Union Bar & Grille to Close After Eight Years in Beijing

Union Bar & Grille, one of Taikoo Li's original dining outlets and a perennial top-eight finisher in the Beijinger's Burger Cup, will close this month August 19 after eight years in Beijing.

Having launched in the Sanlitun shopping complex's early days just before the Olympics, Union was familiar to regular visitors to and former residents of Hong Kong, where the outlet had a sister restaurant, along with American restaurant Dan Ryan's, all formerly owned by Windy City Restaurants. The sale of that group to a private equity, and that firm's change of focus towards the company's existing properties and potential expansion in southern China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan left Union as an unwanted island in Beijing.

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Union established itself as an all-around American restaurant, featuring steaks and burgers, and became a favorite among laptop nomads displaced by the closure of Sanlitun favorite and public toilet, The Rickshaw, now occupied by iQiyi Cafe at the western entrance to Courtyard Four. A regular bar crowd, first displaced by the closure of The Den earlier this year, will now find itself adrift and in search of alcohol.

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Photo: the Beijinger