This new addition to the Chaoyang Park west strip comes complete with Justin Timberlake-styled staff, 3,000 yuan bottles of champagne and a cocktail called "Adios, mother f..".

Pepper, an ominous-looking establishment opposite the Goose and Duck and a few hundred yards from Suzie Wong's, is never going to win any awards for subtlety. But it certainly adds a pinch of spice to a bar area that was beginning to look as jaded as a Beijing cabbie at the end of a night shift.

On entering last Sunday, we were greeted by four rather over enthusiastic bar staff who shouted loudly in our ears before directing us to a table. The dcor is, well, pimpy in the tackier sense of the word. A crescent shaped bar takes center stage at the front of the room, which has a black-with-a-dash-of-purple theme going on. There's a small DJ booth at the back, a scattering of round tables and a curtained off gold coloured seating area where most of the aforementioned Dom Perignon (3,300 yuan) is probably swigged by the pouting divas this place aspires to.

Thankfully, champagne isn't the only thing on Pepper's detailed drink list. There are set whisky menus ranging from 600 to 1,888 yuan, dozens of decent cocktails mixed at the bar with wrist flicking skills that would make Tom Cruise proud (30-40 yuan) and a selection of nine beers with Tsingtao at 25 yuan a bottle and Grolsch at 38.

Rather touchingly, the drinks list is divided into categories with names like "Get drunk quick scheme" (which includes shooters for around the 40 yuan mark) and "For designated drivers".

Pepper is unlikely to present a real challenge to the classier yet more pretentious Suzie Wong's, but it's a welcome addition to the Chaoyang west's club of bars.

Pepper
Location: West Gate of Chaoyang Park, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 010-65920788/65069588