Tang

Stylish cocktail bar and dance club Tang takes over the former site of Pirate King, a spot that once housed a basement seafood restaurant with a pirate theme (whoever thought that was a good idea). Smartly redesigned, the new venue could be making a splash in the months to come in Courtyard 4, across from Q Mex and Kro’s Nest. We can’t stress enough just how great this place looks. It’s like the designer created a bar from an alternate Twilight Zone-type universe where capitalism emerged as the victor in 1960s China. There are hundreds of vertically aligned Chinese abacuses that create a little privacy between lounge zones, and weird green shrubs that shoot out from the walls as you enter. It’s an attractive place to throw back some drinks and possibly move your body to their wicked sound system. No, they don’t serve Tang, the powdered orange juice substitute made for space travel. Their bar manager has moved over from Flamme, an establishment that in its heyday was the go-to place for quality cocktails and so-so steaks. We started off with their Rum Martinez (RMB 78). Although it sounds more like a cocktail sipped by a Puerto Rican gangster with a pencil thin mustache, it was just the perfect amount of sweet, and they use a magnificent 23- year-old Zacapa rum. It’s always nice when a bar doesn’t skimp by using the cheap stuff. Next we tried the East Meets West (RMB 78), which has a brandy base and is full of seasonal flavors like fig liqueur and Grand Marnier to warm you up. The one thing they could probably change is the Western-style food. While not bad in the least, we think they should have picked up a cuisine that’s more representative of the space, which has an undeniably Chinese vibe. Some cool variation on dim sum would undoubtedly kill here.