Postcards has spent over a decade researching the evolution of the capital, tracking the rise and fall of the city’s residential and commercial centers from century to century.

Thom’s research has recently focused on Dashilan, where Beijing Postcards has its new public history space.

The neighborhood is a warren of hutongs and lanes located just to the southwest of Qianmen Gate and today’s Tiananmen Square. The area was once one of Beijing’s most vibrant commercial neighborhoods, along with Wangfujing and Xidan.

According to Thom, “Items such as leather, shoes, watches, and bicycles could be found in the neighborhood stores and shops. And the lanes have been a destination for those seeking specialized commodities since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).”

On a recent research trip to Japan, Thom found a book of Beijing souvenir maps published in 1982, a time when

the opening of the new Beijing Railway Station in 1959.

The old train station, built in 1901, was located just outside the Zhengyangmen Gate, close to the Dashilan Neighborhood. The area was the often the first point of arrival for visitors to Beijing and the neighborhood thrived with not only shops, but also guesthouses, taverns, restaurants, temples, theaters, and a lively red light district.

The construction of the new railway station, 2.5 kilometers to the west, shifted the commercial center of gravity in the direction of nearby Wangfujing. But even up until the end of the last century, Dashilan remained an important and bustling space for trade, even as the construction of gleaming new malls and shopping plazas in Chaoyang and beyond signaled a new era of consumer culture.

It can be hard running a hutong business in 2017, but in the days of Old Peking it wasn’t any easier opening a shop in your local hutong – in fact, it was in many ways much more difficult.

Thom is researching how commercial guilds controlled the trade in different products and services and regulated the opening of shops and businesses in Beijing.

“You had to be approved by the guild to learn a trade.

There was a strict hierarchy. You started as an apprentice and even that wasn’t easy. You needed to not only find someone to hire you but to also stand as your guarantor.

There were quotas and licenses. Just opening your own shop without going through the guild system just didn’t happen.”

Renegade shop owners – or bespoke cocktail makers – who tried to buck the system could find themselves in deep trouble with both the city authorities as well as with the guild bosses the authorities relied on to keep economic order.

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This system persisted throughout the first half of the 20th century, ending in 1949 with the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Thom takes a long view when looking at the changes in the city this year.

“Going back to the 1950s and 1960s, a lot of the development was haphazard and chaotic. Cleaning up the city makes a certain amount of sense; you can’t develop until you do. But the way it has been handled hasn’t always been carried out humanely.”

Currently, Thom is working on developing a walk based on his most recent find, combining interviews with local residents and archival research based on the establishments listed on the 1982 Dashilan map.

“One place you can find a lot of stuff is Taobao,” Thom says as he holds up documents and artifacts from a long-since defunct local factory. He found the documents by doing a search for the factory name on the popular e-commerce platform and was amazed at what was available.

Currently, Thom is displaying some of these artifacts at the Beijing Postcards Public History Space located at 97 Yangmeizhu Street, Dashilan as part of their Beijing Arrivals exhibit.

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between the Chinese and Indian governments.

Joining the company of these elite insiders that voted them in, prompted Trinh and Chaudhury to think back on the feats they’ve achieved in Beijing’s ever-tumultuous restaurant scene.

Trinh tells the Beijinger he and his partner at 4corners, Tavey Lean, “were the first to do a lot of things in this city. From opening the first Western restaurant bar deep in the hutongs, offering the first big band experiences in the city, unique parties and dining experiences, supporting local crafters, musicians, and martial artists and offering a platform for them to showcase.”

Before all that, he was the head chef at Lugas Pho Pho in the early 2010s, before gaining a name for himself on his own, not just through 4corners, but also starring in the Chinese travel show Who Will Lend Me a Kitchen?

Chaudhury is also a culinary pioneer worthy of the documentary treatment. CCTV did just that a few years back, dedicating a segment of their Laowai Not series

nov/dec 2017

photos: THE BEIJINGER, UNI YOU

his year’s Dining Hall of Fame inductees are towering restaurateurs, known not only for the delectable cuisine of their venues but also their charismatic, dynamic personalities. They both brought exotic fare from another region to Beijing, and they have also worked to make their restaurants into cultural hubs for likeminded throngs to gather.

In terms of a space for events, 4corners’ Jun Trinh (pictured above) is well ahead of his fellow 2017 Dining Hall of Fame inductee Gireesh Chaudhury of Punjabi (pictured opposite). Indeed Trinh, a Canadian of Vietnamese descent, has worked to make his longrunning hutong venue not only a destination for pub grub with innovative twists and fusion Southeast Asian fare, but also a haven for live music, pub quizzes, and comedy. And yet Chaudhury should be lauded for his ambitious plans to make Punjabi not only a hub for authentic Indian food, but also a cultural center offering official yoga and dance classes as part of a collaboration

to the Punjabi proprietor. In the clip, he reminisced about being invited to China in the summers by his father, who owned factories on the Chinese mainland. He found himself swept up in the exotic flair and fast pace of China at the turn of the century, and it didn’t take long for him to be tempted to pursue opportunities here, first at a small Indian joint in Zhejiang run by a Chinese owner looking to sell. From there, Chaudhury ope ned branches across the country. Chinese clientele in the capital especially charmed Chaudhury with their curiosity, recognizing the curry and some other fare, but being shocked by how Indians eat without cutlery. “It’s about breaking the mindset, about education,” he said in the clip, a sentiment that clearly persists through his plans for the forthcoming cultural center.

Chaudhury’s success can also no doubt be attributed to, as one tbj reviewer put it, a forgoing of “cut-and-paste Indian dishes like chicken tikka masala” in favor of “light, modern Indian cuisine” like barbecue king prawns, samosa burgers, and more. When asked about his proudest achievements, however, Chaudhury slyly asked: “Does downing a hundred shots of Jägermeister over the years count?”Yes, that down-to-earth, tongue-in-cheek nature is every bit as much a hallmark of Beijing’s biggest restaurant personalities as their creativity and culinary innovation.

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nov/dec 2017

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e started our Dining Hall of Fame back in 2015 as a means to bring light to the unsung heroes of Beijing’s F&B scene. Sure, it’s likely that we are already familiar with the places being voted in, and we likely visit them frequently when looking for nourishment from food and service that we can trust, but how much do we know about the people behind the scenes, their backstories, and why they chose Beijing as the city to build their small culinary empire?

In order to dig a little deeper as well as honor some of our longstanding eateries and personalities, in mid-October we asked F&B professionals – principal shareholders and investors, presidents, or operations managers – to vote once in an open ballot.

Each voter, under the condition that they disclose their position, put forward 10 individuals and 10 venues that had been involved in Beijing’s F&B scene for the past seven years (since October 2010). Those people and venues that received 50 percent of the vote were elected, which this year only encompassed two venues and two individuals (read more about the lucky four in the adjacent pages).

Previous winners already include some of the bestregarded venues on the scene, including Beijing Duck maestros Da Dong Roast Duck; longtime Japanese standby Hatsune; Italian stalwarts Annie's; Nali Patio brunch aficionados Mosto; world-famous xiaolongbao makers Din Tai Fung; high-end French restaurant Maison FLO (formerly Brasserie FLO); café-by-day, rowdy pasticheslingers-by-night Café de la Poste; and legendary Belgian beer bar and pizza pioneer The Tree (which was sadly a victim of the forced closures that swept through Sanlitun in mid-October).

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Eight Beijing personalities also sit pretty as past recipients of our Dining Hall of Fame award, including Alan Wong, creator of Hatsune, Karaiya Spice House; Annie Lee, the founder of Annie’s; Ignace Lecleir, creator of the esteemed TRB Hospitality Group ( TRB Hutong and TRB Forbidden City); Rich Akers, the marketing guru behind Lush, Pyro Pizza, and Gung Ho! Pizza; Avi Shabtai, the founder of Peking pita pioneers Biteapitta; Dong Zhenxiang, the larger-than-life brains behind Da D ong R oast Duck ; Christophe Rovan, proprietor of the French-facing Café de la Poste and O'Steak; and both Alex Molina and Daniel Urdeneta, for their ongoing effor ts as team Mosto.

A few notable leaps have been made by the aforementioned F&B lifers since their induction into our Hall of Fame; Alan Wong has gone on to launch Hana, a new Japanese dining concept with a focus on premium raw ingredients in China World Mall; Ignace Lecleir and co. will be making their first foray into Sanlitun dining with Hulu, which is due to take over Cantina Agave’s old space in early 2018; and a short three months after their induction, Alex Molina and Daniel Urdeneta opened up La Social, tucked just behind Mosto, and Beijing’s answer to a small slice of Colombia, complete with arepas, potent cocktails, and no-holds-barred dancing late into the night.

Such rapid advances demonstrate the continuing vigor and abundance of Beijing’s F&B scene, and for better or worse indicate a trend of success that is being molded by drastic change elsewhere in the city. However, that’s not to say the small fish aren’t nominated for success either, which is just one part of what makes these awards so special …

nov/dec 2017

photos: UNI YOU, COURTESY OF MIGAS

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side from being this year’s Hall of Fame Venue inductees, one would be forgiven for thinking that Migas and Biteapitta have very little in common.

After all, much of Biteapitta’s appeal stems from the wholesome, affordable Middle Eastern fare (pictured above) that makes it one of the best bangs for your buck in Beijing (so much so that it was named “Outstanding Value” in our 2016 Reader Restaurant Awards).

Migas (pictured below), on the other hand, is a devilishly good indulgence, with upscale tapas galore and chic, elegant décor that makes it a perfect brunch spot to, if not hold court, at least see and be seen.

But all this doesn’t mean that both venues are polar opposites – at least not when it comes to their achievements.

