Long Live the Queen: QS Sandwiches & Bar Reopens With Flashy New Jiaodaokou Digs

The queen ain’t dead. In fact, she’s back and snazzier than ever. Queenie's Sandwiches and bar, also known as QS, a tenacious hutong pub grub haven has recently reopened on Jiaodakou East Street with eye-catching '50s diner-style digs.

This new location is a stone’s throw from their original spot next to Lama Temple, which until its recent closure was a magnate for boozy Beijingers hankering for an end-of-the-night bite (and an opportunity to scour QS's well-stocked beer fridge, of course). After hitting it big with their original location in 2016, QS opened a second venue in the untapped Chaoyangmen area in 2017, though that spot fizzled out within a year.

Despite those setbacks, the new QS looks like their most promising venture yet. Its large floor space, checkered with black and white tiles, pink highlights, and blue and silver bar stools scream "Greased Lightning" and houses about a dozen booths and half a dozen tables, making their original two-floor location seem small and ramshackle in comparison.

That "bigger is better" sentiment carries over to the bar, which has liquor bottles crammed in every-which-way. The same goes for the beer fridge, which is loaded with goodies like RMB 45 bottles of hoppy SweetWater IPA from Atlanta, Georgia (a rarity in Beijing that you might only otherwise find at Heaven Supermarket), along with more standard Vedettes and Goose Island IPAs for RMB 25. Glowing neon signs round out the fun, party-ready vibe.

In terms of grub, many old QS favorites like the black pepper steak and cumin roasted lamb sandwiches (both RMB 25) are still the staples here. So while the decor may be spiffier and brighter, much of what drew you to QS in the first place remains unchanged, namely starchy eats and cheap booze and staff that apparently never sleep. All that should be more than enough to please the Dongcheng party crowd that has lost so many F&B havens in the past few years.

QS
Daily 24-hours. 113 Jiaodaokou Dong Dajie, Dongcheng District (6402 8810)
东城区交道口东大街113号

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Photos: Kyle Mullin