the Beijinger

Spring may be fleeting in Beijing, but signs of the season are everywhere. In markets and on menus are fresh asparagus, cherries, mangoes, mushrooms, peas and pineapples, as well as local vegetables like jicai (aka “shepherd’s purse”), which is often served stir-fried with rice cakes.

Now is prime time for outdoor dining, before the oppressive temperatures chase diners into air-conditioned interiors. Joining the ranks of readers’ favorite alfresco spots – among them Dali Courtyard, Element Fresh, Hazara and Lan Na Thai at Face, Saddle Cantina, Schoolhouse Canteen and Pavillion – are some newer open-air eateries, including the patio at Maison Boulud, terrace at Domus and Sunken Garden at The Opposite House, which will offer Sureño’s new Spring and Summer menu.

If the early bird were ever to catch a worm, it would be in May. Nine music festivals start on or before the first of the month, and if you haven’t kept abreast of things here at www.thebeijinger.com, you may have snoozed and lost.

But perhaps you’d heard news of these goings-on before the holiday weekend: transmitChina/2009 Midi Nights at The Star Live, metal festivals at 13 Club and New Get Lucky, D-22’s third anniversary party, the Ditan Park Music Festival, Modern Sky’s Strawberry Festival and the Zebra Festival in Chengdu.

When: Mid-April, 2009
around 10am

Where: Xi Dawanglu

What: A newcomer from Australia gets a haircut on the street.

Got an interesting picture of Beijing street life? Send it to blog@thebeijinger.com for a chance to be posted on the website. Alternatively, send your Peking pic to editor@thebeijinger.com for a chance to have your pic in the magazine.

Hurry up. Time is running out. You’ve got until May 8 to vote in the Beijinger’s 2009 Bar & Club Awards. It’s your chance to express your opinion about which of the city’s nightspots and drinking dens are the best. Get voting here. If you do vote, you stand a chance to win prizes including tickets to our awesome awards party, which is going to be, well … awesome. OK, that’s the end of the shameless self-promotion.

It may feel like summer with the fine weather but it is, in fact, spring that is in the air. During this traditional time of rebirth, Beijing’s bars have not disappointed. First up, ChinaDoll in 3.3 should be open again and looking spick-and-span. Stadium has been turned into Danger Doyle’s, with alehouse stalwart Glenn Phelan now in charge.

What is it about May that stirs the music community to life? Is it the increased levels of sunshine? The promise of summer around the bend? Perhaps. Probably. Who knows? Or cares? Stop asking questions. Ignorance is bliss. Just enjoy the good music and weather while it lasts.

Belly dancer Albena’s background reads like a Central Asian atlas – an ethnic Azerbaijani, she was born in Kazakhstan and raised in Uzbekistan, where she learned her sensual art. A Beijing resident since 2008, she is now the primary dancer at Shash, the CBD-area Uzbekistani restaurant known for its opulent interior decorations (featuring giant hand-painted murals, woven tapestries, and massive chandeliers) and traditional Uzbek dishes like lamb puff pastry, spicy rice pilaf accompanied by Russian vodkas and Georgian wines.

We spoke with Albena to learn more about her life, aspirations and belly dancing, Beijing style.

    13 Club only rocks for the glory of metal

These are the choices music festival goers have to make on May 1 and 2 between the spring breeze at Ditan Park and the deaf-threatening noise at 13 Club. Or, you could go to both - as long as the genres change from pretty folk to death metal isn't too much for you.

Ditan Park Music Festival

The very first Ditan Park Music Festival invites acoustic folks, indie pop boys n girls, Gypsy Jazz, Chinese ethnic singers and world music selections from Nigeria, Uganda and Greece - it seems just the right way to welcome springtime with easy-listening folk music in the park.

What is it about May that brings a flood of music? We certainly don’t know, nor do we really care. In fact, best to stop asking how or why this is happening; just take advantage of the fact that it is.

And the sooner the better ...

Longtime Sanlitun staple Kiosk has been serving up Balkan-style grilled goodies in the original Nali Mall since 2004. BeijingBoyce reports that owner Sasha Unkovic is now planning a second location “a bit farther west and toward the northeast corner of Workers Stadium.” (“We’re still at least two weeks off from opening,” says Unkovic)

Middle 8th Restaurant may not be the fanciest or flashiest on the block, but it has stood the test of time with a consistently loyal crowd of patrons – the restaurant took the top spot for Yunnan restaurants in the Beijinger’s 2009 Reader Restaurant Awards. We spoke last month with chef Wang Wei about Middle 8th’s success, the travails of the kitchen and the unique flavors of Yunnan.

Where do you come from? How long have you been a chef? I’m a hundred percent Beijinger and have been a chef for over 21 years. I used to be a chef in Quanjude, Hong Kong Food City and Da Dong Roast Duck restaurant. I’ve been working at Middle 8th for over five years.

