Article By Mike Leaner
#17 Gaoxin 1 road, Gaoxin District.
高新区高新一路17号(志诚丽柏酒店西侧100米,汉庭酒店旁)
(029) 8881 6510
10:00am – 1:00am
Average Price per Person /人均消费: 40RMB
PROS: Cool décor, affordable prices, interesting drinks
CONS: Not the most obvious spot for a bar so you might have trouble finding it the first time
I’m going to try to make a term happen right now: “Batman Bars”—bars that Bruce Wayne during the day and Batman themselves at night. T-Clinic is one such bar. During the day you’ll find it eccentric yet mild-mannered, a place where you can sit down for a quiet cup of something and a sandwich or salad and feel satisfied that you didn’t eat junk food. But I went at night.
At night, the lights dim and the set of surgical clothes and tools hung above the bar like pieces of a model kit that’s yet to be assembled are backlit, giving them an extra edge of the macabre. The doctor of this clinic is definitely a Jeckyll/Hyde type, and there are a couple of fun details that support this idea—for example, a menu that is white on one side and filled with healthy meal options for T-Clinic’s daytime offerings, and when you flip it, it’s black and full of junk food and potent, ghoulish cocktails.
If you’re looking for something not so morbid, T-Clinic does great on normal cocktails, like a stiff Long Island Iced Tea and a series of signature shaved ice drinks that have nice flavors like cucumber lime and another I tried that was pink and tasted of Bailey’s. But if you’re looking for something truly different, try out Grandma’s Eyes (a take on a White Russian that has a giant lump of frozen coffee in it) or the lychee-flavored Grandpa’s Teeth, which comes replete with a set of gummy teeth floating in it.
One drink very quickly turned into four, and the bar’s aesthetic morphed from intriguing kitsch into a part of the core experience. The little things in this place—fortunes hidden inside plastic pill capsules, a table lined with wheelchairs—add up to something bigger. I had no idea what to expect coming into this, but as my drinks turned into a heady buzz I found that I was not only enjoying the bar but was excited and amused by it, even though I was alone.
So, if you’re kicking around the Gaoxin Road area (near where the airport shuttle used to stop), this is a great, affordable place that’s so unique it’s sure to be a hit with you and the people you’re spending the evening with. And if you can get past the undeniably bad karma of being a healthy person tooling around in a wheelchair, you can take one for a spin.
Mike Leaner likes to get dirty but not for free. He can be reached at reviews@xianease.com