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Live Music: “Mademoiselle et son Orchestre” – Up-tempo funky jazz-blues from Marie-Claude & her band!

Published on February 23, 2010 in Events, Music, Party and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

"Mademoiselle et son Orchestre" Live at Ginkgo
Next Performance: Saturday 27th February 2010 – 9:30pm (Supported by Joris. Free B4 9:30pm. 30 RMB after incl. a free drink)

Fronted by the beautiful and very talented Marie-Claude, ‘Mademoiselle et son Orchestre’ play up-tempo funky jazz blues with a Quebecois twist. Together with her band they perform their own original compositions together with covers of jazz classics from France and America, singing in French, English & Chinese. Marie-Claude is a force of nature on the stage singing up a storm and she always gets the whole crowd dancing.

For more information on Marie Claude please see her MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/mademoisellemali

New Russian Beer: Baltika №6 Porter & Baltika №8 Wheat Ale

Published on October 21, 2009 in Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

We are pleased to announce that we have added two Russian beers to our line up. Both are from St. Petersberg brewery Baltika (Балтика):

Baltika №6 PorterBaltika №6 Porter

Baltika Porter is “Number 6″ in the lineup of beers from the Russian brewery: a Baltic Porter. Baltic Porters are akin to Russian Imperial Stouts in that they can easily range from 7 to 10% alcohol by volume, and are robust, dark, roasty brews—the original Imperial Porters.

World Beer Awards 2009 Best PorterBaltika №6 Porter, a traditional dark beer brewed according to old English recipes, has been produced since 1994. It has an ebony colour and a woody aroma, with creamy, fudgy, toffeeish flavours. It is one of the most eminent and titled Russian beers, received numerous awards at both Russian and international competitions including Brewing Industry International Awards, European Beer Star Awards and Australian International Beer Awards. In July 2009 at the World Beer Awards in London it was recognised as the World’s Best Porter.

Acclaimed beer critic Michael Jackson (no relation) wrote about it on a trip to St. Petersburg. View the article here.

Enjoy Baltika №6 Porter at Ginkgo for 35 RMB.

Baltika №4 Wheat AleBaltika №4 Wheat Ale

Baltika’s award winning wheat beer is made according to a special recipe using wheat malt. This beer is unfiltered and is characterized by a thick dense foam, soft fruit aroma with spicy tinges and light sweetness.

Baltika №8 Wheat beer is one of the two kinds of Russian beer that were awarded the Brewing Oscar — the award of the Brewing Industry International Awards contest that has been annually held in the USA since 1886. Participating in the contest for the first time in 2004 Baltika Company was the only Russian producer to receive a bronze medal in the category of “Special Beer” for the Baltika №8 Wheat.

In 2008 the Baltika №8 received a bronze medal in the Wheat Beer Packaged category in the Australian International Beer Awards contest as well as the Golden Osiris in the Best Wheat Beer category in the professional tasting contest at the X Big Moscow Beer Festival.

Wheat has been used in brewing since old times. Its first use historically dates back to 1603 when a decree was issued in Bavaria allowing its use for brewing. At that time wheat beer became so popular in Bavaria that the government had to limit its production to leave enough wheat for bread-making.

Enjoy Baltika №8 Wheat Ale at Ginkgo for 35 RMB.

Get a 50% discount off the new Ginkgo Restaurant Menu till Oct 31st!

Published on October 5, 2009 in Events, Food and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Ginkgo New Restaurant Menu Discount

To celebrate the launch of the new Ginkgo autumn here, we are offering a too-good-to-miss 50% discount off your bill! This deal is available to all customers who visit Ginkgo before the end of the month. To qualify, simply print out the discount form available here, or ask for a form when you are in the restaurant.

What’s New?

First up we have a new chef who has been working closely with Olly to create the new menu. For items that remain from the old menu we have slashed the prices and tweaked things where there was room for improvements, as well as adding a range of new dishes. New on the menu we have:

Soups – Delicious Salmon Chowder, Roast Tomato Soup and Russian-style Beef Soup

Burgers – Homemade beef, chicken and salmon burgers.

Salads - Roast Chicken Couscous Salad with Feta, Spinach, Goat’s Cheese and pine nut salad and more.

Steak – Fillet Steak with a choice of sauces: Bearnaise, Red Wine, Black Pepper, Whisky and more.

Mediterranean Plate - Design you own plate by choosing from: French Ham, Grilled Chorizo, Grilled Peppers with Garlic, Selection of Cheeses, onion relish, bruschetta, marinated kalamata olives and more.

New Bar Snacks – New on our bar snacks menu we have a range of delicious meat and vegetable skewers including chicken satay with peanut sauce, as well as delicious “pot sticker” fried dumplings.

Also we have new pizzas, new panini, red wine beef stew, grilled chicken and many more new items.

The full menu can be seen here. Download the discount form here.

Live Music: “Pancho & Sal” – Kindred spirits melded through Latin harmony

Published on June 9, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Pancho & Sal
Join us at Ginkgo on Friday 19th June 2009 for special guests “Pancho and Sal” who are in town for a couple of weeks.

Born in Argentina, Pancho has been writing poems all his life. In the 80’s he moved to Europe, becoming a troubadour style musician, touring in many countries. With the Gypsies in the South of France, he created a new dimension of flamenco guitar and rhythms. After many years of musical exchange with other musicians, his folk music has influences from country, blues, reggae and south American folk.

Sal, who was born in England and raised in Canada, started playing accordion and clarinet at an early age. She compliments Pancho’s music with accordion, shakers, chachas, bombo and guitar.

The two met in 1984 in a town square in Cuzco, Peru. Their eyes met from across the square and it was love at first sight. It was also the beginning of a musical partnership that has endured and endeared the couple to so many audiences.

Singing in Spanish, English and French, their music inspires the audiences to participate and sing along. Concerts are designed to be positive and enthusiastic experiences introducing listeners to the beauty of Spanish language, music and culture.

Pancho and Sal’s live shows have a quality and atmosphere that can be hard to capture, other than by being there. Don’t miss the talented duo, joined together with friend Kamila Nasr, when they play at Ginkgo.

Albums

“Vivirei” -I Would live-
“Cuando Salga la Luna”, -When the Moon comes up-
“Revivir” -To Live Again-
“El Regalo” -The Gift-

Highlights

Pancho & Sal’s  highlights include appearances on French and English radio, CBC, 96.1, 102.7, 103.1 FM’s, 1540 Am, and CBC TV,  VTV, Shaw TV, Global, City TV, Multicultural channel 20, Mission Folk Festival, Harrison Festival of Arts, In Harmony Music Fest, Trout Forest, Caribbean Festival , North Van Folk Fest, Blue Mountain, Commodore Ballroom, and numerous places in the interior of British’s Columbia and Vancouver Island.

Links

Website:        http://www.panchoandsal.com
Videos:          http://www.panchoandsal.com/video.htm
My Space:     http://www.myspace.com/panchoandsal

Pink Pimm’s Party at Ginkgo with banging tunes from DJ Gaohu!

Published on May 25, 2009 in Drink, Events, Party and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Pink Pimm's Party

Summer is here!  What better way to cool down in the stifling heat than with a refreshing glass of Pimm’s, stuffed full of fresh fruit and mint? Join us at Ginkgo this friday night and enjoy glasses of Pimm’s by the glass and pitcher. The dress code is PINK, and those of you that get here before 10pm dressed accordingly will enjoy a free glass of Pimm’s for your trouble! Plus from 10:30pm DJ Gaohu will be playing up a storm on the decks! We hope to see you then – in PINK!

What’s Pimm’s you ask? See here for some education!

Live Music: “Amine Kouider” – Algerian Rai with Reggae beats, French Lullabies & Spanish Rumbas

Published on May 25, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Amine Kouider

Join us at Ginkgo on Thursday 4th June from 9:30pm for live music from from guitarist Amine Kouider who is Beijing for a few weeks. Born in Algiers, Algeria and currently living in the US, Amine has been singing for as long as he could speak. At the age of 4 he was nicknamed “cassette tape” because of his non-stop singing!

His music blends graceful Algerian Rai music with Reggae beats, French Lullabies with Spanish Rumbas. Amine sings in English, French, Arabic, Berber and Spanish. His acoustic performance will include original songs and covers from Manu Chao, Khaled, Bob Marley, George Moustaki and others. Don’t miss him before he leaves town!

UPDATE – Amine will be joined by the Australian percussionist, Zac Courtney, on Djembe.

