Experience the Cocktail Renaissance at Jeff Ji's New Da Vinci Bar

Many of you are familiar with Jeff Ji’s accomplishments, primarily his speakeasy joints Mai Bar and Parlor. He was an instrumental part, with emphasis on the mental, in pushing Beijing’s cocktail scene to the height it soars at today. As such it’s our pleasure to inform you that he’s invigorating Beijing's nightlife yet again and getting even more dignified with the pleasantly hard to find Da Vinci.

Sitting on the 16th floor of Yongli tower two, in what seems to be an area that is primarily serviced apartments. The place gives off a vibe of being something between a brothel, a mad scientist's laboratory, and of course a classic speakeasy. It seems there’s no way he could ever divert from this concept.

We started our journey into this cocktail renaissance with the Smokey Red Jujube Old Fashioned (RMB 85). This one has a funny Chinese name, Dongguan de Weidao, that delightfully refers to the smell of that famous red light district in Guangdong. Well, it may smell like that (we’ve never been there so can’t say) but it tasted like a delicious cleaning product that we couldn’t quite put our finger on, which is probably due to its very potent mix of bourbon, cinnamon smoke, red jujube, and orange bitters. The best part of this drink was the presentation and the small side of Pop Rocks that added to the visual, oral, and aural spectacle of the experience.

Next, we gave the Agave Organum Cooler (RMB 80) a whirl. It’s a creative take on a margarita that makes use of black sesame seeds on the rim along with salt which we thought was pretty riveting, giving the drink a particularly East Asian characteristic. Lots of these were being made during our visit, which is a pretty good sign that this will be a popular go-to drink for many future visitors. It wasn’t overly sweet, which is a common mistake with many a margarita, and didn’t try to hide the pungent tequila taste by overloading it with sugary syrups.

Finally, we tried the Mona Lisa (RMB 85), which was no doubt the masterpiece of the bunch. Made with perilla, bourbon whiskey, passionfruit syrup, lemon juice, and ginger, this was a pleasant saccharine sipper that will leave you with a complicated smile just like the babe in the painting.

In the end, we got to wondering if this will end up becoming a thing, where bar owners will sneak a business into a serviced apartment using available real estate yet to be occupied in many high-rise buildings throughout the city. This could end up being an interesting shift in our current bar scene.

Da Vinci is currently in soft-opening mode so there will likely be menu adjustments in the coming weeks, but we were content with their selection of crafty cocktails and are confident it will be a destination for those of you who like to seek out the latest and greatest drinks the capital has to offer. Make sure to head over between 6-8pm for their happy hour, when you can get buy-one-get-one deals on all cocktails.

Da Vinci
Daily 6pm-2am. Yongli International Service Apartment 2-1612, Chaoyang District (6461 7962)
朝阳区永利国际2单元1612(工体北门对面)

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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos: Kipp Whittaker