tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post4989748679440921231..comments2024-02-10T08:13:07.736+00:00Comments on Round-The-World Barstool Blues: The Froog Bar Awards - 2008Frooghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-89614506583478460602009-01-02T04:33:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:33:00.000+00:00The biggest change from last year, I suppose, is t...The biggest change from last year, I suppose, is the complete omission of <B>Huxley's</B>.<BR/><BR/>(Well, the complete omission of the Pool Bar was even more striking; but that was <I>deliberate concealment</I>!)<BR/><BR/>Last year, I was still prepared to give <B>Huxley's</B> a nod, for old times' sake (I think, in fact, it was still my 'runner-up' as <I><B>Best Bar</B></I>), even though I'd been a very infrequent visitor since Xiao Bai - The Barman - left there. It was nice to have a down-and-dirty, barebones drinking joint so close to where I live, but..... well, it seems to have got very raucous and noisy these days; the music mostly sucks (and they don't seem to let you make requests or hook up your own music, as they used to); the new guys behind the bar just don't seem very friendly; and the place is positively overrun with dice-rolling Chinese and underage Americans. Not fun. <BR/><BR/>How are the mighty fallen!Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-29461716777678700292009-01-02T04:25:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:25:00.000+00:00And I just had to migrate all the comments to a re...And I just had to migrate all the comments to a re-done post (and delete the original version), because the bloody Blogger compose page is SO F***ING GLITCHY.<BR/><BR/>I made the mistake of cutting and pasting last year's post to use as a template, but..... well, the HTML got scrambled somehow, and every time - <I>every f***ing time</I> - I tried to edit out a typo or add a hotlink, something <I>somewhere else</I> (usually some formatting) went haywire. The original post took me about 5 hours to write - at least 4 hours of which was wading around in the HTML trying to find and fix the bugs. And then another hour this morning.<BR/><BR/>Then, I just gave up and did the whole thing again from scratch (well, I did manage to copy over most of the text, but all of the formatting and highlighting had to be re-done): only took about 40 minutes this time. Phew!!<BR/><BR/>Bloody, bloody, bloody Blogger!!!Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-86171898882139480072009-01-02T04:20:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:20:00.000+00:0012 Square Metres is in an awkward temporal zone. S...<B>12 Square Metres</B> is in an awkward temporal zone. Since it's been open well over a year, I don't think it's quite eligible in the 'New Bar' category - even though it's only become a regular hangout of ours over the past 3 or 4 months.<BR/><BR/>This year, I was gripped by the (probably quite unfounded) fear that strangers might start reading this blog and going to the bars I write about.... so I am being much more reticent about <I>my real favourites</I>.<BR/><BR/>The <B>Pool Bar</B> - though many of the regular players I used to hang with have left, and Luke himself has taken another job and now only makes an occasional appearance behind the bar at weekends - is still the cosiest little drinking den in the city, and a comforting "second home" to me.<BR/><BR/><B>12 Square Metres</B> is now established as the No 1 alternative - preferred if I'm in the mood for a good whisky, or if I just want to drink rather than shoot pool.<BR/><BR/>I still like <B>Reef</B>, but it's become too damn popular for its own good (or rather, <I>for mine</I>): on weekend nights, it's now always rammed out with chain-smoking, dice-rattling Chinese. Still a good spot for a quiet (and cheap!) drink, if you can catch it on a slow midweek night or an afternoon.<BR/><BR/><B>Salud</B> I mostly just go to for the music on Wednesdays - although the exceptionally generous measures of whisky make it an economical spot for getting juiced up at the start of the evening; and, in winter, those flavoured house rums are highly medicinal for the throat. <B>Jiangjinjiu</B> and <B>Jianghu</B> I also only really go to for the music, and rather more infrequently.<BR/><BR/><B>Luga's Villa</B> is looking as though it might fill the niche for a sports bar created by the escalating awfulness of The Rickshaw and The Den, although I prefer the food at his other joint, <B>Luga's</B>. Both places, alas, are rather too brightly lit to encourage an extended drinking session. In Sanlitun, the only other bar I have any time for these days is <B>Smuggler's</B>.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-47998472430837965542009-01-02T04:17:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:17:00.000+00:00I don't dislike Ichikura, as such (although I coul...I don't <I>dislike</I> Ichikura, as such (although I could get to, if I thought about it much more) - but any place that's got more staff than customers most of the time is going to bring on major wallet-haemorrhage. And I get a bit annoyed by the ponceyness of it all - the six-page drinks list, the underlit bar, the carved ice cubes, the silly fucking glasses. And I get really, really annoyed by all these people who rave about it and tell you you've really got to try it and claim it's their favourite bar. How is that place anyone's favourite bar?? It's got about as much atmosphere as a funeral parlour.