Finding it
A heavy door with no sign
23 of 62 posts say the door is hard to find
The bar faces Jiaodaokou South Street, not a hutong, and people still walk past it. There is no Chinese sign. The small lettering on the door reads Obst Zimmer by MMC, German for “fruit room”. The door itself is heavy metal and usually shut, so posts tell you to push, or pull, with some conviction.
One visitor stood right at the map pin and only found the door when a staff member came out to put up a “full” sign. Another says map apps can still send you to the old bar on Banchang Hutong, which closed in 2023. A visitor who had hunted for it in the hutongs as a student found it later on the main road.
“I was right at the pin and still couldn’t see a door.”
Xiaohongshu post, Jul 2026
Xiaohongshu post, Jul 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Oct 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026
Most talked-about drink
The red bean whisky (红豆沙威士忌)
17 posts mention it. 11 like it, 3 found it too sweet or disliked it
Sweet red bean paste, a common Chinese dessert, shaken with whisky into something like a whisky sour. The texture is what people remember. It is thick and a little grainy, and one visitor says you have to keep stirring or the bean settles. Fans call it the house signature and order it on every visit.
It is also the drink most often called too sweet. Two visitors in September 2026 found it cloying, and a fan of sour, bitter drinks thought it tasted bad. One visitor noticed it changes with the bartender. Hers was less sour than expected, and asking for extra alcohol made it harsh.
“A really strange texture. It actually is gritty, and I loved it.”
Xiaohongshu post, Nov 2025
Xiaohongshu post, Nov 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Jan 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Oct 2026
Signature drinks
Pick a fruit, a spice and a spirit
51 posts review the house drinks or a drink they built
The menu works like a game. Choose a fruit or vegetable, then a spice or herb, then a base spirit, and the bartender builds the drink. Some posts add a fourth step, short or long. Favourites people built include watermelon with coriander, lychee with sea salt, raspberry with shiso, and melon and pear with mint. A visitor who had tried build-your-own bars in other cities called this the best of them, because pumpkin tasted of pumpkin and celery tasted of celery. It does not always land. One group loved their first round and found the next three, left to the bartender, odd.
There is also a list of set drinks. Prague Spring (lime, pineapple, vodka) is the light, sour-sweet one. The guava drink with sour plum, coconut and dried tangerine peel is thick and fruity. The Pandan Cobbler comes over crushed ice in a paper takeaway box. A jasmine and pear drink, made with jasmine tea and fresh pear, appears in seven posts and several call it off-menu. In October 2026 the bar launched its first seasonal menu, five drinks named after fairy-tale characters.
Most posts describe the drinks as fruity, light and easy. Six say they are sweet, or that you can hardly taste the alcohol. One visitor who built two gin drinks found them on the tart side and not sweet at all.
“Pumpkin tastes like pumpkin, celery tastes very much like celery.”
Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2025
Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Oct 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Feb 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Oct 2026
Classics
There if you want them
4 posts mention ordering classics
A handful of visitors went off the fruit menu for a Brooklyn, a Spumoni, a Mint Julep or a French Connection. One found the Brooklyn a little strong. Nobody had a bad word for the classics, but few people order them.
Xiaohongshu post, Jan 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Jan 2023
Bartenders
They ask what you like
13 posts talk about the bartenders
Most of these posts describe bartenders coming over to ask about your taste, your preferred spirit and how sour or sweet you like it, then making something to match. Two friends who picked the same fruit and spirit, with different spices, got two quite different drinks. One visitor heard that a bartender has worked here for ten years, and another wrote fondly about a bartender they first watched seven or eight years ago, who seems not to have aged.
Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Jan 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025
Service
Busy but friendly
5 posts talk about service. 4 kind, 1 critical
Visitors describe staff as friendly and quick to respond, though drinks can be slow when the room is full. When the bar was packed one night in 2024, the owner carried out a stool so a visitor could drink on the pavement.
The one complaint came from a group playing cards at a back table. Staff asked them to stop after two hands, and they left puzzled. Card games are not allowed.
“The owner brought out a stool and we sat drinking by the road.”
Xiaohongshu post, Jul 2024
Xiaohongshu post, Jul 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026
Food
The pizza is half the reason
41 of 62 posts write about the food
Thin-crust pizza comes up in 37 posts, and several call it the best pizza in any Beijing bar. The Little Devil (小恶魔), with salami, olives, anchovy and fresh chilli, is named in nine and nobody dislikes it, though one found it just fine and another a little salty. The Three Musketeers, with three kinds of ham and rocket, and the house MMC pizza are the other regulars. Tuesday is pizza day. One visitor in 2024 paid ¥50 for any pizza, and later posts say half price.
Beyond pizza, people order the sausage platter, chicken wings (one visitor raves about the dip, another found them bland), thick-cut fries, fish and chips (half price on Wednesdays, say three posts), a sweet shrimp tartare, and a cheese and ham board. The pepper tart is the dish one visitor said to skip. There are no free bar snacks.
Not everyone is won over. One visitor called it all basic pizza and wings at a poor price for what it is.
“Honestly, I think the food here is better than the drinks.”
Xiaohongshu post, Feb 2026
Xiaohongshu post, Feb 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Oct 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Apr 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Nov 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026
The room
Plush toys, candles and close tables
25 posts describe the room. 16 mention the Jellycat toys
The bar counter is covered in Jellycat soft toys, mostly fruit and vegetables, and the theme changes every so often. Sixteen posts mention them. Later in the evening the lights go down and each table gets a candle.
Long-time visitors say the new room is bigger and brighter than the old hutong bar, with more seats. It is still small, and tables sit close together. Two found it loud, one so loud you have to shout, while another found it calm.
Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Nov 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2026
Seats and crowds
Come at opening
25 posts talk about getting in
Posts give a consistent picture. One group arrived at 6pm to a full room and waited ten minutes with three tables ahead of them. At 6.30pm on a weekday another got the last table. In July 2026 a pair who arrived at 6.30pm waited about 40 minutes behind five tables. Others waited half an hour on a weekday, or up to an hour. On a quiet February evening one visitor walked straight in at 6.40pm.
The safest advice in the posts is to come when the doors open. When it is full, people sit on a row of small chairs by the street, or wait at a bar nearby.
Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Nov 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Jul 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Feb 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Dec 2024
Price
Good value for Beijing
18 posts mention price. 5 quote ¥80–85 a cocktail
Cocktails are about ¥80. Several visitors call it one of the best-value bars in Beijing, and spending per person with food comes to about ¥190–250. Tuesday pizza and Wednesday fish and chips make it cheaper still. One visitor felt the food was overpriced for what it is.
Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026
Toilets
Outside, down the street
3 posts mention the toilets
There is no toilet inside. Visitors walk to a public toilet nearby. One puts it about 100 metres away to the right and found it not very clean.
Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2024 · Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025
How people hear about it
Word of mouth, for years
8 posts say how they found it
People come because friends sent them or because they had heard about the queues for years. One has been coming since university and followed the bar from the hutong to the main road. One visitor arrived expecting great things and found it did not live up to the name.
Xiaohongshu post, Jun 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026
Complaints
Too sweet, too loud, too famous
2 negative posts, 5 mixed
Both negative posts are from September 2026 and both found the red bean whisky too sweet. One also found the room too loud and the food ordinary. The other gave the bar two stars out of five and said the best thing about it might be the pizza.
Of the mixed posts, one group loved its first round of drinks and disliked the second. One hated the red bean whisky but liked the guava. One wanted a drink that could not be made that night, was stopped from playing cards and found the toilet a walk away. One rated the pizza highly but skipped the pepper tart and found the menu art odd. The last found a hawthorn and red bean drink too much like Chinese medicine.
Our counts only cover Xiaohongshu.
Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Sep 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, Aug 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Jan 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Mar 2025 · Xiaohongshu post, Apr 2026 · Xiaohongshu post, May 2026
We searched Xiaohongshu, China’s main lifestyle and review app, for posts about Mao Mao Chong under its Chinese name, MMC and Obst Zimmer. We set aside posts by the bar and its designers, posts about the old hutong bar that closed in 2023, a guest-bartender night, list posts that only name the bar and posts with no text, which left 62 by visitors to the current bar. We read each one in full ourselves to make the counts. The summaries and translated quotes are ours, and the links go to the original posts. Our counts only cover Xiaohongshu. Last checked 2026-10-20.