What makes Yunnan food unique? Yunnan alone is home to 32 of the 56 minority groups in China and the climate is mostly wet. This makes Yunnan dishes sour and hot and quite similar to Sichuan and Hunan cooking. Most of Beijing’s restaurants are homestyle, so the cuisine is relatively novel here.

Via Shanghaiist (though, they really should change their name to Chinaist), comes an indication that the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing has entered the global, or at least American, public consciousness. The Shanghai site report that a model of the big pants - minus the burnt boot that currently sits forlornly by the impressive structure - appeared on a recent episode of The Simpsons. You can watch the full episode on Youku.

Workers of the World Unite!

Celebrate International Worker’s Day at the Beijinger’s May Issue Release Party!

Down with Imperialist Drinks Prices!

Come celebrate the release of the May issue of the Beijinger and International Workers’ Day at our monthly Happy Hour this Thursday, April 30 at Luga’s Villa from 5:30 to 9pm.

Pick up a copy of the May issue, chock full o’ Music, music, music at our once-a-month Happy Hour, this month at Luga’s Villa in Sanlitun.

5:30pm-9:00pm

According to a number of sources, including local boozehound-cum-newshound Beijing Boyce, the likelihood is that Super Bar Street will be knocked down by June. Apparently, since the good ol' US of A relocated its embassy down there the residents have been living on borrowed time. Whether the street will be missed is open to debate, and you've a couple of months in which to do so. Until then get down to the infamous market or any of the fine restaurants and spend, spend, spend.

Calls to The Beijinger client establishments Monday confirmed that notices were distributed last week that tenants had two months to move.

While many of the street's ramshackle dives will probably not be missed, a few of its establishments -- Biteapitta comes to mind -- are veritable Beijing institutions and we have a feeling they'll land on their feet in nicer digs.

For more details on Super Bar Street's impending demise check out Beijing Boyce's post here.

We'll miss this bar the most (not):

Luke McKeehan will be deejaying at Cargo Club on May 1

The May issue of the Beijinger isn't even out yet, but already it seems there are corrections to be made. Apparently, the transmitChina Canadian Music Showcase has changed up their venues and lineup as follows:

Apr 29
Creature, Final Flash
Price and Time TBD. D-22 (6265 3177)

Apr 30
Hollerado, Jets Overhead, Socalled
RMB 50. 9pm. The Star Live (6425 5677)

May 1
Luke McKeehan
RMB 50. Time TBD. Cargo Club (6551 6898)

For more information and updates, visit www.transmit-live.com. Or keep it here at www.thebeijinger.com

For as long as there’s been food and people’s mouths, there’s been competitive eating. As a spectator sport, its origins can be traced back to county fairs and the eating of vast amounts of local produce in a set time. The sport really took off with the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, which has taken place nearly annually since July 4, 1916. Attracting tens of thousands of fans and over a million viewers on television, the Nathan’s event is considered the Super Bowl of competitive eating. The contest came to mainstream consciousness in 2001 when Takeru Kobayashi shattered the existing record of 28½ hot dogs and buns by eating 50 in 12 minutes. Since then, the stakes have been raised, superstars have emerged and the records keep falling.

A not-so-clever-but-funny wordplay by netizens puts the Chinese words “Caomei Yinyuejie (草莓音乐节)” into “Cao! Mei Yinyuejie? (操！没音乐节？), thus Modern Sky Strawberry Music Festival fills for Midi’s absence. As one of the earliest and biggest rock labels in China, Modern Sky Records hosts its annual shindig in October. But for the coming May holiday, they are introducing Strawberry Music Festival, during which, for three days in Beijing’s eastern suburb of Tongzhou County, more than 60 acts will perform on three stages - Strawberry Stage (草莓舞台), Love Stage (爱舞台) and Electronic Stage (电子舞台), genres ranging from indie rock to cool electronica.

A gallery crawl, as I often observe, is sort of like a pub crawl, except the drinks are free. This assumes you are smart enough to hit the exhibitions when they open, which is ridiculously easy these days, as spring brings the galleries out of hibernation. This weekend brings a host of opportunities to get out amongst the art, and the drinks and snacks, in the heart of the action at 798 and its upstart cousin Caochangdi. And if drinks are not such a priority, but instead finding something away from the madding crowd, then there are interesting opportunities in Haidian and Sanlitun too.
 

The financial climate might be about as gloomy as this past Thursday's weather, but that didn’t stop Beijing’s brightest entrepreneurs from braving the rain to take part in a round-table forum with three big-league restaurateurs. Gaby Alves (SALT), Bob Boyce (Blue Frog) and Fred Lin (Bellagio) fielded questions in The Bookworm’s library-like seminar room on the do’s and don’ts of epicurial empire-building, in a presentation organized by the Beijing chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization.