Popular Cocktail Bar Returns w/ New Digs, In-House Distilled Gin
Among the seemingly endless number of mancave-style cocktail bars quietly opening in apartment rooms in Yoolee Plaza last year, a reverberation of the business killing zoning demolitions on Beijing’s streets, one lounge stood out as legit. That would be Botany, a spot with creative cocktail recipes and in-house gin opened by Frankie Zou, an alum of Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, TRB in Beijing, and a highly exclusive Forbidden City-adjacent club that has played host to movie stars like Fan Bingbing.
In keeping with Beijing’s licensing crackdowns, unsurprisingly, such apartment-style bars have since been banned in Yoolee. Rather than his neighbors making generic classic cocktails, Zou is once again ahead of the curve, reopening Botany a few weeks after a brief closure in a properly zoned venue on the first floor at the back of the complex.
That means customers won’t have to miss out on old favorites like their black truffle martini. Even though it’s priced at a steep RMB 120, the bartender’s grating of the truffle, deft mixing, and pouring will all win you over, not to mention that the drink tastes more fruity and floral than the bitter aroma would suggest. That flavor works thanks to a combination of Anejo Rum, black truffle-infused vermouth, homemade roma bitters, tropical fruit, and Mantuano Spice. It also looks the part, served in a glass with a huge downward swooping curve on one side of the rim and a hulking ice cube in the middle.
Zou at the bar of the new Botany
Great as those old favorites are, the odd half-dozen new options on the zanier “twist” page of the menu are equally enticing. The RMB 100 Flamingo we tried, for instance, was made with house gin, pickled rhubarb, cream soda, and smoldering wasabi for a combo that packs some heat and is bitter enough to leave lips pursed in satisfaction without being overpowering.
Then there’s, of course, Zou’s penchant for in-house spirits concoction, a quality that truly elevates Botany as one of the most ambitious and accomplished bars in Beijing. Though he dabbled in making his own whiskey a year ago, only to abandon that project because its laborious demands offered comparatively demising returns, Zou’s gin recipe has proved a winner thanks to its combination of lemongrass, ginger, and Chongqing tea (it’s licensed and produced officially in that southern Chinese locale). One taste of the clear liquor gives a good idea of where the underlying and distinctive qualities of Zou's cocktails come from.
So even though the new Botany’s decor and ambiance leave a bit to be desired (it’s primary-colored stain glass windows and generic paintings giving off a late '70s kitsch that can be found in many an odd amateur hutong café), the quality of the drinks and skill of the bar staff will leave you with little to quibble about. Best of all is Zou’s creative gumption when it comes to spirits and the bootstrappy tenacity of opening again in a building that left him with a major setback. Indeed, for the cocktail admirers among us, seeing Botany back in business is a beautiful thing.
Daily 7pm-2am
1/F, Yolee Plaza, 21 Gongti North Road, Chaoyang District
朝阳区工体北路21号永利国际一坐一忘云南餐厅一层
158 1023 8900
Photos: Kyle Mullin
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