On entering Vine Bar you join an intimate yet welcoming low-key house party. No surprise given the owner's intentions: to open a place tucked away in a hutong on Nanluogu Xiang to hang out with her friends from the nearby university.

There are two choices depending on the company. The triangular table and arced sofa at the entrance allows a view of the world passing by -- probably to the more well-known and buzzier Passby Bar a few doors away. The room at the rear invites a group of friends to lounge around on its pink sofas under a red chandelier and pictures of 1950s films stuck haphazardly on the rough concrete walls. The Pink Lady, at 30 yuan (US$3.7), is a fine tipple in these surroundings.

If you were bemoaning the lack of quirky curios and prints at Panjiayuan antique market recently then Vine Bar has a lot to answer for. The selection is impressively random and made up of items bought on impulse rather than the manufactured feel of some dcor in the caf bars on the same street. The bar also houses a collection of 12 cell phones plucked straight from the peak of 80s yuppiedom and they will probably stay there until they become fashionable once again.

The homely feel is prevalent. A bronze kettle bubbles on a stove, a fridge quietly hums in the corner of the back room and a few plants offer relief from the capital's current parched state. All this is surveyed by the other boss - a curious fluffy rat that rattles its cage in the narrowest part of the bar.

A small selection of pasta, sandwiches and curry dishes are on the menu but a word of warning - the owner doesn't like cooking. But that's fine as this is a place to chat with friends over a coffee or beer miles away from the techno-babble of Beijing's mainstream clubs.

text & photo by Chris O'Brien

Daily 5pm-late, Vine Bar, 76 Nanluogu Xiang, Dongcheng District. 8401-4345, 139-1028-7441.76

(China Daily 03/17/2006 page10)