Their menus are testaments to their successes as niche restaurants, arguably the best in their respective realms, different as their approaches may be. Aside from tapas, Migas’ authentic black rice, grilled octopus, roast chicken leg, and other such varied lunch dishes work magic on transporting patrons’ tastebuds to Spain. Back in 2015, executive chef Aitor Olabegoya told us he was most proud of the restaurant’s barbecue beef and thoroughlyresearched seasonal products, including locally provided fresh artichoke and white asparagus. Such offerings have grown and evolved along with the restaurant since then, though longtime favorites have been highlighted, greatest hits-style, on a new set lunch menu that doubles as a showcase for Migas’ wellestablished scope.

When Biteapitta

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owner Avi Shabtai told he had been inducted the Personality category of our Dining Hall of Fame in early 2016, he told the Beijinger that his restaurant’s must-tries included such Israeli staples as a “mezze platter (a tasting set of 10 unique salads and spreads), hummus and falafel, grilled lamb kebabs served with Majadra rice and spinach patties, homemade lemonana (mint lemonade), not to mention their Middle Eastern coffee and a taste of their baklava. Many of the restaurant’s regulars, however, rely on Biteapitta for its simple yet dependable falafel pita or chicken shawarma lunch. Filled to near capacity with such warming, Middle Eastern ingredients, either is sufficient to hit the spot when nearly any hunger pain strikes, and continue to provide a rare bargain in the increasingly pricey Sanlitun area.

Shabtai also shares his bread prowess across Beijing by selling his pitas in Western markets like April Gourmet and Jenny Lou’s, the Israeli restaurateur demonstrating ways in which he can reach customers all the more frequently (and adeptly) to further his brand. Migas has also, of course, branched out from its restaurant beginnings, becoming equally well known for its bar, sprawling terrace, and DJs – both local and burgeoning to foreign and world-famous – all under the backdrop of Sanlitun’s lights. By opening their Mercado branch in the CBD earlier this year, they now have even greater claim to some of the best views in town, their new terrace and picture windows capturing the CCTV Tower and other skyscrapers among the increasingly bustling neighborhood.

Indeed, by staying true to their regional roots while also never shying away from other high-risk but ultimately popular endeavors, both Migas and Biteapitta have more than earned their rightful place in this year’s Dining Hall of Fame.

nov/dec 2017

Sip, nibble, gulp, chew, guzzle, savor, feast

FOOD & DRINK RAMO // LIEVITO // JING-A BREWPUB XINGFUCUN // ZHAO DAI // ART DE SWEETS

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nov/dec 2017

PHOTO courtesy OF THE CUT STEAK AND SEAFOOD GRILL

THE CUT’S THANKSGIVING DINNER AND TURKEY TAXI The Fairmont Hotel gives you the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving (or Christmas) in the traditional way this year either from the comfort of your own home or in their luxurious The Cut Steak and Seafood Grill. Play host with their exclusive “Turkey Taxi,” which, with 48 hours notice, will deliver a perfectly prepared bird (RMB 1,588, feeds six to 10 people) delivered to your door alongside all the holiday fixin’s: gravy, cranberry sauce, and sides including confit potatoes, glazed red wine cabbage, sweet potato mash with raisins, caramelized apple and chestnuts, or sautéed Brussel sprouts with bacon. You can also opt to add pumpkin and pecan pies. Otherwise, head to The Cut on Thanksgiving (Nov 23) and dig in to a four-course turkey feast for a family of three (RMB 888 net). Fairmont Beijing Hotel, 8 Yong’an Dongli, Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District (8507 3617)

Nibbles and Sips The Georg has released a new menu for fall and, as usual, the flavors and presentation are both on point.

The menu is full of autumnal ingredients like truffles, caramelized onions, and Jerusalem artichokes. The sharing dishes, including a classic beef wellington and tender New Zealand lamb rack, are of particularly good value at RMB 205 per person.

Tribe have also updated their menu for colder climes, adding a series of dishes inspired by the color purple and featuring purple fruits and veggies like beets, red grapes, and purple sweet potato. We’re big fans of the salmon eggs Benedict with beet tofu hollandaise, which comes on potato rosti rather than the usual English muffins (good for gluten-free diners), and the mackerel and arugula salad, with quinoa, pomelo, and roasted root vegetables.

Our other favorite healthy dining venue, Obentos, has also launched their warming winter menu, adding a teriyaki salmon seasonal bento, a grilled chicken salad, and a tuna poke grain bowl, as well as set of bento side dishes, and a number of shared plates, including the best of winter foods: roast pumpkin, charred onion, walnuts, sesame organic tofu, and honey soy glazed mackerel and lotus root.

Hatchery’s newest location at Guomao in Beijing’s Central Business District is currently under construction and is set to launch in late November. The new dining and entertainment concept, called Arcade by Hatchery, will occupy the former F&B space of Trader’s Hotel (now 5Lmeet Guomao at China World) and house two of Hatchery’s validated full-time food concepts, Common Burger and Canteen. They are also expanding to Shanghai, with a space on Huaihai Lu opening in early 2018.

Parkview Green finally has an exciting new opening in the form of Hong Kong restaurant brand The Butcher’s Club, which specializes in grain-fed, dry-aged beef steak imported from Australia, along with burgers made from those beef steaks. It’s brave for a restaurant to try to enter Beijing’s saturated burger market, but those that we’ve tried so far are worthy challengers. Alongside their burgers they also serve salads, steak sets, and duck fat fries.

Also in Parkview Green, Opera Bombana’s bakery counter has reopened after brief renovations, offering a range of desserts and pastries such as pistachio millefeuille alongside their popular bread selection (our favorite being the rye bread with walnuts).

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nov/dec 2017

WHAT’S NEW restaurants

Ramo Former Fangjia Favorite Goes Family-Friendly in Lido 9-2 Jiangtai Xilu, Chaoyang District (6436 1299) 朝阳区将台西路9-2号

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o say it’s been a rough year for Ramo would be an understatement. In recent years, Paca Lee’s brunch haven by day, DJ destination by night, was a fixture on Fangjia Hutong and known for nourishing eats and flavorful beats in equal measure. Then, once Beijing’s bricklaying laborers were done with it, Ramo was no more, like so many other hutong mainstays in 2017.

Nevertheless, Lee and her team rolled up their sleeves and in record time opened Ramo 2.0 by mid-October.

Perhaps even more surprising than the speed with which this new iteration was readied is just how much it differs from its predecessor. For one, it’s way bigger, with a huge patio, a soon-to-be-completed second floor (with DJ booth and function space), and nearly double the number of tables on the ground floor alone than its former Fangjia Hutong haunt. It has also been designed with nearby residents in mind, the children’s ball pit all but within arm’s reach of the bar, and a space that is positively dog-friendly.

On the menu, old favorites like flatbreads (RMB 68) and hearty breakfasts (RMB 88) remain, along with new must-tries like the tastebud-bursting cheese-stuffed beef meatballs and spaghetti (RMB 88), a half-dozen new burgers (the RMB 65 lamb patty with goat cheese

especially standing out), and wholesome sandwiches (RMB 58-78). The main attraction will likely still be what helped Ramo make its name back on Fangjia: the pizzas.

Those doughy and generously-topped pies go for around RMB 100 for a large (give or take, depending on the toppings), and now come with the added bonus of being made with Italian imported flour. That added care and effort is certainly reflected in the comfort-rich food, while the approachable pricing still ranks Ramo as an essential part of your routine, rather than a splurge-worthy occasional indulgence.

First impressions indicate that Ramo 2.0 will satisfy all types – Lido folks looking for a new local with more personality as well as longtime Ramo devotees that have missed their favorite brunch and party joint since it was chai-ed. The vastly different location and fancier, yet simultaneously more family-friendly vibe may at first throw Ramo die-hards off, but the bold and colorful design, friendly service, and same irresistible eats will all ease that quickly enough. Best of all, it’s exciting to have seen this well-deserving hutong mainstay survive a tough year and live on in a grander, more accomplished form.

Kyle Mullin

photo courtesy photos:oF uniRAMO you

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nov/dec 2017

WHAT’S NEW restaurants

Lievito

Mercante and Fiume Veteran Opens Gourmet Pizzeria by Liangma River Tue- Sun, 11.30am-2.30pm and 5pm-11pm. 1/F, FX Hotel, 39 Maizidian Xijie, Chaoyang District (6585 8927) 朝阳区麦子店西街39号富驿时尚酒店1层

photo: Uni You

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here are creative pizza toppings, and then there’s battered fish. Well, battered cod, to be precise.

Lievito’s “south flavors” gourmet pizza is so offbeat that it shouldn’t work, and yet it does. The success of that creative choice is due to none other than Omar Maseroli, a veteran Beijing restaurateur who assuredly entered the scene back in 2012 with his rustic Italian fare at the hutong staple Mercante, following it up with Fiume in Liangmaqiao in 2014. His new Lievito pizzeria neighbors the latter and shares its enviable view of a tree-lined section of the Liangma River (bookmark this spot for spring). Otherwise, Lievito differs considerably, skipping the pastas and slightly upscale features of the older restaurant and zeroing in on a casual, pizza-centric alternative with a sleek, minimalistic ambiance.

That’s not to say the pies aren’t high-end, with higherthan-average but still affordable prices. You won’t pay second mind though once you sample the rustic, semi-whole-grain dough made with imported Italian flour and toppings – divided into land and sea – that skip the oven and are instead marinated, cured (in the case of the ham on the RMB 168 Parma deluxe), or fried (à la the aforementioned fish-topped pizza, which also features capers, Leccina black olives, yellow cherry tomatoes, and Fiordilatte mozzarella, RMB 148).

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There’s also a classic selection of more conventional Italian pizzas like the margherita (RMB 68), the bufala dop (RMB 128, made with sweet Sicilian cherry tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and extra virgin olive oil), and our favorite of the bunch, the 1999 In Love With Pizza, its title referring to a point-in-time recipe that Maseroli’s nostalgia forced him to try and recreate, featuring sautéed porcini mushrooms, fresh basil, cherry tomato sauce, and buffalo mozzarella. The generously filled calzones also proved a treat, though we’re fonder of their deep-fried cousin: the panzerottos. Ranging from RMB 58-88, and made with the particular yellow flower that Maseroli also uses in his handmade spaghetti at Fiume, their texture is a sumptuous balance between a crisp outside and an indulgently soft and gooey inside, which, unlike its hulking calzone counterpart, boasts subtler flavors due to more sparing use of ingredients.

