Entertainment in China
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New Wally Matt Lounge
The name comes from the old Waltzing Matilda pub, which was one of the daggiest gay watering holes in creation. But New Wally Matt is an upbeat and busy place and actually more a pub than a lounge.
reviewed
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Nanshan Lu
Over the past several years, the bar scene in Hángzhōu has mushroomed. The most popular bar strip is along Nanshan Lu , near the Academy of Art. Head off and see what you can uncover.
reviewed
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Pirates Pub
Serves up the ingenious combination of pirates and disco. Local bands start playing most nights at 21:00 but the mutiny doesn't happen until 23:00. Look for three ship's sails.
reviewed
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Propaganda
Long-serving Wǔdàokǒu nightclub attracting throngs of liúxuéshēng (students), lured by free entry, cheap booze and wildly popular sounds. It's 100m north of Huáqīng Jiāyuán east gate.
reviewed
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Big Bamboo
This is a huge, extroverted sports bar ranging over two floors with a mammoth sports screen backed up by a constellation of TV sets, Guinness, pool and darts.
reviewed
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Rice Bar
Rice is a popular gay bar in Sheung Wan with a lounge area that sees a bit of dancing as it gets later. It can get very crowded at the weekend.
reviewed
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M2
This is a more exclusive branch of the Jìng’ān nightclub Muse, one of the city's hottest.
reviewed
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Club Cubic
Spanning some 2700 sq metres, the flashy, two-level Club Cubic at the Hard Rock Hotel features themed rooms, a champagne bar and a large ‘disco’ ball that can hold up to four people. There are DJs mixing a variety of tunes, including hip hop, techno and Korean pop, that are pumped out of the club’s top-notch sound system.
reviewed
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Wynn Macao
A gentlemen's club for punters, Wynn features interiors in solid browns interrupted impatiently by reds and golds. Presumably feng shui had a say too – the hotel sports a chip on its shoulder that's pointed at Grand Lisboa.
reviewed
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Venetian
Occupying the Cotai Strip, this ersatz Doge's Palace is a minimalist's nightmare – a vast hotel, gambling and shopping city within a city, that recreates Venetian icons, right down to the canals and singing gondoliers.
reviewed
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Café Brussels
With more than 40 Belgian brews (Chimay Red Y40), Guinness (Y35) and sports TV, this cavernous bar-restaurant is run by a friendly Belgian bloke who also brews his own (Y20). At the time of writing, the owner was set to move to a new location.
reviewed
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Happy Valley Racecourse
An outing at the races is one of the quintessential Hong Kong things to do, especially if you happen to be around during one of the weekly Wednesday evening races here. The punters pack into the stands and trackside, cheering, drinking and eating, and the atmosphere is electric.
The first horse races were held here in 1846. Now meetings are held both here and at the newer and larger (but less atmospheric) Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories. Check the website for details on betting and tourist packages.
Racing buffs can also visit the Hong Kong Racing Museum.
reviewed
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Tastings
One of the most exciting new developments for wine lovers is the arrival of new bars offering tastings of premium wines using new ‘enomatic’ technology that permits them to open a bottle and preserve the contents indefinitely. It means that tasting a seriously rare (and expensive) wine is possible without completely bankrupting yourself. You create a tab by handing over your credit card in exchange for a smart card, which you use to operate the wine dispensing machines, which can deliver a few millilitres for an inexpensive taste or a full glass once you’ve made your choice. Down a narrow side street just off Wellington St, Tastings offers about two dozen wines from its…
reviewed
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Frank’s Place
The oldest bar in Běijīng, Frank’s has shifted locations many times in the course of its life. It’s now firmly ensconced in the Lìdū area in northeast Cháoyáng, a popular place for expats with families and visiting business types staying in the nearby four-star hotels. Frank’s caters to their needs by providing live sport on many TVs, pints of Guinness and Stella (Y50), English-speaking staff and average pub food. The place is chameleon-like; if the NFL is on then it could be an American bar, if the football (soccer) is on you could be in England. There’s a pool and darts, occasional live music and an outside terrace open in summer. It is west of the Rosedale…
reviewed
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Club Football Center
With its wall-to-wall football memorabilia, live English premiership action, big screens and yelping punters at the bar, this is the most genuine British pub in town. A must for anyone obsessed with the beautiful game, beer (around Y10 for a bottle of Tsingdao) or pool and darts. There's a solid menu of pub food favourites. This is the focal point of Běijīng's amateur football scene and the place to come if you're looking for a team to join.
If you sign up for the free membership, you'll get emails of forthcoming matches and events. It's an adjunct of the Red House Hotel and reception will direct you there. Or you can enter directly by going up the alley to the side of…
reviewed
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Eje Bar
The self-styled (and probably accurate) 'hardest-to-find bar in Běijīng' is well worth the effort, but pack a compass. Tucked away behind the rear wall of the Confucius Temple, this cultured courtyard bar is sedately arranged with sofas and set to the chirruping of grasshoppers. Away from even the remotest action, it's well worth a detour.
