Five or six weeks ago, a new cocktail bar arrived on our scene: the would-be New Orleans-y Apothecary, upstairs in the Nali Patio mall, next to Mosto restaurant.
If you're a Beijinger, you probably already know about it - the word of mouth has been going very well. The first time I went, barely a week after it had first opened its doors, there were five or six other knots of people in, each of which included at least one person I knew - but from very different circles. The place seems to have immediately entered the collective consciousness of the seasoned expat brigade.
There hasn't been any big fanfare for it; no official launch as yet, I don't think; it's still in an extended soft opening phase - but we're quite liking what we see so far. Well, we're liking the drinks. The drinks are well-made, rather outside of the usual run that we find in most such bars in Beijing (it is the home of my new grand amour, the Black Feather), and quite reasonably priced (most cocktails at 50-60rmb) considering you get at least a double measure of spirits in each. They also play a good selection of classic and Latin jazz, with pleasingly regular injections of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday - loud enough to enjoy, but not loud enough to intrude on a conversation. There are so few bars in Beijing - well, none that I can think of - that get that right.
This is looking like becoming, just possibly, the bar that we hoped Q might be in its early days (and the bar that its George & Echo predecessors, the lovely but relatively little known First Café and Midnight briefly were): a quiet, cosy, classy, intimate retreat where you can get a properly-made cocktail for a not-outrageous price. (I've never really written much about Q on here, because I can't stand the place: it's too expensive, it takes too long to get served, it's too goddamned crowded and noisy - a victim of its own success; these days, at least on busy nights in the second half of the week, it's more of a nightclub than a cocktail bar.)
So, yes, a lot of promise; but, as ever, I have my doubts and reservations. It's not an appealing location (upstairs, in a mall - bad bar-ness!) or an appealing space (too long and narrow; and, although they've added more wooden shelving along the bare white walls and tuned the lighting down several notches since my first visit, it still seems a little stark and antiseptic). The insistence on making their own ingredients strikes me as a dubious and potentially rather irritating affectation, particularly when it doesn't come off - their homemade ginger beer is an unappealing milky colour and has no bite to it at all; their bitters are unremarkable in taste, but a rather too lurid deep red, almost crimson in colour. And the food is threatening to be less temptingly priced than the drinks (the platter of pickled vegetables is indeed a very tasty and unusual selection; but there's hardly anything to it for 40 or 50 kuai!); however, they haven't rolled out their full menu yet, and the (allegedly) homemade andouille sausage gives plenty of hope that the Cajun dishes will be worth trying (hmm, nice bowl of gumbo, just what you need to keep out the winter chill!).
There may be staffing issues too. The long bar could accommodate a lot of drinkers (and it's nice to get your cocktail made right in front of you), and there are quite a few tables as well - but at present, there's only one barman. Since it takes a good minute-and-a-half or two minutes to crank out a cocktail, that means you can be in for a long wait if there's more than about a dozen punters in. You may even be discouraged from taking a group of five or six friends in, knowing that's going to mean a 10-minute wait before you all have your drinks (and if yours was made first, your thirst is going to be going crazy by that time - looking longingly at your lovely drink, politely waiting until your friends have theirs, fretting at all that good alcohol evaporating...). I think, if they aspire to be able to cope with 'crowds' of 20 or 30, or to be able to deal quickly with small groups, they need to get at least one more cocktail barman in. It might also possibly be a good idea to get an assistant to service the mixing station(s) - bring the bottles to and fro, make sure they're re-stocked with plenty of clean shakers and other utensils (a great way to learn the craft). And they certainly need to have some bar staff or waitresses who can fill orders for beer, wine, spirits, or standard mixed drinks themselves. At the moment, it looks as if the poor barman has to take care of everything himself.
I keep my fingers crossed for Apothecary (or 'The Drugstore', as Dr Manhattan and I like to think of it). I admire the owners' enthusiasm, their eagerness to do things right (extensively researched recipes, 'forgotten' classics revived, slices of cocktail history accompanying each item on the menu, promises of seasonal rotation of drinks). And this place provides something we don't really have in Beijing - a straightforward, honest-to-god cocktail bar.
However, my fear is that it won't be able to consistently attract - or deal with - the kind of numbers it needs to be commercially viable (in what is, presumably, quite a premium space), that it will enjoy a brief vogue, and then fizzle. I hope not. We shall see what the New Year brings....
