Photo by Tawaka Jiang
CLK (Culture, Life, Ken) aims to attract the more refined breed of Jianshe Liu Malu punter. It’s for those who want to spend a little extra on their nights out for something a tad exclusive.
This goal is driven home by the menu, which is stocked with items that are purported to be limited edition: limited edition cigars, limited edition single malt whiskies, limited edition red wine – it all seems as if CLK is trying a bit too hard.
The interior is dark and dimly lit, with tones of brown and blue furnishing the secluded seating and VIP areas. Everything feels like an attempt to recreate a high-end Shanghai bar, yet quickly and with a low budget.
Indeed, the menu is like a metrosexual catalogue. From ice chisels and mixing apparatus to Brut champagne, it’s a guidebook on how to be a stylish, urbane, cultivated customer. Food is described with great pomp, like the roasted beef and artichoke salad with Parmesan cheese appetizer (RMB58) and the passable spaghetti with bolete mushroom sauce, fried macaroni seafood and tomatillo sauce (RMB58).
Drinks have the faint ring of the exotic. Fruity Green Butterfly cocktails (RMB70) are made with rum, Midori, lemon juice, pineapple juice, orange juice and basil. A very quaffable Asakusa (RMB70) is conjured out of vodka, apple juice, pineapple juice, Luxardo Limoncello, lemon juice, syrup, coriander and ginger.
Yet nothing particularly stands out, despite the place being awash in all things deluxe. The question is: will CLK’s clientele buy in enough to the brands and bluster to overlook the slipshod delivery?
// CLK Bar & Lounge, 10 Jianshe Liu Malu, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou 广州市越秀区建设六马路10号 (020-8388 0712)
0 User Comments