Commune Brings Beer Drinkers Together in Sanlitun Taikooli

Cities like Beijing and Shanghai are often the starting point for popular home-grown chains — Moka Bros or Baker & Spice, for example — so it’s always interesting to see what happens when a chain with roots elsewhere in China tries to break into the Beijing market. Commune is one chain that is definitely approaching the capital with confidence, opening two new branches in prime locations: Sanlitun’s Taikooli and World City just north of The Place. 

That confidence should come as no surprise if you have visited a Commune in another city. It’s highly likely you will have visited one, since they have 80 branches in 31 cities, with plans to open hundreds more in the years to come, backed by significant capital investment (If the name “Commune” sounds familiar, you may have heard of Commune Reserve, the brand’s more upscale older brother over on Xidawang Lu, which opened last year).

Their combination of a bottle bar and simple Western food menu has proven incredibly popular with Chinese millennials/gen Z, and the Taikooli branch has already racked up hundreds of Dianping reviews since it opened over Lunar New Year. 

While the Commune branches in other cities tend to go for a rough wood and raw brickwork aesthetic, the chain has gone slightly more upscale for its Taikooli outpost.

By day, it feels more like a coffee shop than a bar — a combination of booths and low, loungey tables in shades of beige and blue — but by night, when the amber-hued lights come on, it’s a whole different experience. There is also a large outdoor terrace that is sure to be a hit once warmer weather arrives. 

Commune takes a “something for everyone” approach to drinks, with a 20-meter-long cellar of fridges for canned and bottled beers (around RMB 20-40) and pre-mixed cocktails, as well as a whole selection of spirits by the bottle to drink in or take away. Choose your own and pay at the bar, or scan the QR code on your table to order. They also serve a selection of classic cocktails (RMB 45-48) such as Whiskey Sour and Piña Colada, as well as a small number of beers on tap, including Commune Illusionist, a clean and refreshing wheat beer with notes of clove and orange peel brewed exclusively for the chain. 

The food is exactly what you want to soak up a drinking session — snack platters for sharing and juicy burgers. Some of the dishes have come over from Commune Reserve, such as the Commune BBQ burger (RMB 88) with crushed avocado, miso-maple bacon, and bacon barbecue sauce, while the crispy golden chicken wings (RMB 65) are a Commune specialty (we found the garlicky flavor similar to Hong Kong-style typhoon shelter crab dishes). But far and away our favorite dish is the oxtail grilled cheese (RMB 78), featuring braised oxtail with cheddar and brie cheeses, pickled jalapeños, and caramelized onions on marbled rye. 

Commune’s bottle bar + Western food formula doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but then again, maybe the wheel doesn’t need reinventing? There’s a reason it works pretty well as it is. For those looking for a trendy, reasonably priced place to hang out in Sanlitun, it’s a formula that we’re sure will prove popular. 

Commune
S08-3, 3/F, Sanlitun Taikooli, Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District (152 1097 7183)
朝阳区三里屯路三里屯太古里南区S08-3

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Images courtesy of Commune, Robynne Tindall