If you're a Beijinger, you probably already know about it - the word of mouth has been going very well. The first time I went, barely a week after it had first opened its doors, there were five or six other knots of people in, each of which included at least one person I knew - but from very different circles. The place seems to have immediately entered the collective consciousness of the seasoned expat brigade.
There hasn't been any big fanfare for it; no official launch as yet, I don't think; it's still in an extended soft opening phase - but we're quite liking what we see so far. Well, we're liking the drinks. The drinks are well-made, rather outside of the usual run that we find in most such bars in Beijing (it is the home of my new grand amour, the Black Feather), and quite reasonably priced (most cocktails at 50-60rmb) considering you get at least a double measure of spirits in each. They also play a good selection of classic and Latin jazz, with pleasingly regular injections of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday - loud enough to enjoy, but not loud enough to intrude on a conversation. There are so few bars in Beijing - well, none that I can think of - that get that right.
This is looking like becoming, just possibly, the bar that we hoped Q might be in its early days (and the bar that its George & Echo predecessors, the lovely but relatively little known First Café and Midnight briefly were): a quiet, cosy, classy, intimate retreat where you can get a properly-made cocktail for a not-outrageous price. (I've never really written much about Q on here, because I can't stand the place: it's too expensive, it takes too long to get served, it's too goddamned crowded and noisy - a victim of its own success; these days, at least on busy nights in the second half of the week, it's more of a nightclub than a cocktail bar.)
So, yes, a lot of promise; but, as ever, I have my doubts and reservations. It's not an appealing location (upstairs, in a mall - bad bar-ness!) or an appealing space (too long and narrow; and, although they've added more wooden shelving along the bare white walls and tuned the lighting down several notches since my first visit, it still seems a little stark and antiseptic). The insistence on making their own ingredients strikes me as a dubious and potentially rather irritating affectation, particularly when it doesn't come off - their homemade ginger beer is an unappealing milky colour and has no bite to it at all; their bitters are unremarkable in taste, but a rather too lurid deep red, almost crimson in colour. And the food is threatening to be less temptingly priced than the drinks (the platter of pickled vegetables is indeed a very tasty and unusual selection; but there's hardly anything to it for 40 or 50 kuai!); however, they haven't rolled out their full menu yet, and the (allegedly) homemade andouille sausage gives plenty of hope that the Cajun dishes will be worth trying (hmm, nice bowl of gumbo, just what you need to keep out the winter chill!).
There may be staffing issues too. The long bar could accommodate a lot of drinkers (and it's nice to get your cocktail made right in front of you), and there are quite a few tables as well - but at present, there's only one barman. Since it takes a good minute-and-a-half or two minutes to crank out a cocktail, that means you can be in for a long wait if there's more than about a dozen punters in. You may even be discouraged from taking a group of five or six friends in, knowing that's going to mean a 10-minute wait before you all have your drinks (and if yours was made first, your thirst is going to be going crazy by that time - looking longingly at your lovely drink, politely waiting until your friends have theirs, fretting at all that good alcohol evaporating...). I think, if they aspire to be able to cope with 'crowds' of 20 or 30, or to be able to deal quickly with small groups, they need to get at least one more cocktail barman in. It might also possibly be a good idea to get an assistant to service the mixing station(s) - bring the bottles to and fro, make sure they're re-stocked with plenty of clean shakers and other utensils (a great way to learn the craft). And they certainly need to have some bar staff or waitresses who can fill orders for beer, wine, spirits, or standard mixed drinks themselves. At the moment, it looks as if the poor barman has to take care of everything himself.
I keep my fingers crossed for Apothecary (or 'The Drugstore', as Dr Manhattan and I like to think of it). I admire the owners' enthusiasm, their eagerness to do things right (extensively researched recipes, 'forgotten' classics revived, slices of cocktail history accompanying each item on the menu, promises of seasonal rotation of drinks). And this place provides something we don't really have in Beijing - a straightforward, honest-to-god cocktail bar.
However, my fear is that it won't be able to consistently attract - or deal with - the kind of numbers it needs to be commercially viable (in what is, presumably, quite a premium space), that it will enjoy a brief vogue, and then fizzle. I hope not. We shall see what the New Year brings....
No comments:
Post a Comment