The capital's coolest bar has opened to show the winter weary in Beijing just how nice ice can be. Aria's Ice Bar, the first of its kind in the city, is built entirely from blocks of frozen H2O; think igloo meets VIP lounge. The novel concept comes courtesy of Aria's manager Danny Kane, who built his first ice bar years ago while working in Australia's snowfields. To complete the construction, he brought in "Michael the Iceman", a former chef at China World Hotel who has gone on to start his own ice-sculpting company.

Ice Bar was brought from his factory to the hotel by truck. Outside Aria's back door, 35 workers unloaded the blocks and assembled them like a jigsaw puzzle to create the 1.8-m-tall walls of the 3-m-wide by 5-m-long drinking area. Construction began at 10:30 pm and ended at 3 am on the day of the grand opening on December 29. The establishment also has a bar, table and alcohol display racks sculpted from frozen stuff.

"It's different," Kane says. "I always say that in a city, when it becomes cold, you never particularly enjoy the coldness. If you don't have any where to go, you just stay inside."

Visitors access the Ice Bar through Aria's back door, after making a quick stop at the coatroom to pick up windproof winter jackets. There are no seats, as management believes standing lowers a patron's propensity to succumb to the numb.

The recommended duration for visits to Ice Bar is 25 minutes to 35 minutes, although Kane says that, "If you have a shot of Belvedere Vodka, you could perhaps extend your stay".

The drink menu comes in package form, with the cheapest option, Chill Out, costing 180 yuan (admittance and two cocktails) while the most expensive, The Coolest Dinner in Town, goes for 1,088 yuan. Weather permitting, Ice Bar will open from 6 pm to midnight until Chinese New Year's Day, when it will extend its hours for its last bash. After that, it will be out with the cold and in with the new.

(Beijing Weekend January 9, 2008)