I'll Get The Janes If You Get The Hooch!

Janes & Hooch

It began during the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s, when throughout the US a barrage of secret bars appeared behind nondescript exteriors and passworded entryways, offering imbibers a taste of the good stuff in return for their ‘speaking easy’ to avoid police detection. While alcohol was soon re-legalised, the thrill of the illicit saloons was not forgotten, and in recent years a speakeasy resurgence has gripped the globe, first in Europe then the US and now, thanks to cocktail kings Leon Lee and Warren Pang (of Apothecary and d.Lounge fame respectively), in Beijing too.

With its Dean Martin movie catchphrase-inspired moniker (where ‘janes’ are dames and ‘hooch’ is, well, hooch) and a glamorous setting of leather banquettes and dark-wood panelling, J&H ushers guests on a vintage artefact and jazz-soundtracked trip down New York’s memory lane. The libations list features imported whiskies, rums and wines alongside signature bourbon-based cocktails like the Revolver (Buffalo Trace with coffee liqueur and orange bitters) and the Boulavadier (Old Fitzgerald, Campari and Cinzano rosso). There’s also a short menu offering chorizo, pimento dips, and specialty Stella Bay Farm oysters to sate pickling palates, and best of all, there’s no password!