(Cityweekend)
Updated: 2007-03-23 10:48

Sunflower is a not a classic bar, but it is classy. This shmancy, three-storey resto, carved out of an old Nanxincang granary, keeps its 500-year-old doors open until the last customer leaves. Why Sunflower? "Because it's beautiful," says the bar girl affably. Indeed, the clientele is not going to be demanding Qingdao by the quart (Sunflower doesn't serve Qingdao). People will come for the thick wine book with the expected Lafite vintage (RMB2,480), but also featuring a surprisingly number of old world wines at less than RMB300 a bottle. You can buy one vintage by the glass, but that's not what you do at Sunflower. You buy a bottle of juicy red and pair it with the chocolate glazed with ginger and orange peel (RMB48).

Decor-wise, Sunflower reflects the LAN-ification of the Beijing high-end. It's not post-modern as much as post-minimal. Gaudiness has come back into fashion. Not tasteless, but a little fun. Check the stuffed animal mice hanging down one of the old granary poles or the Elvis commemorative plate. Sunflower is short on comfy nooks to hide in, but if management makes good on their plan to have some live music on the second floor, it will have chance to draw in a well-heeled, Elvis-kitsch crowd.

Sunflower
Address: 11 Nanxincang, 22 Donsishitiao
Tel: 010-6409-6438