Beijing Cocktail Bars: Wangfujing Watering Holes

We continue our quest to bring you the best cocktail bars in Beijing, moving along eastward as we hit the Wangfujing area. 

This hotel bar located inside the Mandarin Oriental Beijing Wangfujing has been named Best Hotel Bar by DRiNK magazine for multiple years running for good reason: their drinks menu uses ingredients to take guests on a trip around China, one sip at a time. While previous menus have focused on the capital and its own specialties and quirks, their latest fifth menu takes a glimpse at China through its cuisine.

One of our favorites on this new menu is the Su – Flower Whisper (RMB 158, pictured below). This celebration of Jiangnan and the freshness of Su cuisine combines tequila and aromatized wine with guava, apple, peach, and shiso leaves for a fruity, sweet, and elegant flavor combination.

MO Bar

This bar, which stands adjacent to the Park Plaza Hotel, is another award winner, having been named Bar of the Year in the North Regional DRiNK Awards this year. The cocktails here are bar none in regards to their creativity and bold flavors, with the bar having switched over to a brand new menu earlier this year.

We really like the photogenic Frozen Peach with Waxberry Chamoy (RMB 118, pictured below) and the Royal Kaleidoscope (RMB 138). The former sees honey peach shrub and waxberry chamoy elevated by French gin and falernum liqueur, which lends ginger and spice. The latter is one of the stronger drinks on the menu, a rich sipper of Armagnac, rice baijiu, espresso, cold brew coffee, fennel, barley, and citron. 

Bar Long Fong 廊房酒吧

This bar with a hidden art gallery on Hongxing Hutong prides itself in being a “farm to bar” concept, meaning all their ingredients are sourced from local farms and only used when in season. The result is drinks that, while simple in execution and in name – take Shiso and Basil for example – are nonetheless fantastic.

For winter, we’d recommend trying their Warm Gloves #2 cocktail, which sees a base of aged Chinese huangjiu and Bacardi eight-year-old rum combined with homemade dark chocolate liqueur, roasted pineapple, and genmaicha tea. 

shifter

This new bar, which is also operated by Mandarin Oriental, takes the concept of MO Bar and doubles down on it. Within the confines of this hutong situated drinking den, bartenders work their magic to mix drinks inspired by the very heart of Beijing, Chinese folktales, and Chinese legend.

A fan favorite is simply called Mercury (RMB 128). It’s inspired by China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, and his quest to gain immortality, with the name alluding to an elixir of mercury that caused his ultimate demise. The drink combines rum with sweet-scented osmanthus wine and rock candy, with the “mercury” coming in the form of edible silver sprinkled over the cocktail when served.

Tiao 十条

Finally, another newbie on our list, this time a collaboration between Long Fong and Maomaochong (MMC). The result of this team up is known as Loma, and is a burger and “disco cocktail” joint with an interesting split drinks menu. 

One side features drinks by Long Fong’s mixologists (LO), while the other features a different take on the same drink by MMC (MA). One we really like – or, in this case, two – is the Clove Club (RMB 80). This gin sour sees the spirit combined with raspberry, lemon, simple syrup, and egg white for the MA variation, whereas for the LO variation, strawberry is added, the lemon is replaced with yuzu, the egg white and simple syrup are removed and it's served warm. 

Loma