Atmospheric Magpie fuses jazz with alcohol
Print Edition
JUST a hop, skip, and a jump away from the intersection of Wanping and Kangping lies Magpie 2, a hidden gem in the Shanghai bar scene. If you didn’t know it was there, you may walk right past it — it’s a little hole in the wall, without much exterior decoration.
Once inside, however, the little watering hole packs a double-punch of ambrosial beverages and ambient atmosphere that has customers coming back time and again.
As soon as I entered the bar, painted in a warm, welcoming red, I was greeted by the smiling face of its owner, Jacky Xue, who hastened to make me one of Magpie’s signature variations on a traditional Moscow Mule.
Xue, a self-professed jazz and liquor enthusiast, hails from the nearby province of Anhui, although he moved to Shanghai as a teenager.
On arrival, he immediately immersed himself in the local bar scene, where he cultivated a love of bartending and a passion for jazz music. His first job was at a bar in Xintiandi, which provided him with the wages necessary to purchase his beloved saxophone.
Since then, Xue has run the complete bar gauntlet — from managing a bar on the Bund to consulting for foreign companies to owning his own establishment.
In both of his Magpie locations, Xue fuses his love for liquor and music into an intimate jazz bar, where customers can come to chat with friends, drink house-made libations, and enjoy melodious jazz tunes.
When I entered the little speakeasy, my gaze was immediately drawn to the shelves loaded with various bottles of alcohol.
While Magpie’s selection includes the standard well liquors and top-shelf classics, a large portion is dedicated to Xue’s hand-made infused alcohols. It was the latter which piqued my interest: the lights reflected off the glistening glass bottles, each containing their own unique concoction of ingredients, appearing very much like rows of potions in an ancient apothecary.
Xue combines a lot of traditionally Chinese flavors with western alcohols, creating tantalizing flavor combinations.
Drinks feature ginger vodka, chrysanthemum gin, and even Sichuan pepper vodka.
While these infused spirits comprise the majority of Magpie’s signature drinks, the bar also features traditional cocktails, such as Manhattan and Negroni. Aside from that, Xue can make just about anything off menu as well — in the past, he has whipped up his own version of a Hot Toddy, featuring cinnamon-infused whiskey, all at my behest.
If you make an appointment, he will be available to teach you about the art of bartending and mixing spirits between 3pm to 5pm every Sunday.
Like music, Xue believes that bartending and alcohol is a form of art. His artistic tendencies, he said, came naturally as his father was a print-maker and a skilled erhu player.
Xue was immersed in music from a young age, when his father taught him to play the traditional bamboo flute. Since he began his whirlwind romance with jazz music, the young entrepreneur has learned several other instruments, but his favorite, he said, is the trumpet.
While he has only been playing for a year, Xue confessed that he aspires to become a professional trumpet player, and that he has started to work on his own compositions.
While both Magpies have become famous for their generous pours and chill atmospheres, Xue is hoping to turn Magpie 2 into a proper jazz bar, featuring live music. Currently, jazz musicians play every other Sunday from 5pm to 8pm.
As for the future, Xue has big dreams. Aside from trying out new infusion combinations and perfecting his trumpet playing, he hopes to open a Magpie 3 in the future.
For now, however, the two Magpies are enough to keep him busy. His cousin runs the original Magpie while Xue can be found bustling around Magpie 2, making drinks and chatting with customers.
Magpie
Tel: 150-0036-5905
Address: 189 Yongkang Rd (Magpie); 42 Wanping Rd (Magpie 2)
Opening hours: 5pm-12am
Average per person: 55 yuan
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