How you doin’? Friends’ back at Beijing’s Smelly Cat Bar

China Minutes

How you doin’? Friends’ back at Beijing’s Smelly Cat Bar

Smelly Cat sells’ Friends’ sentiment in Beijing

This is the Smelly Cat Bar. — Two decades after Friends ended, the popularity of the hit American TV series continues among young Chinese. On December 4, a “Friends”-themed bar called Smelly Cat opened its doors in Haidian District, Beijing.

big white dog — “This is the big white dog that Ross bought for Joey, but Monica didn’t like it. And this is the bike that Ross gave Phoebe. He made up for her childhood!” As soon as they approached Smelly Cat, fans recognized the decorations on both sides of the doorway immediately. It drew fans taking many photos.

A man is making coffee — There are two rooms in the bar, one is a replica of the show’s fictitious Central Perk café. It fits with identical brick walls, tables, and the orange couch. The other is themed to the characters’ apartments. It is decorated by objects commonly used by them, such as books, records and movie posters. TVs in the Bar is playing episodes of Friends with Chinese subtitles continuously.

Guests have fun in the bar. — The show that chronicled the exploits of New York City pals Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey is famous for its humorous characters, warm stories and unique setting. Most of the episodes are cast indoors, and the stories are usually concerned with the sorrows and happiness in daily lives.

DVDs in the shop — In fact, Beijing once had a café called Central Perk, which opened from 2010 to 2020, accumulating a large number of fans. “Gunther”, Du Xin as his real name, has run this new bar.

As competition heats up in the café and bar industry, classic IP themes are emerging as a unique draw for customers. In Gunther’s opinion, as a bistro and restaurant bar, it doesn’t live on fans alone. Now the new bar is located in the Beijing Satellite Manufacturing Factory Science Park– the birthplace of China’s first artificial Earth satellite, which now serves as a business park and an urban park — more customers are young people who have never seen the old TV series.

A nice cake and good coffee — For this reason, the Bar has also worked on its menu, adding a lot of new Western food. Customers can also buy items such as fridge magnets in the Bar.

Photos taken by Lydia Wang.

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