Area:

On Wuding near Wanhangdu Lu. Wuding's got all macked out recently (with Lab, new Kaiba, Cafe des Stag II) but this is the crap end, the quiet west-end of the street in the interzone between west Jing'an and Zhongshan Park. There's nothing else really near it. It's a pretty drab state of affairs there, Mokkos being the one bright spot in the terraced rows of pajama shops and government-run cigarette and cognac stores. It's almost always raining on this street. Mokkos is slightly tricky to find, which has been great for the bar. It's back off the street, in a plain building without much signage and no windows. It's not hidden. It's not secret. People who gush about things being secret are trying way too hard. Mokkos is just out of the way and doesn't make a big deal of itself. It doesn't need to because it's so small. Customers are almost all regulars, mainly young Chinese, though at weekends it draws foreigners.

What is it:

A small, authentic Japanese shochu bar. Four tables and room for eight more at the bar. They only serve beer and shochu, and a few mixed drinks made with shochu. There's no menu, they just have hundreds of bottles up on shelves. You point at what you want, or you talk to the bar staff and they'll talk you through some options. But rather than being one of those stiff, lonely-salaryman type of places, Mokkos pumps out a steady playlist of reggae and dancehall throughout the night. The bar staff are big music fans, notably Lamu, who lends her name and her massive smile to the place. She used to sing at Anar on Sunday nights and still pops up sometimes as a vocalist at jam sessions or sings impromptu at Mokkos. So, little Japanese shochu bar with irie staff and Jamaican vibes. Winner.

Why it’s good:

It's the limited menu — plus the staff and the music — that makes a night at Mokkos memorable. Rather than drink the same mixed spirits or beer that you might automatically order up on the Bund or Yongfu Lu, here you're going to expose yourself to the world of distilled Japanese booze. Shochu (distilled rather than fermented, like sake) is made from barley, rice, sweet potatoes, buckwheat or sesame. Here it's mostly poured neat, over hand-shaped balls of ice, if you desire. Most varieties are about 25% alcohol, so stronger than wine, but far weaker than western spirits or baijiu. Shochu made from barley tastes to me like scotch, a weaker scotch. In fact, it tastes a bit like a highball — a scotch and soda — smooth, warm, but not pungent. The stuff made from sweet potato tastes more like vodka, with a bite and a strong flavor of alcohol. It tasted to me like a moonshine made of honey I had once on a collective farm in Belarus. True story. A bit harsh going down but full of flavor. The stuff made from rice comes in different strengths, 20-30%. The 20 was fragrant, slightly fruity, smooth, like a palatable form of baijiu. Buckwheat has a stronger flavor, full in the nose and smokey. They also have one type made from sesame leaf, and another made from potatoes. Probably other stuff, there's about fourteen trillion bottles squeezed up on shelves behind the bar, so you're never going to run out of different types of shochu to try.

Atmosphere:

Small, dark and cozy, perfect for winter (though it can be a little chilly). The young, chain-smoking Chinese kids who line the bar all seem to know each other and know the staff. Everyone sits cracking peanut shells and talking. Handfuls of nuts, sweet or salted, go for 5rmb. They measure out the shochu in a tooth mug. The bar fills with the scent of pink grapefruit. The staff are chatty. The music whirs round — reggae, roots, dancehall — positive vibes fill the narrow space. Interaction with those behind the bar is high, because most orders involve a conversation of some sort. Since the previous time I went in, they've employed a girl who speaks good English, which makes ordering easier if your Chinese vocabulary doesn't extend to the names of grains. The drinks are strong and short, so things get noisy quite quickly, though it's not a drunken crowd. By 10pm on a Wednesday night it was full, which is to say 15 people were there.

Prices:

There's no menu, and no sign of prices. When you order, they'll offer you a couple of bottles, all of them large and inscrutable and scrawled with Japanese characters. You can pick which one smells the best, or whichever packaging you like the best, or ask the staff to explain what's what. But I'd say just pick the nearest one, try it, then move through the others until you find one you especially like, mixing up the grains to get a sense of everything: barley, sweet potato, rice and so on. Most glasses of shochu come in around 40-60rmb. If you're worried about the price, you'll have to ask how much each one is, but they're not likely to suddenly sneak a highly expensive one in there without telling you. These are good people. Nuts are 5rmb. Beers about 30rmb, if memory serves. Nothing's vastly overpriced. For a night here, drinking at some speed, expect to pay around 200rmb per person to get a bellyfull of booze and peanuts.

Ordering Recommendations:

I like the barley shochu, and so do most Westerners I've talked to. The other stuff all tastes similar to me. The barley stuff tastes like smooth, watery whisky. If you're not into straight spirits, their grapefruit shochu cocktail is popular. It used to be the only mixed drink they offered, but on my last visit I saw some other stuff they were building on the bar with fruit juices and soda water and sour plums. Again, there's no menu, so I can't tell you more about that. I'd say go down and talk to the staff, talk about what you like and experiment with a few things you've never tried before. You won't go for long without hitting something interesting or tasty. Oh, plum wine. They also have a lot of that, if you want something milder and sweet. Mokkos opened a second branch this time last year on Jinling Dong Lu, out near the Bund. It's much larger but keeps the same ethos. In truth, I've not been there since it opened, so I don't know how it's doing. It seemed a large place in a rather expensive part of town, like maybe it would struggle to make ends meet, but it's certainly worth keeping in mind if you're out that way and want somewhere more interesting to drink than Captain's or Bund 22. Mokkos Lamu, 1245 Wuding Xi Lu, near Wanhangdu Lu, 武定西路1245号, 近万航渡路. Full listing here. Listing for the other one here.