What's New Bars & Clubs: Furnace, Gulou Dongdajie

Many Gulou bars and restaurants are created by people who have little or no experience in the restaurant business. They are often filled with generic dishes and drinks that you could find better and cheaper at a less trendy location. Furnace, unfortunately, fits this tired and sad trend.

We arrived at the tail end of their happy hour which goes from 5-8pm. We ordered up a Moscow Mule (RMB 40) and were genuinely excited about their buy one, get one free offering. Since we weren’t quite throwing them back and asked for our second Mule after happy hour ended, they went on to charge us for the follow up. They didn’t even mention adding the second drink to the bill, which left us with an ungracious taste in our mouths. If we had known this was the rule, we would have chosen something else besides this mediocre at best beverage.

While drinking, we ordered up some food from their small but fitting list of bar food selections. We began with their prawn spring rolls (RMB 42), which were delightfully crunchy. For our entree, we picked the pan-seared salmon (RMB 78), that according to the menu was served on potatoes and asparagus. When it arrived, there wasn’t a potato in sight. The overly-salted salmon filet was served on an assortment of bland, undercooked steamed vegetables. We would have appreciated it if the staff consulted us first about not having any potatoes, but they opted to be silent about the matter.

Finally we sucked down a lovely Long Island ice tea (RMB 45). This helped us restore a degree of moisture to our mouths from the salt-laden salmon. Then we evacuated the premises, hoping this was just an off night for this new Gulou establishment.

Furnace
Daily 2pm-2am. 98-2 Gulou Dongdajie, Dongcheng District (139 1069 5665)
东城区鼓楼东大街98-2号
500m north of Nanluoguxiang Station (Line 6)

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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos: Ken