"See and be seen" is a fitting motto for Eye Ultra Lounge, a nice play on words, which is perhaps indicative of the management's attention to every last detail. "We're very intentional about our direction," says owner Alan Wong, who compares Eye Ultra's arrival on the Beijing scene to that of Centro's all those years ago. "We want to create a lounge experience equivalent to when Centro first hit the scene."

Fittingly enough, Wong has enlisted the visionary talents of Sebastien Noat, the very man who set up Centro in Beijing. A graduate of Lausanne in Switzerland, known as the Harvard of hotel schools, Noat is responsible for crafting the unique concept with which Eye Ultra is set to make its mark on Beijing.

As far as aesthetics are concerned, Eye Ultra immediately engages its customers with a sleek, modern design, which you'd perhaps expect from Wong, the man behind Hatsune and Kagen. In addition to looking great, Eye Ultra's strength lies behind the bar, where a friendly and efficient staff brings the ever-evolving drinks selection to life. As well as the classics, Japanese fusion cocktails (averaging RMB 60) are mixed with nigori - unfiltered, exceptionally tasty sake, which is near impossible to find in Beijing.

Wong doesn't see Eye Ultra as a strutting ground for the capital's cosmopolitan peacocks. Instead he hopes that the lounge will become the flagship for champagne culture in Beijing, breeding a subtle competition between customers: who looks the best and who drinks what. "Insider" knowledge of unlisted specials and bespoke cocktails will also help boost the reputation of this lounge experience, hitherto unavailable in Beijing. Oliver Robinson

Eye Ultra Lounge

Block 8, Apartment 8 Complex, Chaoyang Gongyuan Xilu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 010-6508 8585