<BR/><BR/>I agree that the plague of "bars" (formula: take a coffee shop, add an obscure and pointless 'theme' and a heap of random junk, play shitty music too loud, do nothing to advertise, and alienate any customers who should happen to wander in with either over-earnest or non-existent service) around in our 'hood is unlovely, Brendan, but I think some of these grander venues achieve <I>a whole other level of pointlessness</I>. Tsingtao Beer Palace, for fuck's sake???<BR/><BR/>I really wanted to like Guitar Bar at first. I thought it was a cute concept. I thought they might have rotating guest performers and jam sessions. I thought we might get a range of styles: jazz, blues, flamenco, even classical. I didn't realise we were going to get the SAME limited repertoire of plodding cover versions blaring out into the street at eardrum-lacerating volume every single bleeding night. If I hear El Condor fucking Pasa one more time, I'm going postal on them.<BR/><BR/>As long as New Get Lucky exists, it will continue to win this accolade. Those fuckers stole my phone, and I am a dogged bearer of grudges. And the last time I went there, they tried to charge me 80 fucking kuai for a beer!<BR/><BR/>2 Kolegas is a really cool little bar, and well worth another look. I'd go there just to hang out and drink - if it weren't so far away. But actually, it's not all that far: only a 20-minute cab ride home. And I sometimes walk out there from Dongzhimen - only takes about 40 minutes.<BR/><BR/>Star Live is a special event venue only, so doesn't really merit consideration. (And, as you say, it SUCKS as a bar.) I agree they can put on a good show sometimes, but I can't remember the last time I went there - maybe not this year.<BR/><BR/>Good point about MAO. It seems as though Yugong may be kicking their arse when it comes to booking the bigger names. Although they had Brain Failure last night; and Perdel a little while ago (who suddenly seem to have become 'big' - have they had a hit??). Maybe they're just trying to carve their own little niche: they seem to have a lot of punk and metal - like a slightly upmarket Club 13.<BR/><BR/><BR/>I hope you had a good New Year's Eve. See you back here soon.<BR/><BR/>Ditto to you, MIB. Thanks for stopping by.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-31428070441288085272009-01-02T04:16:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:16:00.000+00:00I agree with almost all of your choices...I totall...I agree with almost all of your choices...I totally agree about both the Den and the Rickshaw despite my generous donations to both establishments over the years, I think they get away with a lot due to the whole after-hours thing.<BR/><BR/>Great stuff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211583.post-5904738906179378752009-01-02T04:15:00.000+00:002009-01-02T04:15:00.000+00:00I had a rather more favorable impression of Ichiku...I had a rather more favorable impression of Ichikura, but that might just have been because I went expecting to have it cost me an arm and a leg, and in the end it only cost me an arm and a couple of toes. I didn't get to see the ice-ball trick -- ice in whisky? -- but any place that stocks Glen Grant is OK with me, and I quite liked the Suntory Old too.<BR/><BR/>Will have to defer to you on Live Music Venue: I haven't been to 2 Kolegas much, as it's too damned far from everything I like or care about. I suppose the new subway line makes it a bit more accessible, but the memories of the last gig I saw there make it a non-starter in my book. I suppose I should give it another shot, though, since they do seem to be getting some great bands there.<BR/>Incidentally, what is up with that? Is Mao losing its grip on the talent, or am I just imagining things? They seem to have been booking almost exclusively shitty little nobody bands, with once-a-month exceptions for acts that people might actually want to see.<BR/>I would actually put 'Star Live' in this category too (or rather, into an alternative 'Best Venue' category): it's almost completely charmless, has overpriced and crappy booze (mmm, Bud Ice!), and requires you to walk past a disco and a KTV joint -- but it is possible to have a truly excellent show there, given the right lineup.<BR/><BR/>I would've awarded "Worst Music Bar" to Guitar Bar, as (a) the New Get Lucky is now all but irrelevant to the music scene, and (b) Guitar Bar fucking sucks. And they have speakers outside, and it messes with me when I'm trying to get work done across the street.<BR/><BR/>'Pointless New Bar' could describe most of the new places along Nan Luogu Xiang, I think -- I wonder how much money all of those guys lost on their Olympic gamble. The scuttlebutt had been that the 'Zai Xiang' people were paying about RMB 4000 per day for the new place with the deck they rented in anticipation of Olympic riches. Serious butt-hurt. A lot of other people must have lost some serious cash on their new places: some seem to reliably get a few customers a night (like the bizarrely named 16mm Bar on Qian Yuan'en Si Hutong, which is not 16mm2 in area and has no discernible film theme); others are perpetually empty ('Bad Company,' pretty much any place down around the south end of the street). I'd like to think that the impending failure and closure of all of these places would put the cancer that has been killing Nan Luogu Xiang into remission, but realistically the metastasis of Houhai to surrounding areas will probably continue.<BR/><BR/>Best New Bar: My vote goes for 12m2, though I guess it's probably only new to me. Alc's new place on Gulou Dong Dajie looks promising, but won't really open until next year.<BR/><BR/>And happy new year! Good fucking riddance to 2008 as far as I'm concerned. What an utterly shite year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com