Come and enjoy outside drinking on the Ginkgo Roof Garden

Published on May 9, 2009 in Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The Ginkgo Roof Garden
We are pleased to announce that after a week of hard work the Ginkgo roof garden is now open. Come down and enjoy a drink al fresco – perfect for these sunny afternoons! Thanks to TVD for the photo and to our beautiful models!

Live Music: “Chou Dofu Band” – A breath of fresh air for the Beijing jazz scene!

Published on April 22, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Stinky - The Chou Dofu Band MascotBill Zorn thinks of language as music, and music as language. “When I write a song, and when I play a solo, I try to think of a conversation, with all the pauses, inflection and rhythm that the natural flow of ideas imposes. I try to leave spaces to ‘take a breath’,” even though he plays guitar. Playing for 47 years, he is new to the Beijing scene, but his acoustic fingerstyle guitar has already caught the attention of the local cognoscenti.

Zorn’s latest musical offering, The Chou Dou Fu Band, has the critics all agog (or perhaps agag) again. With two guitars, bass and drum the CDF Band explores the more pungent regions of electric jazz. You won’t turn up your nose at the first whiff; their repertoire of originals and contemporary jazz covers is not your average 1950’s cheesy appetizer, but rather a hearty main course of energetic, danceable music for today. “The great classic jazz used themes from what was then contemporary media. We write most of the tunes we play, but we also reinterpret the great music from the ’60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s. Actually we’re still looking for great music from the ‘80’s, but haven’t found it yet”, says Zorn. And yes, they do manage to blend some of the acoustic guitar into the mix. But the addition of Dominician bassist Tim Timothy, French drummer Yvan Keller and Cuban guitarist Hansel Gonzalez, The Chou Dou Fu is definitely “zui chou de” (the best!).

For those that don’t already know, Chou Dou Fu is the traditional chinese ‘stinky tofu’, best described as smelling like a combination of roadkill, sewage and old basketball shoes.

Please see the ‘Upcoming Events’ box on the right of our web page for their next performance. Seen them play before? Please give them a star rating below. Post your reviews in the comments.
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Live Music: “Afrokoko Roots” – African ensemble playing afrobeat and reggae classics with Fela Kuti style

Published on April 3, 2009 in Events, Music, Party and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Afrokoko Roots at Ginkgo

Afrokoko Roots are an afrobeat and reggae band formed by 33 year old Nigerian percussionist Sunny Dada. They perform afrobeat music in the style of Fela Kuti as well as reggae classics from Bob Marley and others. They have toured extensively in mainland China, Macao & Hong Kong.

Born out of his desire to bring African music to China, Sunny formed the band soon after moving to Beijing two years ago. Sunny is a true multi-instrumentalist including mastery of percussion, trap drumming, piano, trumpet, bass guitar and singing. He is also an accomplished song writer and composer of instrumental arrangements. His passion for music was ignited when he was young in the church that his father founded, which exposed him to lots of musical styles and gave him an opportunity to hone his skills.

Afrokoko Roots will be playing live at Ginkgo from 10:30pm on Saturday 18th April. They will feature Sunny on lead vocals, rhythm section with drums, guitar and bass guitar, horn section with trumpet, sax and trombone, a female backing vocalist and percussion! They also bring hot African dancing girls! Prepare to experience one hell of a show!

Sunny’s MySpace page can be viewed here: www.myspace.com/sunnydee1ng

Planning to attend? Please RSVP on Facebook here.

Live Music: “No Name Trio” – Gypsy jazz guitar duo with the beautiful Zoe on accordion!

Published on January 13, 2009 in Events, Music and Uncategorized. Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

No Name TrioThe dynamic guitar duo of New Yorker Dan Brustman and Frenchman Nico Torrese, together with Chinese accordionist Wang Yi (Zoe), play fast-fingered gypsy jazz incorporating Manouche and American jazz standards. Their repertoire features music popularised by many famous artists ranging from Django Reijnhart to Yann Tiersen. The talented trio has a great reputation in the Beijing music scene for their skilled playing and vibrant execution, always putting a smile on your face and a spring in your step.

Their MySpace page can be seen here: www.myspace.com/nonametrio

Here is a video clip of them in action at the 2007 Nan Luo Gu Xiang street festival together with Marie-Claude Lebel on accordion:

Please see the ‘Upcoming Events’ box on the right of our web page for their next performance. Seen them play before? Please give them a star rating below. Post your reviews in the comments.
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