Mokihi No: 3 Shakes Up Sanlitun's Speakeasy Scene With Cheap and Flavorful Cocktails

Who'd have ever thought that one of Beijing's best new bars would be housed in the dingy, tacky corridors of 3.3 mall?

Yet that's very much the case, as Mokihi No: 3 attracts cocktail enthusiasts to the unlikeliest of locales. As you make your way to the mall's sixth floor, and through the bar's unassuming entryway, you'll suddenly find yourself whisked to the prohibition era, as if you'd just walked through a drunkard's rendition of the magic wardrobe in The Chronicles of Narnia.

That retro atmosphere is attained in part through the bar's strategic placement of old props (an aged little roulette wheel on the bar, a downright ancient-looking cash register nestled next to the bottles of booze). The menu also fits that motif, with its images of 1920s America.

Better still: if you want to take advantage of great cocktails not at sky-high cocktail prices, everything on the menu is RMB 70 until November 22. After that, classic cocktails will remain at RMB 70 while newer, more creative cocktails will be RMB 80-90.

One of the highlights from that list if The Scofflaw. Its mix of rye, dry vermouth, fresh lemon juice and Grenadine make it highly bitter, so much that it enchants your palate, while still being mixed expertly enough to avoid the wince-inducing bite of cruder establishments. Instead, this cocktail pushes the limits of delicious sourness while still somehow going down smooth.

Sugar lovers, meanwhile, will prefer sweeter alternatives like the Caipirinha. This drink is essentially dessert in a glass, thanks to its dousing of Cachaca, lime and sugar (overwhelming my taste buds in the process, meaning my fellow fans of bitter fare should steer clear of this bevy). The menu's remainder mostly consists of more conventional options like the Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Negroni, among others.

But Mokihi No: 3's most satisfying aspect, by far, is the service and the creativity of the staff. Throughout the evening the bartenders doled out complimentary watermelon cocktails in shot glasses. What's more, they also offered a few patrons the chance to try some new, yet-to-be-named drinks, the recipients for which they were still tinkering with. One had – weirdly enough – a dusting of cheese powder, giving it a tart scent before you even tip the glass back. The drink itself had a deeply citrusy tinge thanks to its splash of fresh 柚子 (yòuzi) pomelo juice, which blended well with drink's generous splash of whiskey and drops of homemade jasmine honey. Such a strange combination of ingredients would have been laughably disgusting in less skilled hands, but the bartenders here somehow pulled it off.

That expertise shouldn't come as a surprise, however, seeing as Mokihi No: 3 was opened by seasoned bar owner Moto Uchiyama, better known as one of the masterminds behind the original Mokihi and other popular (but since deceased) watering holes like Apothecary and Twilight. Based on the service, price and balanced mixing of the cocktails served during our recent visit, we're sure that Mokihi No: 3 will be just as popular as Uchiyama's other bars.

Mokihi No:3
Daily, 2pm-2am. 6F, 33 Sanlitun Beijie, Chaoyang District
朝阳区三里屯北街33号6F

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Photos: Kyle Mullin