These Lips are Made for Drinking

Lucky Lips Bar Restaurant

If new watering holes on the drinking scene are your bag, you could do worse than Xingba Lu, where budding bar-owners seem to set up shop every few days. Some disappear almost overnight. Others make it through if they are really serious about this competitive business. Among the latest to open its doors is the tempting Lucky Lips, a name that holds promise of … well, you decide.

Enter the two bosses of the place, who are shy about revealing their names. Longtime friends, they used to spend their evenings as barflies around town. But why spend it when you can earn money with your own bar instead? First the plans, then the quest for a site. They agreed on a design and bar theme. "It is great to do creative things," volunteers one of the partners.

The bar sells African and Caribbean food. African music is played non-stop. The bar hosts parties every week, and a live music show at least once a month. The bar's basement is designed to be a games land, leaving the first and second floors as bar space. The bosses say they want to offer a nice place where friends and customers can eat, drink and talk.

I am shown one of the owners' Lucky Lips unusual beer mugs. It is carved from green bamboo and will not be painted red or any other color. It seems a huge receptacle and can be filled with beer for 20 yuan. Looks like bargain drinking to me.

Address: 36 Xingba Lu, Chaoyang District

Tel: + 86 10 8584 9831,