A Closer Look at the 2016 Bar & Club Awards: Best New/Bar Club

With our A Closer Look series, we raise our glasses in recognition of the Beijinger 2016 Bar & Club Award winners, before giving a toast (in text form, of course) about why they were selected by our readers.

Looking at the list of those awarded prizes in the Best New Bar/Club Category, I can only conclude that those three venues have the same thing in common: they serve stiff drinks, and I've been very drunk in all of them.

The winner in this category, The Tiki Bungalow, has been a particular source of drunken debauchery, and I think all of Dongcheng can attest to that. This tropical-themed hutong bar puts together traditional Tiki cocktails and also has some newer variations on their menu, and they do not hold back on the liquor. 

Oustanding awards in this category went to Ron Mexico and La Social.

While both wildly different concepts, both Ron Mexico and La Social (pictured at top) are testament to the fact that Beijing's bar scene is wide-ranging and all-inclusive, with enough space for both a small but cozy local neighborhood bar in Gulou, and a vibrant Colombian bar with strong drinks and great arepas, respectively.

The brains behind both bars are never quiet, with Ron Mexico's team also opening Sidd Finch's Pub, a backpackers bar located more south in Dashilar, and the Mosto team behind La Social cooking up new events on a regular basis. Their next spectacle is The Butcher Shop, an all-you-can-eat Argentinian meat feast coming up at Mosto (next door to La Social) on November 17. The RMB 498 price tag gets you a bottle of wine and enough meat to have you grazing on grass until the next event.

And there you have it! Here here! Bottoms up to the Beijinger's New Bar/Club of the Year winner and finalists. Have you also been extremely drunk at any of these venues? Can you recommend some of their best beverages or events? Or are you instead outraged that another venue was snubbed? Feel free to weigh in with any of that, or more, in the comments below.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
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Images: Kipp Whittaker, Kyle Mullin, courtesy of Mosto

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There is 100% a name for it. There's the normal one that's like 120ish and the jacked-up version that costs 175. I'm asking the owners, but they find it amusing that I can't remember the name despite having ordered it so many times, so they're insisting it's called "The Mini Cucumber."

tdimicco wrote:

At Tiki Bungalow, I often opt for the Jet Pilot (and/or - but usually and) the Fogcutter. If I'm incredibly sober, I'll opt for a Rum Barrel to jumpstart the night. And if I feel like ruining the next morning, I order Tiki's off-menu version of the Volcano Bowl that I can never remember the name of (most likely because I ordered Tiki's off-menu version of the Volcano Bowl). They also have an inflatable shark named "Higgins."

What a time to be alive (in Dongcheng).

Haha! I'm fairly sure that volcano bowl is just called the volcano bowl. I also really like the fogcutter, great drink!

the Beijinger

At Tiki Bungalow, I often opt for the Jet Pilot (and/or - but usually and) the Fogcutter. If I'm incredibly sober, I'll opt for a Rum Barrel to jumpstart the night. And if I feel like ruining the next morning, I order Tiki's off-menu version of the Volcano Bowl that I can never remember the name of (most likely because I ordered Tiki's off-menu version of the Volcano Bowl). They also have an inflatable shark named "Higgins."

What a time to be alive (in Dongcheng).