Let’s reflect on the notion of ambition. Like, what is it? A poor farm boy working hard to make it in the big city? A little girl who says she wants to be president someday? Lance Armstrong? A widdle choo-choo twain that thinks he can? Because Good Bait is am-bi-shuss. And for two reasons: It’s putting on a huge calendar of live jazz shows, and its menu has 90 (!!!) original cocktails.
This is a book-length cocktail menu, with chapters devoted to different base spirits. It’s filled with photos of jazz musicians and inspirational quotes about music, which begs the question: Do they really expect us to read all this? If we’re at a bar, aren’t we supposed to be, like, talking to our friends?
There are many reasons to be skeptical of another Beijing bar serving RMB100 cocktails to a jazz soundtrack. And yet. If there’s a man in this city skilled enough to master an army of cocktail recipes, it’s Good Bait’s barman Travis Yuan.
For years, he has been the mixologist king of the hutongs at Daily Routine on Wudaoying. While Good Bait’s official slogan is “Rhythm Served Straight Up,” Yuan’s rhythms are not served straight up. They are, rather, shaken, stirred, garnished, twirled and tapped three times for good luck. We repeat: there are 90 cocktails. Very little about this place is “straight up.”
But the important thing is that they’re worth the money – world-class drinks that, when the live music is thrown in for free, make the RMB100 price tag seem altogether reasonable. Good Bait is a very loungey jazz lounge, with low seats right by the stage and a loft of booths a bit further from the action.
Back in the wild frontier days of 2014, Houhai’s East Shore Jazz Club was pretty much the only place to hear decent live jazz. But since then, we’ve seen the openings of the swanky Blue Note in Qianmen, The Bricks on Xindong Lu and, now, this place. (Has anyone been to East Shore lately? Can someone check that they’re still alive?) Keep your eyes on Good Bait – because the coming year will prove whether this is a fad, or if we truly are ushering in Beijing’s jazz age. That, more than anything, would be ambitious.
See a listing for Good Bait
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