It’s a tough feat to pull off a themed bar successfully. You need all the right elements, and even when you have them, cheesiness always looms in the shadows. Wonderland, however, overcomes that possibility by leaps and bounds. This is not a place with a few Wonderland-esque trinkets. On the contrary – the frills and finery plunge you down the rabbit hole without a backward glance.
It’s fantastical and impressive, from the skewed shadows on the walls from dangling flamingos and birdcages, to floors swimming with live goldfish and fake foliage mimicking the Queen of Hearts’ tall hedges.
Details set the vibe – even the revealed piping in the ceiling is neon pink, creating a glowing maze above your head. The bathroom keeps things nonsensical, too, with two toilets right next to each other. The surprises don’t cease. And of course, there’s a magnificent, wildly hued mural of Wonderland-a-la-Tim Burton’s film serving as a red-carpet area for a great selfie.
Leading the mad party is Johan Holmberg (Funkadeli, The Parrot, and now-shuttered el Coctel) alongside Mr Gino, a petit black rabbit who has free range of the land. Plop down on a plush velvet couch, sit around the tea table proper-like or grab a stool on the sandy terrace garden to do your sipping. While Holmberg and his team will prepare any drink you fancy (and there’s a claw-footed bathtub full of beer at the ready), the signature cocktails fit make-believe Wonderland’s bright side: most are sweet, sour and quirky, but also strong and well priced at 65RMB. There’s a short menu of bar snacks both kooky and safe, like purple sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallow peaks, a charcuterie board and garlic mushrooms with magenta beetroot puree.
Served in a delicate tea cup, Wonderland Rules is a winner, a frothy-brimmed and pepper-sprinkled mix of gin, rose syrup and cucumber. The electric blue orange cream foam adds some whimsy to Absolem Sin’s less memorable blend of Jameson, cointreau and cranberry, while the Strawberry Sour delights the tongue like a chilled glass of spiked summer berry lemonade. The Mushroom Garden is a fresh tipple of sugared mint and gin, but could benefit from a bit more fungi flavour aside from the skewered mushrooms resting across the glass.
Big thumbs up on the whimsical side, but the menu could use a few additions for less sugar-inclined palates. The fruity, fanciful cocktails are nice, but aside from a negroni in a teacup, what’s a Jabberwocky to drink?
And how about some tea-based cocktails for the Mad Hatter? While you can have yourself a ‘tea party’ – any cocktail made giant size in a tea pot accompanied by four tea cups for 200RMB – the leafy brews are currently absent. The menu is set to rotate frequently, so we hope to see tea in the future.
Still, this place is a trip – a giddy haven for daydreamers wanting to escape a typical night of 90RMB cocktails in dimly lit lounges. As the sign above the bar says, everyone’s mad in Wonderland… take the leap, embrace the eccentric. Leave tipsy.
Wonderland 1311 Xinzha Lu, near Shaanxi Bei Lu.
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