There’s enough dedicated variety here to satisfy pizza lovers on the hunt for something special – most notably any option on the seafood gourmet page – making Lievito especially distinct in an increasingly crowded Italian culinary landscape. In that regard, Lievito’s ability to stand out through its lovingly crafted and indulgent offerings is in itself no small feat. Kyle Mullin

nov/dec 2017

Provincial Government

Shaanxi Provincial Government Restaurant Hearty Food Lacking the Love it Deserves

Daily 10.30am-9.30pm. 103, Shaanxi Bldg, Huawei Li East Lane, Chaoyang District (5728 0858) 陕西驻京办餐厅：朝阳区华威里左安东路陕西大厦附属楼103号

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for ultimate flavor satisfaction.

The roujiamo here – what should really be the bastion of the entire Shaanxi Prov Gov brand – disappointed with a sad, albeit well-spiced, showing of meat and an encasing bun that had plenty of potential to serve as a sponge with which to soak up the juices of its sloppy insides, but was never given the chance, arriving and remaining a dry vessel for parched pork.

Unfortunately, where these two staples had somewhat succeeded in conveying the true spirit of robust, stodgeheavy Shaanxi dining, the standard vegetable and meat dishes left much to be desired. The dipicai – soft black fungus fried with scrambled eggs – had the unfortunate effect of mimicking the exact consistency of the eggs without adding any noticeable flavor, making for a spongy and unappetizing combination. The fatty pork with peppers didn’t fare much better, the spice from the peppers accounting for just about the only redeeming quality of an otherwise oil-drenched dish.

Given that the remainder of the menu consisted of items you could find at any old zhongcanting, you’d be advised to continue to head to your local noodle haven for your fill. They may be a little dirtier but then again, our waitress did hock a farewell loogie straight into the bin as we left. Tom Arnstein

nov/dec 2017

PHOTO: TOM ARNsTEIN

f Xinjiang cuisine is the perfect accompaniment to hazy summer nights accented with cheap beer and lamb and fragments of cumin lodged deep under the nail to be excavated the next day, then Shaanxi food is the hearty reward for rheumy eyes and reddened faces after stomping through a frigid and gray Beijing. During those wintry months, nothing can beat eagerly pulling your gloves off to cradle a roujiamo dripping with gravy, or devouring a steaming and mountainous bowl of biangbiang noodles.

Sadly, the Shaanxi Provincial Government Restaurant near Panjiayuan is unlikely to be the place you’ll want to partake in such simple pleasures given that its yellow décor and curtains, used only to conceal bricked-over windows, do little to mirror the inherent wholesomeness of Shaanxi food and its unmatched soul-soothing abilities.

Of the dishes we ordered, the biangbiang noodles – long and wide bouncy tongues of never-ending carbohydrate bliss drizzled in chili oil, chili flakes, and garnished with the requisite too little, too late singular head of bok choi and a sprinkling of chives – was the most gratifying with its slow burn, but weighed in smaller than we’re accustomed to at family-run restaurants. Far more heinous was the fact that not a single table was adorned with the necessary chili or vinegar to be splashed around

wokipedia

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… yin’er 银耳 Jelly-like yin’er (or “silver ear”) mushrooms fall firmly into the “purely textural” category of Chinese ingredients.

Like the more common wood ear mushrooms, silver ear mushrooms are usually bought dried then rehydrated in hot water before being added to soups or stir-fries. Silverear mushrooms are a yin, or “cooling,” ingredient and are used to combat an excess of hot, yang energy in the body.

They are often combined with pears and rock sugar to make a sweet soup that is used to treat dry winter coughs. … youpomian 油泼面 No Shaanxi-style restaurant menu would be complete without youpomian (literally “oil-splashed noodles”), one of the province’s most famous noodle dishes. Thick, belt-like wheat noodles are cooked until tender then placed in a bowl and topped with ground chili, raw garlic, scallions, and other seasonings. To finish, a ladle of hot oil is poured over the top – the “oil splashing” part of the name. A simple dish, perhaps, but certainly a satisfying one. … youtiao 油条 Calling youtiao “Chinese donuts” does them a disservice, as these deep-fried delights have a texture and allure all their own. The simple wheat dough is augmented with baking powder or alum to help the youtiao crisp up when they are fried. In northern China, youtiao are colloquially referred to as guozi and you will often find them wrapped inside Tianjin-style jianbing. … yuenyeung 鸳鸯 This popular Hong Kong drink is perfect for the sleepdeprived, as it combines both coffee and strong milk tea. The name “yuenyeung” (or yuanyang in Mandarin pronunciation) originally refers to Mandarin ducks, which symbolize pairs of unlike items that go together perfectly, as the male and female ducks look very different yet are always seen in pairs. The traditional recipe calls for three parts coffee to seven parts milk tea, although you can often ask to change the ratio according to taste.

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nov/dec 2017

WHAT’S NEW BARS & CLUBS

Jing-A Brewpub Xingfucun Newest Location Exceeds Our High Expectations

Mon-Wed 5pm-midnight, Thu 4pm-midnight, Fri 4pm-2am, Sat 11am-2am, Sun 11am-midnight. Lee World Building, 57 Xingfucun Zhonglu, Chaoyang District (152 1090 7612) 朝阳区幸福村中路57号楼利世楼

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s a local beer drinker or foodie, you may already be familiar with their story: Jing-A started out brewing in their humble 700L facility at The Big Smoke in 2013. They soon flew the coop (in 2014) to open their first independent venue: Jing-A Taproom at Courtyard 4, now home to their popular year-round beers, as well as their small-batch, seasonal, and experimental brews. Now, Jing-A has returned to its roots, taking over the Big Smoke venue that gave them their start, transforming it into their second proper brick-and-mortar location, dubbed Jing-A Brewpub Xingfucun.

The spacious, revamped venue consists of several parts: the beer bar with its 16 taps of Jing-A brews (expected to also house rotating guest beers in the future), high bar stools and tables along the wall, as well as ample counter space for drinkers to mingle down the corridor. Groups can dine and sit comfortably in the two large dining rooms, which craftily include a window through to the bar for quick and frequent refills.

Another fun addition is the space’s back bar, tucked away at the far end of the hallway, and home to extra beer taps and draft cocktails. Yes, you read us right: cross-eye-inducing

cocktails on tap! All priced at RMB 50 (one of the most reasonable prices in Sanlitun), the potent takes on classics – mixed by guest bars like The Tiki Bungalow and Mao Mao Chong – include the Mala Mule, margarita, and Cargo Hold, among others.

In the kitchen, new chef Andrew Dilda (winner of the People’s Choice prize at the Meat Fight Pro Barbecue CookOff for the past three years in a row) works his magic on a near-completely revamped menu that consists of authentic, smoked Texas barbecue, such as sliced beef brisket and ribs (RMB 400) as well as pork in a variety of incarnations: pulled, sausaged, and ribbed (RMB 70-130). Those go great with any one of the starters (RMB 30-50): chips and salsa, Lao Ma’s cornbread, crispy Brussels sprouts, loaded fries, wings, and Jing-A’s Chop Chop salad. Otherwise, go big with a sandwich (RMB 50-70), including barbecue brisket, chicken salad, classic cheeseburger, the “Where’s the Meat?” veggie burger, and the Jing-A BLT. Overall, the welcoming atmosphere, as well as the on-point beers, cocktails, and food have already helped solidify this step in Jing-A’s slow and steady evolution as one of our favorite go-to brewpubs in Beijing. Tracy Wang

photo courtesy of JING-A

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nov/dec 2017

WHAT’S NEW BARS & CLUBS

Zhao Dai Beijing’s Newest Underground Club Gears Up For a Second Run at Greatness Event days, 11pm-late. 1/F, Glass Hotel, 19 Xinyuanli Xilu, Chaoyang District 朝阳区新源里西路19号1层

photo: TOM ARNSTEIN

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hen Zhao Dai opened in Xinyuanli at the end of September, the anticipation of having a new world-class underground club among Beijing’s electronic music lovers and partygoers was palpable.

When opening night arrived, however, it was sadly marred by a number of issues that tempered what had otherwise promised to be a new shot of life into the scene, not least because its second-floor basement location was far too hot, but also because it was proving a police magnet, and most egregious of all, the much-hyped Void Acoustics sound system had apparently shaken the walls off their fixings and provided them an unwanted and violent rattling voice from all sides.

After a forced closure, in part to fix what needed to be fixed but also because of the city’s late-October crackdown on organized fun, the dream team of Gouzi, founder of Yugong Yishan; Fu Yan, co-founder of the nowdefunct but renowned White Rabbit and Haze clubs; and Zhi Qi, founder of Beijing-based promoter Shadowplay, and the Goethe-Institut’s Carmen Herold, acting as music directors, regrouped to put right the venue’s shortcomings and address the compromises that had been made for a premature opening – an admittance that the journey to prestige doesn’t come after one, slightly wonky, sweat-drenched night.

Determined to do right, it’s clear that Zhao Dai’s second

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lease of life at the beginning of November will see the combined effort of this crew reemerge with a new vigor and determination to provide Beijing with a simple but effective design: a safe space for club-goers wanting to live out their dance fantasies (ergo the no-camera policy, see above), a place for open- and like-minded people to gather and escape their lives outside (ergo the door policy), in a venue with minimal intervention or the presence of buzz-killing security (ergo a hands-off approach from the powers that be once you’re inside).

