An Appetite for Adventure

From [08.10.04] Emily Arrive & Mikey's at Coco Banana

Hawaiian history isn’t really peppered with invasions, but that doesn’t mean one of her daughters isn’t capable of invading Beijing. Because that’s just what my college roommate and friend Emily did on rainy day earlier this month. Em and I have been super tight for years, but haven’t lived in the same city for over five years. You can imagine how elated I was when I found out she was offered a job in Beijing.

I let her catch up on some much needed jetlag napping and we met up with Jimmy that night for drinks, dinner and dancing. Drinks were at Bed Bar (see previous post), followed by dinner at Cafe Sambal. All the guidebooks and Beijing blogs gushed praise for this hutong — yes, I’m a hooker for hutong hangouts — Malaysian spot both for food and ambiance. It lacked in both categories. Maybe when it’s full of dewy-eyed lovebirds and exotic expats it’s better. But when we arrived, we were the only party in the whole place and it felt kind of cold. Not to mention that the dirty martini Emily ordered had lemon juice in it. She had to show the bartender how to make it not once, but twice! Normally, I would chalk this up to an East-meets-West lost-in-translation issue, but this is a place known for its mojitos — which weren’t great either, by the way — so Chinese-only bar knowledge isn’t an excuse. The food was good, but not mindblowing. At least the company was spectacular.

Afterward, we stopped at a wine bar where, again, we occupied the space solo. This time it was a lot more fun though as I let loose on the playerless instruments on stage and we convinced our waitress to be an impromptu language teacher. Oh, and there was cheese! No matter how blah a place is, if there’s good cheese there, it’s a winner in my book.

We ended the night at a Beijing megaclub called Coco Banana. High end clubbing in Beijing is like that in New York: all about bottles and models. But there’s one unique twist here in the East: the guys play dice. Yep, dice. In fact, dancefloors tend to be smaller here to make room for the booths of dice. Also, there’s a lot of emphasis on private rooms, where groups can get away from the masses and indulge in KTV (that’s a fancy name for karaoke).

We didn’t have dice or karaoke, but we had one thing that probably no one else did: a friend who’s the DJ’s tour manager. My good friend Mike from NYC (now based in Chicago) tour manages for Deep Dish, the high power, high energy duo of DJs Sharam and Dubfire. Sharam was in town that night, which meant I got to catch up with one of my favorite peeps. After Emily and Jimmy pooped out, I spent the night up in the booth with Mike and Sharam, sneaking away a few times to throw down hard on the dancefloor. Can’t wait until Mike comes back in just a week with Dubfire!

[08.10.04] Emily Arrive & Mikey's at Coco Banana