The Opposite House – which opened in 2008 to an appreciative crowd in Beijing’s buzzy Sanlitun neighbourhood – has just reimagined its resident bar.
Set on the ground floor of the 99-room hotel, the lofty space is the work of New York-based AvroKO’s Bangkok office – the inspiration, apparently, coming from the modernist studio of ceramicist, Lucie Rie. Certainly, the room has an element of grand Gatsby-esque fantasy, the eye drawn along by the long linear lines of a central communal table that’s flanked by a spice wall, metal mesh panels and copper trim; and furnished with giant chandeliers, and leather club chairs from AvroKO and Stellar Work’s Brightliner collection.
All this serves as a suitably soigné setting for a whimsical drinks menu dreamed up around the Silk Road. Which explains the Genghis Khan Martini spiked with Mongolian kumis (or fermented mare’s milk) and sea salt, and a Canton Mule of wheat vodka and kumquat. A late afternoon service brings an exuberantly stocked drinks trolley at which non-shaken cocktails are prepared tableside.
And should the munchies strike, the kitchen sends out Wagyu sliders, aged San Daniele prosciutto, and Norwegian salmon poke bowls, though, if you ask us, it makes more sense to hightail it for the Peking Duck at in-house restaurant Jing Yaa Tang, and swan back for a post-prandial drink and music.
INFORMATION
Address
The Opposite House
Sanlitun
Beijing
-
Hella Jongerius’ ‘Angry Animals’ take a humorous and poignant bite out of the climate crisisAt Salon 94 in New York, Hella Jongerius presents animal ceramics, ‘Bead Tables’ and experimental ‘Textile Studies’ – three series that challenge traditional ideas about function, craft, and narrative
-
A photographic study of a family hi-fi store is a vivid portrait of a small businessFashion photographer Nik Hartley looked behind the scenes at Wilkinson’s Hi-Fi, a longstanding part of its Lancashire community.
-
The Contestant: inside the dark and exploitative beginnings of reality TVClair Titley’s The Contestant examines a sensationalist moment in TV history, before Big Brother meant reality became an accepted part of popular culture
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
-
Wander Hotel in Beijing is an ideal escape for serene moments of introspectionRenovated by Fon Studio, Wander Hotel adds organic symmetry to the adjacent Great Wall of China
-
'Retreat and recharge' in Yanbai Villa on a secluded Beijing shorelineYanbai Villa wraps guests in quiet luxury, opening its doors on a secluded Beijing shoreline
-
The Karl Lagerfeld Macau hotel oozes opulence conceived by the late designerThe Karl Lagerfeld Macau hotel is a five-star extravaganza at the Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau, China, designed by the late fashion mogul and set to open in July 2023
-
West Kowloon wonders to discover nowCultural and culinary adventures, extraordinary spaces and outstanding experiences in West Kowloon, Hong Kong
-
David Chipperfield Architects and Aim Architecture design ceramic-inspired hotel in China’s porcelain capitalDavid Chipperfield Architects and Aim Architecture unite for the Taoxichuan Hotel project in Jingdezhen
-
Ramshackle farmhouse in China's Hubei province gets a slick makeoverThe reimagined farmhouse is now a contemporary bolthole
-
Beast x Gubi House — Shanghai, China