For guidance, management have looked toward some of Germany’s most cherished clubs – Berlin’s Berghain or Frankfurt’s Robert Johnson, for example – taking a minimalist approach to providing as close to an allencompassing dance night as possible through the thing that counts most: the sound. In the eyes of Zhao Dai, it’s the sound that carries the weight of club culture and reverberates among those looking for an experience not necessarily yet found in China. It is their hope that over time, with small counsel of their own through rigorous programming and provision of a utilitarian and egalitarian space, Zhao Dai will influence the next generation of Chinese beatmakers and their listeners. That’s no small pledge, but there’s little doubt (and much hope) that once the kinks are ironed out, the wherewithal to do just that will be firmly in place. Tom Arnstein

nov/dec 2017

Back for more

Karaiya Spice House

‘Foreigner-Friendly Hunan Food’ Maintains Eight-Year-Strong Reputation in the Heart of Sanlitun Daily 11.30am-10pm. S9-30, 3/F, Taikooli Sanlitun South, Chaoyang District (6415 3535) 辣屋湖南料理：朝阳区三里屯太古里南区3层S9-30

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all us exhibitionists, but when dining out with friends, we love to order the kind of dishes that elicit gasps of delight when they hit the table; the pork ribs with peanuts and pickled vegetables (RMB 168) at Karaiya Spice House is one such dish. The long ribs form a bridge on the plate, just waiting for you to dive in with your chopsticks and pick off the meat, which is so tender that even those with tenuous chopstick capabilities will be able to strip the bones clean.

Those pork ribs have been on the menu since Karaiya first opened in Taikooli (then known as The Village) in 2009 and our recent revisit demonstrated that they and many other dishes are just as good as they were eight years ago.

Previous reviews have often described Karaiya as serving “foreigner-friendly Hunan food” and while the

ambiance, presentation, and English menu might have been prepared with foreigners in mind, the spice level of the dishes might still put the fear into fresh-off-the-boat visitors. This is particularly true of the stone pot mapo tofu (RMB 48), which has a sharper chili heat than the tongue-tingling Sichuan version many of us will be used to. Luckily, the menu is marked with a handy spice scale so you can avoid the fieriest dishes if necessary, although those that do brave the spice will be rewarded with great flavors, such as the salty-sharp heat of the steamed fish with two-toned pickled chilies (RMB 188-288).

Karaiya’s refined atmosphere and affordable-if-higherthan-average prices make it a great spot for a special occasion, especially when you add in a fairly broad wine list and Jing-A beers on tap. Robynne Tindall

photO COURTESY OF KARAIYA SPICE HOUSE

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nov/dec 2017

p.s. we ate you float like a fruity smoothie bowl Tribe, RMB 58 In addition to looking great, this Float Like a Fruity Smoothie Bowl embodies Tribe’s purple winter theme, which in this case comes from butterfly tea powder, an Asian flower that has become popular for its iridescent and organic coloring as well as purported anti-aging qualities. Quinoa is added to the base of the slightly-sweet smoothie bowl, and fruits and nuts sit on top, making for a more filling breakfast than your average fruit and milk blend. face-off coffee Vase, RMB 40 More of a novelty item than anything you’d actually really want to buy for your morning coffee fix, Xingfucun’s Vase café allows patrons to scan their face (or, more highly recommended, a picture of their face), which is then rendered in all its frothy glory into the foam of your chosen coffee to be consumed one weird gulp at a time. If those vorarephilic tendencies don’t do it for you, head upstairs to buy some pretty flowers instead in the adjoining florist.

300g steak Meat Mate, RMB 100-300 (depending on the cut) Now that the floodgates of US beef imports have been blown well and truly off their hinges, Beijing is slowly realizing its steak lover’s dream. Meat Mate is just one of many restaurants now cashing in on such provisions, albeit dabbling in the Australian variety, lining its walls in Indigo Mall with fridges packed with high-quality beef, waiting to be cut and sizzled into the perfect steak.

Beautifully sautéed, our ribeye had a golden-brown outside and a nice pink inside and needed no sauce to boost its juicy texture and bold flavors. grilled gruyere cheese toastie and tomato soup Boxing Cat Pop-Up, RMB 65 Sometimes nothing beats a crunchy toastie that’s overflowing with cheese, whole grain mustard, and sweet pickled onions, which is exactly how Boxing Cat’s rendition of this down-home American classic comes. Pair it with a creamy tomato soup with a dollop of pesto and a pint of King Louie Imperial Stout for good measure, and you’ve got yourself a combination fit to see you through Beijing’s numbing winter.

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Just Desserts

Art de Sweets

Edible Jewels That Shine Bright Like a Diamond Daily 10am-10pm. L1-51, 18 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Indigo Mall, Chaoyang District (6437 9599) 朝阳区酒仙桥路18号颐堤港购物中心L1-51

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possibly taste as perfect as it looks. This diamond is, unfortunately, not forever; after admiring the shiny, geometrically flawless eye candy, you must break the hard red-dyed white chocolate crust to spoon out the soft inside of passion fruit and black tea cream, which is well worth the pain of breaking this gemstone. Bookmark this one for your bestie or fiancé.

The chocolate whisky macaroons (RMB 22), in addition to looking gorgeous, come with a strong alcoholic kick thanks to the whisky-infused crème, balancing out the bite-sized cake’s overall sweetness. The passion fruit and black tea macaroons substitute booze for zest and were equally easy on the eyes. The millefoglie al tiramisu (RMB 56), with its spongy base, creamy and flaky layers of millefoglie, strong coffee notes, and a velvety topping left us too full and satisfied, truth be told, to taste anything else.We therefore left the hazelnut diamond cake (RMB 65), peach cake (RMB 48), and the apple cheesecake (RMB 56) for next time.

Not everything here is glitz and glamour though, and if

nov/dec 2017

photos COURTESY ART DE SWEETS

t’s clear that Eatalia Group is dedicated to all things delicious and beautiful. Alongside their art gallery-slashrestaurant space Galleria, and their flagship Romanstyle pizza restaurant Eatalia, the team continues in their aspiration to make great-looking food with perhaps their most ambitious project yet: Art de Sweets in Indigo Mall.

The space itself is bright and elegant, decorated with marble and bronze, and reflecting their pursuit of culinary and visual art. The desserts are displayed similarly to how a jewelry store or a design shop would present their wares – lined up in a spotless, brightly-lit glass counter, with white-gloved staff ready to serve and pristine white tables at which patrons can carefully inspect, appreciate, and eat their purchases.

The eye-catching sweets include macaroons (RMB 22), éclairs (RMB 26), pastries (RMB 8-18), and desserts made in collaboration with the 3D Food Company using 3D printing technology (RMB 48-65). The most breathtaking of the bunch is their stunning 3D-printed red diamond cake (RMB 60), which had us doubting whether it could

you do choose the humble route, there are also croissants (RMB 12-18), fruit Danishes, pretzels (RMB 8), baguettes (RMB 15), and coffee (RMB 22-36), as well as birthday cakes (RMB 369-420) on offer. Whatever your need, Art de Sweets makes for a bakery sure to leave your belly full and your eyes dazzled by some of the best-looking treats Beijing has ever seen. Tracy Wang

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MAOVEMBER

Hairy Charity Practices

Grow Your Fluff to Raise Money for Maovember

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Maovember is also a spin on the annual “Movember” charity initiative, during which men worldwide grow mustaches throughout November, more than a few events revolve around facial hair. In any case, Maovember policy is that all work is done by volunteers and, in turn, all funds raised go to charity.

Given its focus, Maovember attracts a diverse group of supporters, including many entrepreneurs. This mish-mash of people typically results in a campaign with elements of chaos and creativity – for example, a simple event last year to decide whether or not Thierry de Dobbeleer, then owner of Beer Mania, should shave his substantial beard. Expected to be a low-key affair, it saw a flurry of activity and passionate debate between the “shave” and “no shave” camps that raised over RMB 20,000, nearly 10 times the anticipated amount. (In case you missed it, the “shave” vote won and Thierry had his beard lopped off immediately after the money was counted.) This kind of event, featuring an entrepreneur, more than a hundred donors and a great deal of fun, is what Maovember is all about.

You can find more info on this year’s campaign at thebeijinger.com and maovember.com.

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photo courtesy of the organizers

Using small change for big change is the principle behind the annual Maovember charity campaign. The “mao” refers to the coins worth a tenth of a renminbi – not much on their own, but they add up quickly. The idea is that minor donations can lead to major results.

Since Maovember launched in 2013, it has helped with everything from furnishing reading rooms in needy schools to financing cataract surgeries for the elderly in rural China.

This year’s campaign runs the duration of November, from the pin launch party that took place at XL Restaurant & Bar on Nov 1 to the closing bash at Paddy O’Shea’s on Nov 30. The charity partners are The Library Project, which furnishes those reading rooms, and Bread of Life, a bakery that trains and employs disabled people. And while the campaign started in Beijing, events have since been held in other major cities like Shanghai, Taipei, and Tianjin.

Maovember is a team effort between bars, restaurants, suppliers, and customers. While some funds are raised via personal donations and Maovember pin sales, most come from events. The strategy is for bars, restaurants or shops to feature a drink or food special as well as an activity like a pub quiz, a road hockey shootout or a poker, corn toss or beer pong tournament. Given that the name

2017 pizza cup

Pie Squared A Worthy Winner of This Year’s Pizza Cup Champion Title

By Tom Arnstein

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photo: uni you

his year’s Pizza Cup proved to be one hell of a ride and one not left unscathed by upset and drama (hey, what kind of competition would this be without some tears?) with underdogs Pie Squared snatching the title of Pizza Champion from reigning champions Bottega, who placed a close second.

