Five stars if you like absinthe

If you're into absinthe, this bar's probably going to be your favorite in Beijing. It's about as bohemian as you're likely to get in a hutong venue that used to be a convenience store, and they have about 10 different kinds of absinthe, wherever they got those from.

If you've gotten past the absinthe stage of life, but still like beer, then El Nido's choice is as good as you'll find in Beijing - certainly in this area of Beijing at least. Belgian beers, German beers, Czech beers, English, American, Spanish - the list goes on. There are multiple fridges laden with bottles large and small, and best of all the prices for the better beers are cheaper than you'll find in Sanlitun - most of the Belgian and German beers are around RMB 30-35, rather than the RMB 50+ we're used to paying in the east of Beijing. They even chose the best Chinese beer - Harbin - as their local brew, selling it at ten kuai a bottle.

There's no draft beer - after all, it's questionable whether this is really a bar. There aren't even any tables or chairs inside. El Nido is more like a den of smuggled beer and alcohol that somebody discovered in a shipwreck and hid in the last place you'd expect to find it. But it's cool because of that - you grab your beer, or order your infused brandy, or bottle of wine (less impressive selection, admittedly), and sit at the tables outside, while Latino music pipes through the speakers and a projector screen displays, well, that's not the point.

I wonder if this place can survive the winter - again, there are no tables inside, and there's not much of a bar atmosphere inside at present. Maybe they'll rework it somehow. It might even just get by as a kind of off-license. If I lived in the area, I can imagine popping in to grab a couple of bottles of beer then taking them back home. But I don't live around there, and probably won't spend much time up around Andingmen this winter. I hope it's still there if I go back next summer.