The streets around Beixinqiao are exploding with new openings. Here is your guide to its hutong hangouts:
Flow Brew Taproom
The beers that flow at Flow aren’t just Flow – there are some that are Slow. Slow Boat that is. (More slick rhymes where that came from, folks. Anyway, back to the issue at hand: beer.)
Flow’s teeny space (just across from Vagabond, see below) serves three varieties of its own beer, plus Slow Boat. While Flow’s are worth trying – support your local businesses! – Slow Boat’s are better in taste and quality. But that doesn’t matter. Flow is a lovely, tucked-away hutong spot for drinking, no matter which kind of beer you're after. The intimate setting ensures speedy service, and barmen are more than happy to hand over samples.
What we find most important about its opening, though, is, well… its opening. Beijing is beer-obsessed, and this is further proof. Seriously, is there a block anywhere within the Second Ring nowadays that hasn’t played host to a craft brewery?
Answer: yes, we’re exaggerating. Also, for the record, we’re not complaining about the amount of breweries. That would be ridiculous.
See a listing for Flow Brew
BigSmall Coffee
How do you know your area’s made it? There’s a third-wave coffee shop on the corner. BigSmall Coffee is that third-wave coffee shop.
The cafe is the brainchild of artistically inclined woman-about-town Yipeng Zhang, founder of Smash A Cup. No, you cannot smash cups here – Smash A Cup fills cups with tea-based versions of cappuccinos called ‘chappuccinos.’ Yes, you can drink those here.
Don’t let the tea business fool you, though – BigSmall Coffee has serious beans, too. There’s single-origin for you picky sippers, as well as Americanos and lattes for you hutong rats passing through. Best yet: The cold-brew coffee needs neither sugar nor cream – the beans speak for themselves.
Design is at the heart of BigSmall, whose space is blessedly minimal, and whose bottles of beans-to-go feature clever illustrations of dinosaurs. (It also has Airbnb quarters in the back, because it’s 2016, we guess.)
See a listing for BigSmall Coffee
Vagabond
Hutong bottle shops are the purview of Fangjia Hutong – or so we thought. Vagabond has taken the El Nido template (which, if you’re unfamiliar, equals fridges of beer bottles + shabby-chic hutong space + happy hour deals) and replicated it a few hutongs south on Jiaodaokao Beiertiao.
Vagabond has some of the better-stocked fridges in town – note fridges, plural – which include cold Belgians, Brits and Americans. There’s also a bar serving basic mixed drinks. It is the El Nido equation, + cocktails.
Vagabond’s concept is not new. But it is good timing – we’ve noticed that Queenie’s, the newly opened sandwich shop around the corner, has had scores of laowai drinking beer on its front steps ever since the weather warmed in April. Bar snacks here are minimal – we had the fried chicken – so if you’re hungry, maybe Queenie’s is your best bet. Or maybe Café de la Poste across the street. Or maybe the Yonghegong Dajie noodle place we always end up at after Café. Let’s just say you have options.
While not worth traveling to, Vagabond’s buy-one-get-one beer happy hour is a solid choice. Our only complaint is the Bon Jovi concert film projected on the wall. (Sorry, JBJ. You don’t make for relaxing beer music.) A DJ table hints at better beats to come.
See a listing for Vagabond
Peiping Machine Brewing
Peiping is part brewery, part sharer of others’ brews, all temple to the gods of beer. The airy, high-ceilinged former factory has been packed ever since it opened. All because Beijingers love their beer.
Peiping makes its own brews – a sweet wheat beer is our favorite – but perhaps more importantly, it serves craft varieties from breweries around the country. There’s Slow Boat, of course, and soon Jing-A, but also brands from outside Beijing – ones you may recognize from beer festivals but that you’ve never seen on a menu before.
We enjoy brews from Chengdu, Wuhan and Nanjing – we suggest you get a flight for maximum sampling. As such, Peiping is a machine of Chinese beer education (beerducation?) so cue the news stories on China’s blossoming craft beer scene. (“More Than Just Tsingtao” – we can imagine the headline now.)
There’s also a great toilet here, which is no small feat for Fangjia Hutong. It’s so great that we recently referred to Peiping Machine, lovingly, as Peepeeing Machine. We mean this in the most respectful of ways.
See a listing for Peiping Machine Brewing
Obsession
The first indication that Obsession is a quirky dinner spot is its location. The bistro is sandwiched between The Tiki Bungalow and Knights and Merchants, aka ‘That Place With All The Sword Fights Outside.’ (Seriously, as a side note, do check out Knights and Merchants – they’ll let you try on armor.)
The next indication is the decor: a cerulean wall color most-often associated with gaudy 1980s eyeshadows, plus a school of silver sperm fish along the walls.
The third indication is the spalike soundtrack of ocean sounds.
Altogether, it’s a funny, comfortable and quirky place to grab a bite before moving on to headier booze at Tiki. Food is casual Western (think pastas, toast with smoked salmon, steaks) at mostly reasonable prices, averaging between RMB50-60 per dish.
Granted, perhaps you’d rather go somewhere we describe as ‘top-notch’ or, say, ‘good,’ rather than ‘quirky.’ Fair enough. But if there’s one thing we like more than Obsession's steaks, it’s what it represents: That no matter your obsession, the hutongs are the place for you.
See a listing for Obsession
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