Arriving at night is like reaching the light at the end of a tunnel: from Yonghegong Dajie follow Guanshuyuan Hutong round the corner, take the first right and you will see the Confucius Temple ahead on your left. Follow the road round to your right, take the first left and it's opposite the temple's rear wall (check the bar website…
reviewed
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People 7
Getting into this superstylish bar/restaurant is an achievement in itself. That’s not because there’s a door policy, rather it’s because the shiny steel doors will only open if you insert your hand (twice) into one of the nine holes set into the wall (we’re not saying which one). Once inside, there’s a backlit, long steel bar on which to rest the oddly shaped glass your cocktail will arrive in. With white armchairs scattered throughout the darkly lit interior and bathrooms that are even harder to work out than the front door, this place could be oppressively trendy. But it isn’t. They do affordable minimalist fusion food (Y35 to Y60) too.
reviewed
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Gingko
A slightly schizophrenic blend of a bar, cafe, restaurant and live-music venue, this place is clearly anxious to cover all the bases. It works best as a bar and cafe – the coffee is good – but it’s also a nice, intimate location to hear the bands and musicians of all varieties that take to the small stage a couple of times a week. There’s Guinness and a reasonable selection of wine, as well as a far more impressive range of snacks – from croquettes to mussels, paninis and pizzas – than is usual in a Běijīng bar.
reviewed
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Impressions Liú Sānjiě
The top show in town is directed by moviemaker Zhang Yimou, the man who also directed the opening ceremony at the Běijīng Olympics. Six hundred performers, including local fishermen, take to the Lí River each night. Twelve surrounding karst peaks are illuminated as part of the show, which gets rave reviews from many travellers. Book at your hostel or hotel: hotels often arrange slight discounts.
reviewed
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Constellation
The bow-tied staff at the Japanese-run Constellation (or, as the original name translates, ‘Constellations in a pool of liquor’) take their drinks seriously – you’re not going to get any watered-down cocktails here. A choice selection of whiskies (including a samurai-helmeted Nikka), Van Gogh prints on the walls and overhead black lights make this a classy yet appealingly weird place. Its small size necessitated the opening of Constellation 2 (33 Yongjia Rd; 永嘉路 33 号 ).
reviewed
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East Shore Jazz Café
Cui Jian’s saxophonist, whose quartet play here, opened this chilled venue just off Di’anmenwai Dajie and next to Qianhai Lake. It’s a place to hear the best local jazz bands, with live performances from Thursdays to Sundays, in a less precious atmosphere than the CD Jazz Café. There’s a small roof terrace open in summer with a nice view of the lake and it‘s worth booking a table here on weekends, when it gets busy. There’s no cover charge and the drinks are reasonably priced.
reviewed
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Happy Valley Sports Ground
Hong Kong has a fairly lively amateur soccer league. Games are played at the Happy Valley Sports Ground, a group of pitches inside the Happy Valley Racecourse, and at Mong Kok Stadium. For match schedules and venues, check the sports sections of the English-language newspapers or contact the Hong Kong Football Association (2712 9122; www.hkfa.com). The big football event of the year is the Lunar New Year Cup, which is held on the first and fourth days of the Chinese New Year (late January/early February).
reviewed
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Mong Kok Stadium
Hong Kong has a fairly lively amateur soccer league. Games are played at the Happy Valley Sports Ground, a group of pitches inside the Happy Valley Racecourse, and at Mong Kok Stadium. For match schedules and venues, check the sports sections of the English-language newspapers or contact the Hong Kong Football Association (2712 9122; www.hkfa.com). The big football event of the year is the Lunar New Year Cup, which is held on the first and fourth days of the Chinese New Year (late January/early February).
reviewed
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180° Lounge
Macau Tower, at 338m, is the 10th-tallest freestanding structure in the world; it stands on the narrow isthmus of land southeast of Avenida da República. The squat building at its base is the Macau Convention & Entertainment Centre. The tower houses observation decks (adult/child 3-12 & senior over 85 MOP$90/45) on the 58th and 61st floors, and restaurants and bars such as the revolving 360° Café (11.30am-3pm, 3.30-4.15pm & 6-11pm) on the 60th floor, and the 180° Lounge one floor below it.
reviewed
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Alfa
With an outside terrace, complete with cushion-strewn booths to lounge in and a water feature to fall into, as well as an in-house Asian-French restaurant to satisfy late-night hunger pangs, Alfa has survived longer than most Běijīng bars. It’s not the hotspot it was a couple of years ago, but its monthly theme nights – think ’80s, Goth and funk – are still popular. It’s just down from the Xinjiang Red Rose Restaurant, opposite the north gate of the Workers Stadium.
reviewed