I scootered over to the Jing A Taproom intending to have lunch there only to discover that they open at 5 PM. It's up in the 1949 compound behind the IBM building. It took me 18 minutes and 8 seconds (approximately) to get there from my office the way the scooter flies (via Er Huan).
Below are the hours of the Jing A Taproom. There was a friendly handsome bearded white guy in there (in addition to a gaggle of youngsters staring into laptops) who told me they open at 5 PM. I should have called ahead but that isn't my style.
See the QR code there? Yes, big in China.
Next door to the Taproom is the old Noodle Bar, which has been there for many many years, so I had lunch there. Here's the lunch menu:
I got the set lunch (beef brisket, tendon, and tripe) with thick spinach noodles, snack, and oolong tea for 48 kuai (US$7.74) (actually turned out to be 58 kuai (US$9.35) since the spinach noodles are 10 kuai extra -- not disclosed on the menu or verbally at the time, to my annoyance, though of course they were effusively apologetic later and I didn't make a scene like I would have done in my youth, mainly to show off my ability to scream "fluently" and at length in Chinese) .
I also got a small bottle of Heineken for the low low price of 45 kuai (US$7.25) since I was in the mood for beer, any beer. Oh, I also got the deep-fried tofu cubes with pepper and salt, which are excellent beer food, if you didn't know.
Deep-fried tofu, good beer food
You can sit in the courtyard, which was pleasant on a warm day like today, though the air quality left something to be desired (05-27-2015 12:00; PM2.5; 111.0; 180; Unhealthy (at 24-hour exposure at this level)). Below are my thick spinach noodles with brisket, tripe and tendon (see them all floating there?). They were OK. I'm not big on tripe or tendon but I'm not picky either, I'll eat anything (once).
Spinach noodley with floating bits
There is a 10% service charge (the horror!?!), but they do take credit cards and were quick with the fapiao. They did collect the money upfront which always makes me uncomfortable, like they think you're going to pull a runner, but it's actually nice simply to get up and leave when you're finished. Grand total was 133 kuai (US$21.44).
I scootered back to the office via San Huan which took 16 minutes 47 seconds (approximately) the way the scooter flies.