Saturday Night Bar Hopping: House of Roosevelt, Bar Rouge, M2

Spend the evening with Shua-Ru as she takes you to three of Shanghai's most popular bars.

As it turned out, the deal was a bust. The discount only applied on takeaways (except for champagne), and the bottle prices for some reason seemed twice those elsewhere. We often use the term Bund pricing when it comes to the premium on everything in that area, but now we have a new standard: Roosevelt pricing. The place was empty when I arrived around 9:30pm on a Saturday night and I'm not sure how they'll stay in business. Most of the Bund views, partially obstructed by other buildings between Roosevelt and the waterfront, certainly aren't enough to keep the venture afloat (the expansive terrace bar views however, are impressive). The owners need to come up with a new marketing story fast, before their brainchild becomes as defunct as its namesake administration.

The building itself can be best described as cavernous and appears to be divided into three restaurants and a smattering of bars, and while they are all very disconnected from one another, their menus all appear on the same piece of paper, leading to some confusion about what can be ordered where. While the wine looked like a terrible deal (mostly In the 150 RMB per glass range), food was actually affordable. In fact, the tasting plates for the red and whites were only 98 RMB per head. Appetizers were also in the 68 RMB range, which wasn't ridiculous. A tapas lunch set meanwhile, was 128 RMB. Unfortunately, since we had gone for the deal and wanted to sit and enjoy our wine, we decided to head elsewhere on the Bund.

A few steps later, we ended up at Bar Rouge, where the scene was surprisingly quiet until around 11:30 or so. After experiencing Roosevelt pricing, 80 RMB per cocktail Bund pricing looked cheap. I decided to take things easy and ordered a Perrier (50 RMB). I did decide my stomach might be ready for solid food again though and agreed to split a an order of "pita with 3 amazing dips" (also 50 RMB) with Buzz.

The pita was fluffy and piping hot. The dips were a bit strange, one having a rather strong anchovy flavor and another being more like a smoky, watery sauce than a dip, but the tomato option in the middle was quite tasty. And, in a very un-Bar Rouge, very un-Bund move, staff even provided three extra pitas for free when we requested more for the leftover sauce (gasp!). I decided to test fate and try a sip of Buzz's martini, which we determined lacked the finesse of those at El Cóctel, but was okay overall.

The scene was decidedly less snobby than I had anticipated, though Mark mentioned he almost gave up waiting to get in since the bouncer was refusing entry to a belligerent group of Germans at the front of the

line. I'll chalk this up to wanting to preserve the safety and relative serenity of the patrons within as opposed to being elitist. No bar on the Bund wants to risk a brawl that will probably end in the destruction of imported furniture and designer shoes. We sat, we sipped, we enjoyed the breeze. Finally, after a few hours of enjoying some of the best views the Bund has to offer, we decided to make a pit stop over at Rhumerie Bounty and the Apartment to meet up with Tom (one of my favorite people and Chief Editor of Enjoy Shanghai) for a hello.

After a few shots of rum and another dirty martini for Buzz (I stayed high and dry), we cabbed it over to Hong Kong Plaza in the Xintiandi area to meet another group of friends and dance into the dawn at M2 (where I forgot to take pictures). It was my first time at M2, and while I decided I preferred the atmosphere (décor and ventilation systems) over Muse, the dance space is a bit too cramped and also makes for a less pleasant experience for anyone that books a table. If you're seated toward the end of the lounge, you're likely to have some drunken patron stomp on your foot as he flails around in an attempt at "dancing." The other thing is that M2 just feels a bit more like where the spoiled Chinese kids play. Within my first ten minutes, I saw one of them so cracked out on something that he had to be carried out by security before he injured himself or others. The space bests that of Muse, but the attitude didn't. Give me the pool table and a larger dance floor any day. The other thing I should mention about M2 is that some people are referring to it as "the new Sin" since Sin has been shut down pending a resolution with its landlord. I suppose the vibe and crowd are similar enough, and M2 is offering the same 100 RMB for 10 drinks deal. So, if you were into Sin and are wondering what to do with your Saturday nights now, consider yourself informed.

I called it an early evening around 2:30am and emailed my boyfriend before crashing. If there's anything a night out in Shanghai's meat market reminds you of, it's how fortunate you are to be out of the game.

Shau-Ru is the manager of Dining Secretary's English department and one of the writers of the Shanghai food blog, Dumplings to Donuts. For more food-related adventures, check out www.diningsecretary.com/blog.