Modernista, Nina to close temporarily in latest hutong brickings

But the show must go on

Summer has come and passed,

A hutong bar can never last.

Wake me up when Bricktember ends.

After the carnage of summer 2017 that saw almost the entirety of Fangjia Hutong's bars and restaurants close, a raft of other hutong establishments disappear and a comprehensive facelift of Sanlitun's Dirty Bar Street, Beijing's food and drink scene remained largely unscathed through this year's high season.

Fang Bar closed its doors just this past weekend, before shacking up with old Fangjia neighbour El Nido in its new spot on Beiluoguxiang (which also happens to be at The Other Place, and now hosts Palms LA taco fare, too – safety in numbers?) but, beyond that, closures and general brick-based infringements have been few. You can't keep a good (or bad) bricklayer down, though, and luck seems to have run out this week, as Beiluoguxiang favourite Nina and titanic institution Modernista have become the latest to face renovations.

Image: Time Out Beijing/DX Wang

Nina, whose team are no strangers to such a fate given the end their Fangjia bar, Jiao, met last year, emerged this week with a new, circular-windowed front and a general air of doomy work-in-progress. Fortunately, when we spoke to the bar's Kai Wang earlier today, he reassured us that they will be fine, and that the door will be moving to the side; Nina will be closed tonight (Friday 21) to finish off the work, but will reopen in time for Saturday. Good news, then, for a bar which has been doing it great, and established a strong and loyal following, since opening last summer.

The Nina team embrace their new circular window. Image courtesy of Nina

As for Modernista – the long-running Baochao Hutong hotspot for live music, aperitifs, craft markets, bumping into your next (and ex) partner and general drunken revelry – its front façade is currently behind a blue screen, with the bar announcing via WeChat today that it will be closed from Monday 24 until Sunday 30, with all of next week's events cancelled. It will remain open this weekend though, with all planned events taking place as scheduled.

Image: Time Out Beijing/DX Wang

It's unclear yet as to what appearance Modernista will reemerge with following this wave of renovations (the bar has already undergone several reworkings in its years in action, with its original front long gone), but recent hutong changes would seem to suggest that it may lose its second floor – multi-storey structures within the hutongs have been a specific target of the city's ongoing regeneration drive.

Should that be the case, Modernista would need to reconfigure its current arrangement that sees patrons passing through the restaurant, up the stairs at the rear and snaking round to reach the bar side of the venue. We can still keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't get decimated but, in any case, it's good news that the much-loved hutong haunt will be back, as it always is.

Modernista's statement, via WeChat.

Beyond these stalwarts, at the time of writing, it appears to be business as usual for most outlets along both Beiluoguxiang and Baochao Hutong, with the exception of Indian restaurant Santoor (below), which looked to be getting a heavy rework on our visit; no confirmation yet on whether it will remain open. It too will be hoping for leniency on the second-storey ruling.

Image: Time Out Beijing/DX Wang

Elsewhere, international supermarket Chez Gerard's location tucked off the main Beiluo drag means it should be safe, while glass-fronted, hip AF coffee-slingers Voyage remain, for now, untouched; both cocktail bar Mai and its second post Mai Fresh appear unaffected, as does the adjacent Huafeng Hutong's Hoper, having recently had its front bricked and door moved inside a courtyard; weathered old-timers Siif and the Burger Counter look fine too, and, by now, we should probably expect the dungeon that is Soi Baochao – somehow still alive and kicking since 2008 – to survive a nuclear apocalypse.

This could be the beginning of something more perilous for Beiluoguxiang and Baochao Hutong establishments, however, with the streets long rumoured to be up for construction work as part of the rather comprehensive hutong 'upgrades', so stay tuned for all the latest. In the meantime, head out and support Beijing's hutong bars, as well as restaurants and cafés in the Gulou area – they're becoming fewer and fewer, so treat them and their hardy bosses right before we all have to eat and drink in shopping malls for all eternity.

For more on the changes in Beijing's hutongs, hit 'Read more'.

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