The Shunyi-adjacent Pie Squared's ascent up the rankings saw them knock down the likes of Eudora Station, Great Leap, and Gung Ho!, before clinching victory from the formidable Bottega. The win is even more admirable given the final two venues' varying trajectories over the past year, with Bottega going from strength to strength, opening not one but two new venues, including their massive 180-plus-seat space in Xinyuanli. But even that was not enough to unravel Pie Squared, which, since its founding in 2013, has been quietly building a dedicated following among Shunyi residents as well as pizza lovers in general, a spectacle that was obvious at this year’s Pizza Festival, where a perpetual line snaked from their stand on both days of the event.

Their success at the Pizza Festival may very well have been Pie Squared’s breakthrough in the eyes of many Beijingers who queued up to try it for the first time. After all, the pizzeria currently only delivers in the Shunyi area via its own drivers, limiting its exposure compared to many of its competitors. Owner Asher Gillespie has secured a

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strong foothold in that expat-rife neighborhood over the years, through his work and sponsorship of sports leagues such as Beijing International Ice Hockey (BIIH).

Word quickly spread among the area’s American-centric residents of Gillespie’s warm demeanor and his “taste of home,” authentic Detroit-style pizzas.

That pizza in itself is noteworthy for its square shape, a byproduct of spare industrial parts trays being used to bake the pizzas back in 1940s Detroit, according to the city’s lore, and delectable for the cheese that slowly bubbles outwards as the dough rises, finally caramelizing on the pizza’s chewy crust.

Looking back at this year’s competition and the way the votes fell, it’s apparent that the Pizza Cup changed just as many hearts and minds as it did expand voters’ waistlines, with 87 percent of voters stating that they learned about new pizza restaurants, and 77 percent went out to try new pizzerias they had not tried before. In the process, nearly half (48 percent) changed their opinion on their favorite pizza in Beijing.

Interestingly, all of the top 12 pizzerias in the final rankings were locally born and bred – a testament to the character, class, and vitality of Beijing’s food and beverage scene.

And with that, Pie Squared becomes our fourth different champion in the five years we’ve held the annual poll, joining Bottega (2016), Gung Ho! (2014 and 2015), and Kro’s Nest (2011). Congratulations to them for joining the greats!

nov/dec 2017

advertorial

InfraRouge All-New Gastro-Lounge Lights up Taikooli North Daily 11.30am-11pm (restaurant), 6pm-2am (club). 3-5/F, N8, Taikooli Sanlitun North, Chaoyang District (6468 1619) 朝阳区太古里北区N8 3-5层

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Taikooli North and the Intercontinental Sanlitun in the distance once the sun goes down. The menu transitions from day to night as smoothly as the space, from competitively-priced business lunch sets to Instagram-worthy afternoon teas to exclusive à la carte evening dining.

After finishing dinner, ascend the brass-framed feature staircase to the top floor, where Beijing’s premier new party spot awaits. InfraRouge, infrared in French, is designed with those seductive hues as its central color tone, mixed with a variety of textures and materials to create an environment that, just like its namesake light, radiates out into Beijing. InfraRouge’s team of talented mixologists mix delicious cocktails that, along with a roster of international DJs, are sure to get you up onto the starkly lit, jet-black-painted dance floor. Fans of Bar Rouge’s popular themed parties will be excited to hear that InfraRouge is bringing them to Beijing, including their signature Thursday night ladies night and their infamous jungle party, when the space is transformed into a tropical rainforest of vines and trees and becomes a home for Beijing’s wildest party animals.

From lunchtime, through to pre-dinner cocktails and on into the night, InfraRouge is a one-stop shop for those who enjoy the finer things in life. Suffice it to say that InfraRouge – with its understated yet elegant touch of red – is silently capturing the hearts of pleasure-seekers in Beijing.

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photo courtesy of infrarouge

aikooli Sanlitun North, which has been hovering on the edge of our radar for some time now, was finally cemented as a landmark destination for Beijing’s discerning gourmets and lovers of the good life early this fall with the opening of InfraRouge, the maiden Beijing venture from Shanghai-based VOL Group, operators of renowned Bar Rouge.

Located on the third and top floors of one of Taikooli Sanlitun North’s central towers, InfraRouge presents itself as a “gastro-lounge” that offers guests an all-in-one dining and nightlife experience. Their restaurant can be found on the third floor, offering contemporary French cuisine, while the lounge and club on the top floor carry the spirit of InfraRouge’s sister brand, Bar Rouge. If you’ve ever been out for a night on the tiles in Shanghai, then it is highly likely that you will have paid a visit to Bar Rouge, a Bund-side bar and nightlife hotspot that demonstrates the pedigree that InfraRouge is bringing with them from Shanghai to Beijing. In addition to Bar Rouge, VOL Group operates a number of popular restaurants, including Mr & Mrs Bund and Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, which was awarded three Michelin stars by the 2018 Michelin Guide to Shanghai.

This culinary DNA is on display at InfraRouge’s restaurant, which serves contemporary French dishes with the occasional Far Eastern twist. The restaurant is the perfect spot at any time of day: The south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows offering ample natural light in the daytime and a view of the sparkling lights of

photo courtesy of the organizers

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Things to do, places to be, stuff to try

THIRSTY GHOSTS // PINGYAO // LUANG PRABANG // VINTAGE SHOPPING

The Elimination of Violence Against Women Art Exhibit Nov 25-Dec 10 – The organizers behind the China Women’s Film Festival (CWFF) return with their annual art exhibit, focusing this year on the comic books Priya’s Shakti and Priya’s Mirror. The Mirror installment tells the story of how Priya, a rape survivor, joins forces with victims of acid attacks in an empowering tale that also borrows aspects of Hindi mythology. Key panels and pages from the comics have been enlarged and framed for the exhibit, and author Ram Devineni will be on hand for discussions and various related events throughout the week. The Crossroads Center

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FEATURE

“I’m not from here but people tell me it’s not like it used to be they say I should have been here back about 10 years ago before it got ruined by folks like me.”

– James McMurtry, “I’m Not From Here” I remember my first time visiting Sanlitun South Bar Street nearly 15 years ago. It was Saturday night and I took a date. Not one of my better ideas. My then date/ future wife looked down the neon-lit lane of drug dealers, hookers, drunken retching, and general depravity, turned to me and said, “This is what my whole country would look like if Chiang Kai-shek had won the war.”

I was still in school so this was a group date (also not my best idea). Several of my fellow Chinese language learners had joined us for the evening. One of those classmates, B., a little savvier and more experienced in the ways of South Bar Street in the early Naughty Aughties, saw a friend/dealer of his and discreetly waved. One of the less savvy – and drunker – classmates, with an intent

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PHOTOs: BRUCE CONNOLLY

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to meet and complete an illegal purchase that evening, followed that up by yelling out in his best Animal House impression: “Yo! Edu! My Man!” The dealer scowled and ducked down an alley.

“He doesn’t seem very friendly,” my half-bright classmate reported. B., turned, took a long drag of his Zhongnanhai 10, and suggested, not unkindly, that even in Sanlitun, drug dealers generally don’t like their names shouted down busy streets.

Those days – and that street – are, of course, long gone. Replaced by “A New Age” and Sanlitun Soho, respectively. When South Bar Street was finally torn down, we lamented that Beijing’s nightlife would never be the same. The fun was gone. The dream was over.

Sometimes change can be good. I miss South Bar Street a lot, but it was the kind of place where backroom drug negotiations were sometimes sweetened by an offer to buy a knock-off Glock. (True story. One also involving, not coincidentally, my friend B.*) Time of death has been prematurely called on Beijing’s nightlife so many times that it’s worth perhaps taking a few deep knee-bends and a round of Qigong breathing before we call it again.

Yeah, the Great Brickening sucked. Especially for the people who were working in the businesses affected. But you know what?

Life goes on. Old places move. Ramo just had a soft opening near Lido; Slow Boat and Arrow Factory are pulling beers in larger, and frankly more comfor table, Chaoyang locations. There are still bars in the hutongs, just not as many and that is, frankly, sad, but not surprising.

Beijing has always been a city in flux. Bar streets rise, clubs close. If you want a fun history lesson, go back through the past winners of this fine magazine’s

Bar and Club Awards or the archives of Beijing Boyce. For all the stalwarts of this city’s F&B scene, the records are littered with the names of the hundreds of fallen. Some burned brightly for a moment, some became fixtures, many others barely registered a blip on our collectively pickled livers. Every new crop of fresh-faced arrivals getting off the plane in Beijing with their Chinese chengyu and unscarred internal organs revels in finding the perfect hidden bar emblematic of their unique connection to the “real” Beijing. Then when that closes, gets raided, commercializes, starts doing pub quizzes or showing recaps of popular TV shows, the word goes out that Beijing is dead. It is Westernized. It is Pyongyang-ified. This sole oasis of culture has dried up, only desert remains.

I know. I was that guy in my 20s. And my 30s. And my 40s. No mas.

Dirty Bar Street is now a flower garden. Fangjia Hutong is a throughway for douchebags in SUVs looking for a shortcut to Guijie. The Den has been renovated into a brand-new abandoned building.

We mourn. We pour one out. We go to the bar next door.

It’s been a tough year for Beijing, no doubt. But I have a feeling that in 2022, those of us who are still here will tell the newbies coming in for the Winter Olympics about how you really should have been here back in 2017 when things were really rocking.

The one constant is change. The big difference in Beijing is the speed of that change and the suddenness with which policies shift. But all cities evolve. Beijing does it perhaps faster than most and maybe not always for the better, but the more you live here, the more you realize that half the excitement is simply being along for the ride.

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nov/dec 2017

get out

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hen a friend described Pingyao to me as the “Dali of the north,” I didn’t quite know what to expect. Sure, Dali is a beautiful ancient city, but one that failed to capture my imagination, which I put down to visiting 10 years too late or not being stoned out of my mind.

However, while the comparison to Yunnan’s backpacker escape du jour wasn’t completely incorrect, driving the short distance from the train station through the neon glitz of Pingyao’s western district to the old walled city – considered the best-preserved in the whole of China – didn’t prepare me for how remarkable it would actually be.

