D&M Bar

Vincent Guo from Apothecary and Ala House has teamed up with Jerry Zheng from Twilight and The Malt to lay the foundations for D&M Bar. The letters, apparently, come from their Chinese names: they’re translated as ‘Dragon and Mountain’, which sounds more like a pub frequented by attendees of a local renaissance fair than an upscale Beijing cocktail joint.

There are over 200 bottles of amber whisky lining the back wall, which belies a focus on cocktail classics. The mixology skills clearly benefit from the pair’s previous workplaces. The terrific old fashioned (70 RMB) is made just like Ala House’s, where they set the orange peel alight before extinguishing it in the top-shelf whisky for a burnt citrusy tang. That drink’s a champion – making the trek south worth our while.

Meanwhile the perfect Manhattan (70 RMB) and the sweet, lemony Tom Collins had us feeling like we had walked in on a Mad Men shoot. The menu is divvied up by alcohol base: gins, whiskeys, tequilas. However, our best drinks came straight from the bartender’s suggestions. Our B&B (70 RMB) completely ignores the traditional brandy recipe to produce an equally palate-blasting mixture. The Tanqueray gin and bourbon duo initially had us questioning his mettle, but boy, did it work: the herbal base combined with the sweetness of the bourbon was an ideal concoction for a sweltering day. Others were equally well presented and enjoyed: a Highland cooler (60 RMB) was a nice, light spritzer with a noticeable splash of whisky. These guys know their liquor.

D&M is a great example of the ongoing ‘Shuangjing renaissance’; there certainly aren’t any other cocktail bars of this grade south of Guomao (The World Trade Center), and before D&M it was necessary to find some wheels to get a good buzz. For everyone else, it’s hard to imagine travelling to somewhere so regional, which means that seats should be wide open for regulars. It’s a great neighborhood cocktail spot for the off-work crowd, and fills a need Shuangjing probably didn’t even realize it had.