escapes
Holidays, hotels and insider travel news
Flask
CHINA
Hai Time 6 hot new nightspots in Shanghai. By Ric Stockfis Union Trading Company
The PuLi Hotel and Spa
T
o call Shanghai a party town is an understatement. Every week sees a new bar or club opening, and about a dozen celebrating anniversaries of some sort. Staying on top of where’s hot is a full-time job, but fortunately, we’ve done it for you.
1. The Cut
From the same group as the infamous Bar Rouge and dining experience Ultraviolet, this year-old restaurant and bar atop IAPM mall is now the hottest spot in town on a Thursday night (from 5-10pm two drinks go for just 60RMB ($13)). Come for the affordable steak and fries sets, but stay for the split-level rooftop bar with its glammed-up expat crowd, indiedisco soundtrack and views across the city. IAPM, Unit L6-606, 999 Huahai Rd., www.facebook.com/thecut.shanghai
for snobbery, but is in fact pretty low-key. It’s got some of the best (and best value) vodkabased cocktails in town and a soundtrack (think The Killers and The Smiths) far removed from your usual table-service spots. There’s an outdoor terrace, but if it’s views you’re after you’ll have more luck at newbie Shen (7/F, 7 Yan’an Dong Rd., +86 21 63169119), an upmarket Bund-side offering from the guys behind legendary local bar DADA. 6/F, 130 Beijing East Rd., near Huqiu Rd., www.facebook.com/THENESTshanghai
2. Le Baron
4. Union Trading Company
Local lifestyle mag City Weekend’s Best New Club 2015, this grungy, Parisian-styled nightspot is the place on everyone’s lips as soon as they’re done with the one they’re currently in. The guys at the door can be strict (dress up or else be born beautiful), but once you make it in it’s a refreshingly unpretentious place, decked out in every shade of red and witness to some loose behavior. 7/F, 20 Donghu Rd., near Huaihai Rd., www.facebook.com/lebaronshanghai
3. The Nest
Part of the stalwart MUSE family of clubs, this gastro-lounge is a few blocks back from the Bund. With prime real estate and the Grey Goose partnership, it checks all the right boxes
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Le Baron
The Cut
SG MAGAZINE FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2015
Speakeasies are ironically, no longer hard to find in Shanghai, with crowds flocking to the likes of Speak Low (579 Fuxing Middle Rd., near Ruijin No.2 Rd.) and newbie Flask (432 Shaanxi South Rd., near Fuxing Middle Rd.) whose doors are hidden behind bookshelves and vintage Coke vending machines. And while year-old Union has the same Prohibition-era charm, it dispenses with all the pretense: it’s simply a very, very good cocktail bar (with a 100-strong seasonal list) in a cozy spot on one of the former French Concession’s leafy lanes. 64 Fenyang Rd., near Fuxing Middle Rd., +86 21 6418-3077, www.facebook. com/pages/The-Union-TradingCompany/1431244400479527
5. Starling
Styled like a cooler version of Raffles’ Long Bar (there’s even beef rendang on the menu), this cocktail bar is at the Taixing Road complex, a stack of F&B venues that opened mid-2014 in a restored courtyard amid the old lanes off Nanjing Road that’s extremely popular right now. The ground-floor, colonialinspired Starling is a great place to people watch, before moving on for tapas at Tomatito (from acclaimed Spanish chef and Shanghai kingpin Willy Trullas Moreno) and even more cocktails at El Ocho and Logan’s Punch, all of which are right next door. 99 Taixing Rd., near Nanjing West Rd., www.facebook.com/pages/ Starling/1424463991172136
6. Zapfler
A four-month old dedicated craft beer spot on the infamous Yongkang Lu (a quiet backstreet just five years ago and now the Shanghai equivalent of the Khao San Road), this simple hole-in-the-wall stocks beer from a German-run brewery out in the small town of Jintan. They’re currently using 10 of their eventual 27 taps and turning out a range of ales, including the flagship Bearded Bear IPA, smoked and honey lagers and an alcoholic ginger beer. 42 Yongkang Rd., near Xiangyang Rd, www.facebook.com/pages/Zapfler-CraftBeer/1632306466981914
Essentials HOW TO GET THERE China Eastern gets you there from around $380 return, Singapore Airlines from $550. VISA Singaporean citizens don’t need a visa for stays up to 15 days. Other nationalities most likely will and can apply either at the embassy or through the China Visa Application Service Center (#16-01/02/02A, 80 Robinson Rd., 6713-9380, www. visaforchina.org). WHERE TO STAY We stayed at The PuLi Hotel and Spa (1 Changde Rd., +86 (0) 21 2216-6973, www.thepuli.com), which is just off central thoroughfare Nanjing Road West. The chic, design-driven hotel backs onto the small and leafy Jing’an Park, which means unobstructed views from many of the stylish 200-odd rooms and suites. It also boasts Shanghai’s first Anantara Spa. Rooms start from $389/night if you book through Design Hotels (www.designhotels.com).