PHOTOs: WILL Griffith, Tom arnstein

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Sitting a four and a half-hour train ride west of Beijing, in Shanxi province, Pingyao has managed to escape the commercial ravaging of cookie-cutter tourist shops and dead-behind-the-eyes bongo drummers that similar cities have fallen victim to. What you have instead is local tourism that is, for the most part, restricted to the intersecting North, West, East, and South Streets, and therefore easily avoidable (especially in the off-season, minus the buggies that zoom every which way, carting groups between destinations in lieu of taxis). However, they do act as the best place to sample the local delicacies: daoshaomian “knife-cut noodles,” and Pingyao salt-cured beef, which are not wholly dissimilar to corned beef, dipped in soy sauce.

Belly now full, explore the one square mile of largely untouched Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (16441911) dynasty architecture – composed of 3,700-plus courtyards, shops, and temples – surrounded by the largely original 600-year-old wall (enter via a single RMB 130 ticket, purchased at various locations across the city, and valid for three days). Pay particular attention to how high each structure’s surrounding walls are or if they boast a tall, curved entranceway for horses, both indicators of how affluent the founding residents had been. For a singular and exquisite example of the lofty wealth some of Pingyao’s Qing-era aristocracy achieved (the city was home to China’s first banks) head to the Ma Zhongxuan residence. Only open to the public since 2014, the Ma household was constructed in the formation of the character for horse, “马”, and contains 197 rooms; a warren of chambers, stairs, and balconies that boggle the mind as to how merchant Ma, his three wives, children,

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and servants ever saw each other, which was maybe the point.

Seven kilometers out of the city lies the UNESCO Heritage Site of Shuanglin Temple (RMB 35). At 1,500 years old, the temple is most notable for the 2,000plus Ming dynasty terra-cotta and wood sculptures that are crammed into its halls and still cling to their original and vibrant colors. The surrounding intricate dragons, flames, and symbols give each Bodhisattva the impression of being enveloped by a stalagmite-riddled cave while hundreds of smaller figures look on, half threateningly and half at peace.

As for accommodation, the city center has no shortage of guesthouses, but a good bet, and one of the newer openings (albeit still within a near-300year-old courtyard) is the City Wall Old House, a two-bed en suite costing RMB 298. An added bonus of staying here is that the owner, Baal, a Beijinger, is no stranger to adventure and if you ask kindly, he may take you out to one of his finds: an outer-lying abandoned village, buildings from which date to the beginning of the Qing dynasty, their residents having since relocated to more comfortable dwellings nearby.

A visit to Pingyao during its colder months is a surefire way to avoid the hordes (and admittedly get your fair share of coal-filled lungs) but its abundant sights and unmatched feel make it a truely “ancient” Chinese city, matched by none.

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he UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos is close enough to Beijing for a long weekend getaway, yet feels a world away. Sitting at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, the sleepy city is a wonderful blend of gilded Buddhist wats and crumbling colonial architecture. China Eastern offers four flights per week to Luang Prabang from Kunming. If you are traveling in the rainy season, be aware that flights on this route are often cancelled due to unpredictable weather, so you may want to consider flying via Bangkok instead.

photo: wikimedia

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What to see: The best way to experience what Luang Prabang has to offer is simply to wander the streets of the peninsula where the Nam Khan meets the Mekong, stepping in and out of temples and stopping for a coffee and croissant in one of the many French-influenced cafés.

Rise with the sun to catch the alms-giving ceremony, when locals gather and kneel along the street to offer food to the city’s more than 200 resident monks. Visitors are welcome to take part, but the ceremony is a sacred affair so be sure to be respectful – wear modest clothing, keep your distance, and don’t use flash photography. If you want to learn more about Luang Prabang’s history and culture, adventure and eco tour providers Green Discovery offer half and full-day heritage tours in Luang Prabang.

What to eat: Even if you haven’t visited Laos before, many of the signature dishes of Lao cuisine – green papaya salad, larb, sticky rice – will be familiar to fans of the cuisine of neighboring Thailand, as there has been considerable interplay between the two cuisines. Popular dishes local to Luang Prabang include deep-fried river weed with chili sauce, roasted eggplant and chili dip, and or lam, a mildly spicy and bitter stew flavored with a type of peppery local wood bark. To learn more about the flavors and ingredients used in Lao cuisine, take a hands-on cooking class and market tour organized by Tamarind restaurant (approx. USD 35), held in a beautiful garden just outside of the city.

Where to stay: Luang Prabang is crammed with boutique hotels and guest houses, most at the mid- to high-end of the price spectrum. On the Nam Khan side of the peninsula, Burasari Heritage offers well-appointed rooms in charming traditional Lao teakwood houses (the on-site spa is also excellent). Note that if you want a hotel with a swimming pool, you may need to stay slightly outside of the peninsula due to planning restrictions. However, this won’t be a hardship in a hotel like the Luang Say Residence, which has five pavilions spread out among lush gardens, a 15-minute walk from the center of the peninsula.

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to the likes of this year’s Self Criticism exhibition, Inside Out grabbed our attention for its role as an incubator for innovative curatorial approaches. In Self Criticism, a series of smaller exhibitions were comprised within a larger macro exhibition concept; curators were invited to generate ways in which to involve people in a selfcriticism process and allow them, according to the curator, to “transcend the constant flux of information and events that bury their sense of awareness and the much needed action to produce change.”

In order to achieve the desired effect, the exhibitions were laid out without clear limits, connecting them in unexpected ways. One of the standout pieces was “Adequate Instructions,” a video installation of Alvin Tran’s work, curated by Yuan Fuca and Han Xinyi. In the story, the protagonists stage a representation of the awakening

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PHOTOs courtesy of m Woods, Inside-Out Museum, UCCA

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his year certainly wasn’t lacking in shows; from both the old, well-established art spaces around town, to the newcomers that helped map out contemporary art production in China via thought-provoking shows.

However, there are three spaces that stood out in particular in 2017, in part thanks to their consistency in the face of ever-changing circumstances and fickle political winds, and their ability to find new ways to convey evocative messages and engage audiences. Some did so by catering to viewers’ most hedonistic side – appealing to their acute sense of criticism – or by creating room for conversation about not-so-commonly addressed issues within the Chinese mainland art scene.

Our first hat tip goes to Inside-Out Museum (IOM), a nonprofit museum that opened in 2007 and, after two moves, is now located in the northeast of the city. Home

of consciousness in robotic creatures that go on to fight humans within a Westworld-inspired subtext.

Perhaps the piece that garnered the most attention was the sound-art project curated by Edward Sanderson, “Grounds for Sound,” in part thanks to Rong Guang Rong’s intense but quite remarkable metaphor through video and sound installation of the violent tension between confronted needs and realities. Through these pieces, IOM’s remote, lone-standing space solidified its worthy standing through a strong group of curatorial respondents.

M Woods, founded in 2014, has this year made noteworthy strides into the local art arena thanks to its approach of combining exhibitions with a particularly diverse program of related activities. This netted consideration from art aficionados as well as a younger crowd looking for new experiences in art-related spaces.

One such experiment was the well-received (albeit hardon-the-wallet) FAT Music Festival (pictured opposite), held in unison with some of Beijing’s finest live music venues – DDC, Temple, School Bar, and Fruityspace – cleverly drawing out crowds from their Dongcheng havens and introducing them to the gallery. In addition, 2017 has seen talks, educational programs, vintage bazaars, experimental food fairs, and noise shows occupy the space – you name it, they’re doing it.

Whether these complementary activities grip you or not, M Woods is also building its name by hosting young artists that encapsulate the China zeitgeist. For example, Shanghai-born new media artist Lu Yang’s Encephalon Heaven (through Feb 11) solo exhibition – the first for a Chinese artist at the space – made up of three new commissions alongside many of the artist’s previous works in sculpture, film, installation, performance, and even video games. Yang’s visions are worlds in themselves and are heavily populated by a constellation of “pan-cultural” creatures influenced mainly by Buddhist and Hindu iconographies, neuroscience-imbued concepts, and anime-styled references. All this is presented with a touch of dark comedy and the visual impact of popular culture.

inside-out museum

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Particularly remarkable among the new works at the gallery space is “Electromagnetic Brainology,” an installation that incorporates motion sensor technology and is displayed in a sort of temple-like arranged space that blends together the world of the sacred and the profane (a regular theme in the artist’s work). In the video installation, Lu Yang personifies four deities and

Lu Yang's "Encephalon Heaven" at M Woods

superheroes, and different areas of the human central nervous system, bringing a sort of intersection between superstition and cutting-edge science. The characters dance in choreography inspired by the games found in any respected arcade game center while combating the troubles of mankind.

Following the news of the UCCA’s recent ownership deal, we look forward to seeing how one of the most reliable art providers in the city expands on its vision of contemporary and diversified programming given the new resources and renovations promised by its new administration. Since its opening in 2007, the center has brought a stream of shows (approximately 100 exhibitions since its founding, according to its website), The New Normal (or as its Chinese title dubbed it, State of Exception) early in the year remained one of 2017’s Beijing art highlights. That show brought a constellation of emerging artists to the scene with works that explored the status of art today against a set of unprecedented social realities experienced worldwide. The UCCA in that regard, still has the ability to showcase critical works that no other space would be able to flaunt so easily.

On a final note, the UCCA’s open program offers opportunities to engage in themes and topics that are not part of the ongoing discussion at big institutions.

Recently, for example, we were able to catch a glimpse of Inivisible, a series of talks, panels, and screenings dedicated to raising awareness about the current status of queer art, filmmaking, and the spaces where LGBT realities are visible (and where they are absent) in the city. We hope the edgier aspects of their programming continue to grow bolder with new themes and questions that are relevant to the current world and its anxieties.

