Lapping at the Lake

T

he life cycle of entertainment districts is predictable. A low-rent part of town today becomes tomorrow's buzzy dining and drinking destination. Serious investors show up, as do smarter restaurants, and before long the area is overrun with bistros and martini bars. Scenemakers then latch on to another low-rent part of town—and the cycle begins again.

Visitors to Beijing will notice that the Chinese capital seems to have gone through just this of late, with formerly trendy Sanlitun giving way to the lakeside neighborhood of Houhai as the city's favored leisure zone. While Sanlitun degenerates into a graceless quarter of leather-jacketed touts and identical bars, Houhai is luring yuppie dollars with rather more modish venues.

Forerunner of this hot zone is the No Name bar, tel: (86-10) 6401 8541. Rather aptly, it has no front signage. But it is impossible to miss the tree-fronted, single-story structure if you find its neighbor Nuage, tel: (86-10) 6402 1663. Both bars were conceived by the scene's godfather, 34-year-old Bai Feng. The ex-concert cellist from Shanxi province says they came about unintentionally when he rented a house in the district. "When friends visited they really liked the setting. I then had the idea to turn [the house] into the No Name bar and café," says Bai.

There are now more than 70 small bars and restaurants in the lanes of Houhai, with more opening all the time. Some, such as Buffalo, tel: (86-10) 6617 2146, are among Beijing's funkiest. Of course, the area's popularity may well end up destroying the very qualities that led Bai Feng and others to the district in the first place. Houhai has now hit its sweet spot, busy enough to generate real buzz but not so overrun that you would avoid it—visit before it's too late. As for Beijing's next district of the month, watch this space.