Beijing’s Best Bars & Clubs: The Beijinger vs City Weekend

Michael Wester | May 20, 2010 4:25 pm | 9 comments | 14738 reads

Our estimable cross-town competitors City Weekend announced their Readers’ Choice awards in a blog post last Wednesday. Now that both of us have announced the results of our respective reader surveys (see a full list of ours here), let’s take a look at what these two magazines’ readers agree and disagree on.

I happen to think that if the readerships of the two magazines both agree on a winner, we’ve got ourselves a place with “universal” appeal. Where there is disagreement we can see how these two readerships differ in tastes.

First off I’ll ignore editors’ picks and categories that were only asked by one magazine and not the other. That left us with 8 categories to compare in Bars & Clubs and 21 in Restaurants.

The Beijinger survey selected one winner and two runners-up; CW selected one winner and one runner up (both added an additional winner in the event of ties/close votes). I declared there to be general agreement if the top winner in one magazine’s awards was named in the other (be it winner or runner-up); general disagreement if the top winner in one did not appear at all in the other. So let's take a quick look.

Out of 8 categories, TBJ readers differed from CW readers in 7 of the categories.

General Agreement: Best Live Music
TBJ: Yugong Yishan (best); MAO Livehouse, 2 Kolegas
CW: MAO Livehouse (best); Yugong Yishan
Analysis: YGYS and MAO both rock.

Disagreement: Best Cocktails
TBJ: Q Bar (best); Apothecary, Fubar.
CW: Mix Westin Chaoyang (best); Apothecary.
Analysis: Mix Westin Chaoyang? A fine bar, and no doubt fine cocktails, but given the recent surge in quality-conscious, centrally-located cocktail bars, hard to see how Mix could top the list. And how does Q Bar not even rate in the CW awards?

Disagreement: Best Sports Bar
TBJ: Paddy O’Shea’s (best); Frank’s Place, The Den
CW: All-Star Bar & Grill (best); Frank’s Place, Paddy O’Shea’s
Analysis: Given both sets of readers like Paddy’s and Frank’s, the selection of All-Star at the top of CW’s vote is odd. CW readers seem to live by this (it also won CW’s Best Burger and Best Bar Food awards), but the place isn’t even on the TBJ reader radar (nothing in the top 3 in sports bar, bar food or burgers).

Disagreement: Best Bar Food
TBJ: The Tree (best); The Den, Luga’s
CW: All-Star Bar & Grill (best); The Den, Paulaner Brauhaus
Analysis: Agreement on the Den. The Tree has won for its pizza regularly in the restaurant awards (and given that its primarily a bar) makes a lot of sense. But once again the All-Star phenomenon rises – wins the CW awards, doesn’t even place in the TBJ awards.

Disagreement: Best Place to Find a Date/Best Place for Singles
TBJ: Vics (best); Suzie Wong’s, Tun, XIU
CW: Mix (best); Bling
Analysis: Given these results, it seems extremely unlikely that a TBJ reader and a CW reader are going to hook up.

Disagreement: Hidden Gem/Hardest Bar to Find
TBJ: Ichikura (best); Mao Mao Chong, The Pomegranate
CW: Fubar (best); Obiwan
Analysis: CW readers are having a tough time finding Fubar, the winner of TBJ’s Bar of the Year. Sure the gimmick is that it’s “hidden,” but given its barnstorming popularity and central location, hard to believe it is really a secret to anyone anymore … though same could be said for Ichikura, the Japanese whiskey bar that has managed to inch its way into the mainstream.

Disagreement: Best New Bar/Club
TBJ: Fubar (best); Apothecary, White Rabbit
CW: White Rabbit (best): Lantern
Analysis: This probably has to do with the difference in how the two mags determined what qualified as “new”. Some say that it should include anything that opened in the past year or since the last awards; others say the cutoff should be 6 months, still others advocate an even tighter cutoff time. We chose to follow the advice of our nomination panel (100 pre-selected and 100 randomly selected Beijing bargoers) rather than make an arbitrary editorial judgment or cutoff date. CW may have gone with a more strict interpretation of “new.”

Disagreement: Best Bar/Club of the Year
* Note: While TBJ gives out one award for this category, CW has separate awards for bars and for clubs.
TBJ: Fubar (best); Xiu, Paddy O’Shea’s
CW bar: Apothecary (best); Mesh
CW club: Mix (best); GT Banana
Analysis: Wow, complete disagreement in the top category. Just goes to show you the mags tend to reach a different crowd. Fubar was the top award winner in TBJ’s awards, but doesn’t nick the top of CW readers’ faves in best bar, best club, or best new bar/club. CW’s runners up in the bar category includes last year’s TBJ winner Mesh and Best New Bar runner-up Apothecary; TBJ readers shy away from the Mix and GT Banana set that garnered CW top honors – nor did these spots end up anywhere in the TBJ survey in categories you might expect to see them (best for dancing, best nightclub or best after-hours club).

Stay tuned to the Beijinger blog for a look at the two mags’ restaurant picks tomorrow.

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 17:36

Monkey King wrote:
In spite of the variation in awards, I have to ask, do these magazines really reach a different crowd?

there is significant overlap in the audiences for the magazines, but maybe not as much as you would think.

according to our annual reader survey, between 30% to 40% of our readers do not read City Weekend

that's definitely enough to make a difference in the awards

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

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Monkey King's picture Monkey King Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 10:12

In spite of the variation in awards, I have to ask, do these magazines really reach a different crowd?

I mean, are there people who will see both in a magazine rack, and only take the one they prefer?

Or is it just that they are available in different locations?

Even if some people have a preference for one over the other, they're still going to read both, assuming they can find them.

In my case, for example, I haven't seen a CW issue in the last 2-3 months. So I didn't vote in their awards. Not true for TBJ. Is this common, and does it partially explain the differences?

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The Dude's picture The Dude Submitted by Guest on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 09:03

I think this is a good article as it illustrates a couple of things. I think it shows how different magazines compile their votes or perhaps it shows how different their demographics are. Let's face it though, CW is the ginger stepchild of the Beijing expat magazine family. Is it really that hard to see how their reader awards are loaded with sponsers, or they have a serious flaw in their voting system that allows bars to hijack the awards?

Whether you are a fan of Fubar, or not so much, I think you can see the argument for best bar or at least best new bar. Paddy's is not my favorite bar but I can absolutely understand how it can win best sports bar. However, All-Star? Really? Is it even still open?

The Dude Abides.

Lisa.M's picture Lisa.M Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 20:35

Thanks for this report. I guess it is all a matter of personal opinion as to where the best places are. There certainly is a lot to do there and I will refer to this list if I ever get to go.

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admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 17:56

wange1002 wrote:
Best Place to Find a Date and Best Place for Singles are practically two separate concepts, so there are still chances for a tbj reader and a cw reader to hook up, it depends on who's the pathetic one...

Good point -- I suppose "Best Place for Singles" could be interpreted two ways:

-- Best place for single people (to find other singles)
-- Best place for single people (to stay single)

Or, perhaps City Weekend's "Best Place for Singles" would be better compared to our "Best Place to Take a Date" category ... which would result in the following head-to-head comparison:

Best Place to Take a Date
TBJ: Bed (best); Face, Q Bar
CW: Mix (best); Bling

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

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