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feature

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t should hardly come as a surprise that finding a genuinely old object is a serious mission in Beijing. And we’re not even talking about antiques, but 30- to 40-year-old knickknacks that aren’t simply shabby-chic looking things (just stroll through Nanluogu Xiang or the other “fixed-up” hutongs). Sadly for those “there’s-beauty-in-the-old” types, it seems like the general Chinese public is not yet a fan of fixer-uppers, in part perhaps due to the inauspiciousness of owning secondhand clothes. Nevertheless, it is indeed possible to organize a weekend walk around the hutongs dedicated to vintage shopping.

Pro tip: If you are looking for an authentic secondhand (二手, ershou) piece, always ask the shop personnel to make sure your eyes aren’t fooling you.

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nov/dec 2017

photoS: bike adventures, TAUTVILE DAUGELAITE

Base Vintage Best for: Men’s clothes It might not be the most suitable-for-all vintage store, but boy is it cute. While their Gulou Dongdajie neighbors have their skirts and ties arranged by colors and patterns, Base Vintage is extremely cluttered, slightly messy, and damp. Disclaimer: You might need to go in alone and walk sideways – just how real vintage shopping should be! This tiny two-story shop uses every possible centimeter of space and certifies its authenticity with the unmistakably musty smell when you first walk in. Besides racks of leather jackets and coats, you can also find a solid collection of backpacks and some vintage designer labels.

Bags mostly come from Europe while other clothes are usually imported from Japan. Prices are slightly lower than high-street vintage brands and hover around RMB 300-400 with designer bags starting from RMB 700-800.

Daily 5-10pm. 11 Dajingchang Hutong, Dongcheng District 东城区大经厂胡同11号

Beixinqiao Secondhand and Antiques Best for: Vintage bicycles Retro-style Flying Pigeon (Fēigē) and the fancier Phoenix (Fènghuáng) bikes have long been staples among older hutong residents, since catching on between their younger, hipper brethren. While both varieties are attainable on Taobao, they can also be picked up right by Beixinqiao Subway (Exit D), between the convenience store and the bakery. The dusty gray store stocks antique vases and furniture on the left side and bikes and wheelchairs on the right. Phoenix bikes start at RMB 500, or try your luck with imported Japanese (RMB 1,500) or Raleigh (RMB 2,000-plus) gems. Built to outlast the owner, secondhand Phoenix bicycles might need some TLC, but once they’re born again, they’re sure to fly.

Daily 9am-5pm. 43 Dongsi Beidajie, Dongcheng District 东城区东四北大街43号

Me Too Vintage Best for: Discount rack This suspiciously clean and odorless store may first strike you as an ersatz secondhand haunt. However, upon closer inspection, washed out labels and greenish earrings confirm the shop keeper’s words – it’s all used. Lighter clothes in the store go for around RMB 300-400 and coats for up to RMB 900.

However, the best finds are on the rack of discounted coats and jackets, affording warmth for RMB 300-500.

Daily 4-9pm. 42 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District 东城区鼓楼东大街42号

Spring Cameras Best for: Cameras, duh Spring Cameras is the hands-down winner when it comes to buying film and digital cameras in the hutongs. Their small but organized store asserts its spot as a go-to for any camera-related matters, from developing film to filling out your vintage collection. With an occasional family member lounging on the sofa in the back of the room or a young couple curiously inspecting cameras they’ve picked out, it lures you in with a casual and friendly vibe. Cameras on display range from newer point-and-shoot Minoltas and Nikons from the ‘90s to Chinese Pearl River (珠江 Zhūjiāng) or Zenit oldies from ‘70s and ‘80s, including a whole shelf full of lenses, not to mention the wall of neatly lined-up Polaroids that make for a great historical timeline. Film goes for RMB 16-50 a roll and cameras start from a little over RMB 300, going up to RMB 800-1,000 for the best finds.

Noon-9pm (closed Mon). 52 Cheniandian Hutong, Dongcheng District 东城区车辇店胡同52号

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Introducing the people who matter

MEET

"BIG LOVE AND SMALL HATE RELATIONSHIP" See p60 "the medical gown. ugh" see p61 "I'LL NEVER GET TO ATTEND HOGWARTS" See p62 "A Cold War, anti-nuke comedy with surreal puppetry" See p63

ALICE TING TING // BOMBINO // ETHAN LIU // MOTO UCHIYAMA

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photo COURTESY OF new noise

A Place to Bury Strangers Dec 14 – Brace your ears for New York’s loudest band. That’s right: A Place to Bury Strangers (APTBS), described by The Washington Post as one of the most “earshattering” shoegaze act you’ll ever hear, are bringing their barrage of noise to Beijing.

That notorious reputation was tempered to an extent when the band released its 2015 album Transfixation, which one critic praised for “having no shortage of consideration behind the chaos.” RMB 120. 9pm. Yugong Yishan

Playlist

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ew live shows go unnoticed by Alice, known to most as Ting Ting, given that she frequents and organizes music and art events around Beijing. Her fiery red hair can often be spotted in the front rows of gigs and her seemingly never-ending energy often drives fellow fans out to the dance floor. The creator of the Borderless music label knows the name goes far: “I believe music is borderless,” she says when asked about her current work with Japanese and Russian bands she brings in to tour China. “You don’t have to understand the lyrics to enjoy the music.”

I meet Ting Ting on a cool October evening, her layers of baggy clothes first catching my attention. “My favored genre of choice can often be quite narrow since I mostly promote rock, so now I am trying to immerse myself into hip-hop,” she laughs. Since she is rarely lounging home alone, we talked about her favorite party-related songs and her love for Temple Bar.

photo: uni you

You are throwing a hot summer rooftop party, what is your crowd listening to?

Is it a crazy and wild rooftop party? I would play Queen Sea Big Shark’s “E Ocean.”They sing “Give me all your love tonight, I will show a new part of your life,” and I think it’s a perfect line for a summer rooftop party.

The fast-approaching aftermath of the party is an inevitable part of any outing. What would you play while cleaning up with your friends as the sun comes up?

Oh, definitely reggae. My first choice would be “慢慢飞” by

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龙神道 (“màn màn fēi” by Lóngshéndào). It’s a great tipsy clean-up song that instructs listeners to “fly slowly,” so I would in all likelihood tidy up slowly since I would be pretty drunk.

Their keyboard player is now considered somewhat of a key opinion leader in the scene, making him an authority on Beijing’s underground rock music goings-on.

We are in a buzzing but a nicely relaxed brewery. What would you want to hear when you are out drinking craft beer with your friends?

I recently went to the new Jing-A [Xingfucun Brewpub] and they played all of my favorite songs, so I’m wondering who is making their playlist. I used to listen to a fair amount of Britpop and it would have to be Supergrass’ “Alright” for brewery tunes.

What would you throw on for a cozy winter dinner party.

I love dinner parties! My roommates are always up to cooking and dining together. I’d put on some jazz, specifically a track that my friend recently shared with me called “La Mer” by Charles Trenet from the soundtrack of the movie Dreamers.

What was the last song you heard while you were out that you asked the name of?

I even took a picture. It was obviously in Temple! In October, when Temple bar was closed [due to the 19th Party Congress] it was quite strange as I usually go there every week. The song I asked about was Butthole Surfers’ “Pepper.”

nov/dec 2017

InterviewÂ

PHOTOs: MARJIE KUIPER, VITTORIO CATTI

nov/dec 2017

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obert Plant of Led Zeppelin. Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors.

These are but a few of the rock stars with whom Bombino has collaborated or shared the stage. And while he has yet to attain their fame, the Nigerien troubadour would surely become a household name if Hollywood ever made a film about his life.

The highlights of his harrowing and eventually triumphant journey include: fleeing to neighboring Algeria with his family, as members of their fellow Tuareg minority rebelled against the Nigerien government; teaching himself to play the guitar while living as a refugee; showing so much promise that top Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe became his mentor; continuing to perform even after the government banned guitar playing as a dissident act, and two of his musician friends were executed; starring in a documentary and releasing his critically acclaimed album Agadez; being invited by Auerbach to work on a new album, Nomad, in Nashville; and headlining a cathartic concert in his hometown of Agadez to celebrate the resolution of the region’s conflict.

This singularly inspiring troubadour tells us about all that and more ahead of his Dec 12 gig at Yugong Yishan.

Just how significant was it to have renowned Tuareg guitarist Haja Bebe as a mentor?

He was like a father to me in the first years of my career. He was a very kind and soft-hearted man, and he had an incredible knowledge of both traditional Nigerien and Western music. He brought me into his band as the lead soloist even though I was so young and inexperienced. This gave me a lot of courage that I have carried with me throughout my career.

After that, your government deemed guitars to be tools of dissent. You once said that crackdown inspired you to “see my guitar as a hammer with which to help build the house of the Tuareg people.” Tell us more about that.

I am merely walking the path that was laid out for me. I am not an educated man and I have no other skills that I can really use professionally. So all that I can do is to play music and direct my efforts with music toward the goals that I wish to see achieved for the Tuareg people, for Niger, for all of humanity.

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What did you love most about working with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys?

He would have an idea, like “I know! We need a lap steel on this song!” or something very strange and foreign to me. And, within a few minutes, someone would be there recording something wonderful on my song. I had never been in a proper music studio before, forget about a situation like this where we could have anything we could imagine. That was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Since then, you’ve been an opening act for superstars like Robert Plant. What was that like?

I had listened to Led Zeppelin since I was a child, but I had not heard of Robert Plant or any of his music outside Led Zeppelin. He is an older guy now, but still very cool.

You can tell he has lived a very complicated life just by shaking his hand and looking at his face. To share a stage with him was an honor I can never forget.

Tell us about headlining the concert in Agadez and celebrating the end of the conflict.

I cannot describe the feeling of joy and of pride that I felt in playing that concert, to signify the return of the free Tuareg people to Agadez. I can remember that everyone came, even from surrounding towns, and the party lasted well into the early morning and we could see the sun rising. There is no feeling like a return to a home from which you were banished. We did not know if we would ever see our home again. To this day I get emotional thinking about this, and tears begin to form in my eyes.

Bombino will perform at Yugong Yishan on Dec 12 at 8.30pm. Tickets are RMB 120. Visit yoopay.cn/event/ bombinobj for more information.

nov/dec 2017

A Drink With

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driving Singapore’s hipster booze transformation.”

Below, Liu tells us about attempting to parlay Proof and Company’s Singaporean strengths to Beijing. He also dishes on his humble beginnings – how he’d make a buck by mixing liquor in a bathtub, what it was like to swill cheap booze at Beijing’s Banana club back in the ‘90s, and being a former face of cognac.

nov/dec 2017

photo courtesy of ethan liu

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than Liu doesn’t merely work in the bar and club biz. Instead, he calls himself a “spirits evangelist” that spreads the good news about booze to a vast Beijing congregation. His employer, Singapore’s Proof and Company, bills itself as “an integrated luxury spirits company,” and has achieved so much success in the Lion City that one local reviewer credited it as “the business

So what the hell is a ‘spirits evangelist,’ anyway?

[Laughs] We are involved in creative work, brand training, planning, execution, and most importantly, industry education. My company’s goal is to raise the standard of drinking in our markets. Now we are excited to collaborate with Sarment Wine to do the same in China.

Some of my clients in Beijing are Janes and Hooch, Equis, Mei Bar, and The Black Moth.

Tell us about the first drink you ever had.

It was at this club called Banana in Beijing. That must have been ‘96 or ‘97. I took a shot of tequila that night, for some unknown reason, though I’m pretty sure I was persuaded by a young lady. Let’s just say, it was very rough.

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t 100 percent blue agave [laughs].

You went to university in Minnesota. What was the party culture like there?

While there, I learned how to make this punch that the other college kids called “Whoop.” You’d line your bathtub with plastic and then pour in juice, liquor, ice, fresh fruits and anything else you could find. We’d call it a “Royal Whoop” if we had a bottle of Crown Royal to pour in there [laughs]. Then we’d charge USD 10 at the door.

You’d get a plastic cup, and you could help yourself to the “Whoop” all night.

After that you came to Beijing, and worked your way up to manager at Flamme and then D Lounge. What did that teach you?

It’s all about reading your customers, and noticing the little things. I am bad with names, but I can always remember a regular’s favorite drink. Another major lesson: tend to your guests, but don’t overdo it, unless it’s 2am and they are in a party mood. And, of course, it also taught me to pay attention to how much alcohol the customers are consuming, because a happy buzz is always better than a raging drunk.

Before working at Proof and Company, you became a brand ambassador for Cognac Ferrand in 2015.

What did that teach you about cognac’s strengths as a spirit?

Mr. Alexandre Gabriel, the owner of the company, is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to spirits. I never used to drink cognac, but Alexandre spent a whole afternoon telling me about it, and I fell in love. From the soil its grapes are grown in, to the way that trained servers bring it to you, every second of its process amazes me.

I can go on all day about its strengths and complexities, not to mention how important it is to the history of cocktails and bartenders around the world. But I think I should explain all these over a glass of Sazerac with you sometime. I’m always up for a good drink with good company! Kyle Mullin

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old china hand

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wood grain and strong whisky to let any patron indulge their inner Hell’s Angel.

Those outlaw days came to an abrupt halt in late September, however, when the authorities demolished 1%ers. Uchiyama got the bad news over the phone because he was travelling in America at the time, and he was all the more shocked to learn that he only had 20 days to vacate the premises.

“I hope Beijing can keep its Chinese flavor,”says Uchiyama during our visit to Mokihi No. 3. Sharply dressed in a vintage

nov/dec 2017

photo: UNI YOU

oto Uchiyama should count himself lucky, because his two most successful bars – the long-running Mokihi in Liangmaqiao, and the newer Mokihi No. 3 in Sanlitun’s 3.3 Mall – are still going strong, even as so many other Beijing mainstays succumb to this year’s endless rounds of municipal renovations. But Uchiyama has by no means been immune to the constant chai-ing.

His most ambitious bar yet, the street-level Mokihi 1%ers off Xiaoyun Road (near Maison Flo) was hidden next to a scooter and motorcycle garage, and featured enough

cap and leather jacket, he gestured out the window to Dirty Bar Street below, which was marred by construction, saying: “Beijing is the capital city, and it has so much character and history. If you make it like any other city, why will people bother to come?”

He knows about the supposed benefits of such slicker municipal setups, having recently opened a Mokihi branch at a mall in Shenzhen. “It’s in a building like Guomao’s Kerry Center, and it’s very good for business.” Despite that, he’s quick to add: “I prefer places with a local flavor.”

His own passion for drink-making and hospitality began long before he co-owned and operated landmark Beijing venues like Apothecary. Prior to all that, he was merely a young boy in Tokyo that had a penchant for mixing up booze-less juice cocktails for his pals, or inviting those friends over for a few rounds of chuan’r. China’s booming economy loomed large as he grew older, and it looked like an exciting place for Uchiyama to realize his restaurateur dreams.

Although Uchiyama is allergic to alcohol, a friend who ran a local Tokyo restaurant implored him: “Open a bar. Meat spoils, but whisky just keeps getting better.”

Uchiyama found he enjoyed the smell of high-end liquor, and could stomach a glass or two and relish the flavors before it began bothering him. It coincided with his greater passions for hospitality, mastering a craft, vintage décor, and more. China’s ripe opportunities led Uchiyama to seek out Mr. Hattori, the Japanese owner of a small Beijing bar called Ichikura. After arriving in Beijing in 2005 and working at Ichikura, Uchiyama went on to opening bars with a who’s who of Beijing cocktail vets – first Er with fellow Japanese expat Daisuke Onishi in 2007, then Apothecary in 2009 with a Taiwanese-American cocktail virtuoso named Leon Li, the first Mokihi in 2010, then Mokihi No. 3, Mokihi 1%ers, and the co-founding of Vinvino all in 2016.

He only remained as an investor at Apothecary after moving on to those other endeavors, but the Nali Patio project became a crucial springboard for much of Beijing’s current cocktail stars – Jeff Ji of Parlor, Eric Liu of Mao Mao Chong’s, and Douglas Williams of the now-defunct BBC. Being such a major part of that esteemed Apothecary collective is a major point of pride for Uchiyama. But when asked about other highlights of his Beijing bar career, he spoke of his venues off the main drags, like 1%ers, and the original Mokihi and Vinvino in the Maizidian area.

“I like places that feel like part of a neighborhood. And I’m hoping Beijing will one day become like Italy, where any street you walk down there’s a good café, or that you can get a good drink almost anywhere.”

And while he’s galled by the barrage of bricklaying that laid waste to 1%ers and so many other local favorites this year, Uchiyama still remains upbeat. “In my time here, over and over again there was chai-ing, and some people had to close their places. I hope this has now been enough. I hope that we can now begin again.”

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rear view

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ere at the Beijinger, we love food and drink, especially when it’s free. For this month’s Rear View we have scuttled around town, creeping through drains and into kitchens to snatch whatever we can lay our greedy paws on, before returning to our lair to prepare this for you: a veritable smorgasbord of Beijing’s lesser-known bars and restaurants.

Trumpburgers This new outlet brings the authentic taste of contemporary America to the streets of Beijing. The burgers are guaranteed to be pure beef, with no trace of brain, heart, or backbone – just like the POTUS himself.

And like the Donald, they’re topped with an indeterminate yellow substance. One bite, and you’ll see why the words “American cheese” go together as naturally as “Scottish wine,” or “Australian diplomacy.” Specially made to be held by tiny hands, the Trumpburger includes a nod to local cuisine, with the onion replaced by slices of fresh durian.

Pizza Fasulla For his award-winning dough, Chef Davvero Cinese uses only authentic 00 flour from Tuscany, mixed with water drawn from the Trevi Fountain in Rome and transported on Venetian gondolas. “It’s-a a good-a pizza-a,” he told us, adding: “Capisce?” before riding off on a Vespa to hack down a striker just outside the penalty area.

Although he’s definitely authentically Italian, and not from Hebei as has sometimes been claimed, the chef has made a concession to Beijing tastes in his pizza; instead of mozzarella, he uses stinky tofu.

Ye Olde Dickensian Shakespeare Tearoom This authentically English establishment gives Beijingers a chance to experience everyday life in Great Britain, traveling to wizard school by Tardis before sitting

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down to tea with the Queen and Simon Cowell. All dishes are served by snooty butlers on silver trays and are flavored with the bittersweet tang of post-imperial decline. The Cornish cream tea comes with a subtle Chinese twist, as the strawberry jam is substituted by red bean paste.

Quebec to the Future The full range and variety of Canadian cuisine can be sampled at this authentic and atmospheric establishment, from fries with cheese and gravy, to authentic Quebecois poutine. “There’s more to Canada than just maple syrup, eh?” the proprietor told us, before admitting that, in a witty fusion with local fare, the fries are in fact steamed bamboo.

Imperial Tailor Whisky Bar Inspired to share his passion for fine Scotch, hutong hipster Cameron Trustfund opened this exclusive bar, where prices range from a very affordable RMB 200 for a shot of Johnnie Walker Red Label, to an exclusive 50-year-old single malt, aged in the sporrans of Speyside crofters, “for which,” Trustfund said, “you might as well just hand over the deeds to your house.” He served us with a glass of Macallan, which, he told us, was so refined that to uneducated palates it would taste just like cold tea. As professional food writers, we enjoyed the many and varied notes of peat, heather, and haggis which we detected, and will certainly return, if a rich uncle dies or something.

The Fidel Castrato Cocktail Shack This hip new lounge adds a local twist to traditional cocktails, as the owner has filled empty bottles of western spirits with Beijing bathtub hooch. We enjoyed an authentic mojito, with the traditional mint ingeniously replaced by danggui, and we’ll be back for more, if we can remember where it is. And where we left our credit card.

nov/dec 2017