Bar Reviews
Friday, 09 October 2009 02:10
Written by Ned Kelly
Under a blinking red sign, down a long tongue of red carpet and through a large inflatable, vertical lip-like red entrance lies Dada, Xingfu Lu’s latest opening. Tucked between LOgO and Anar, this is deep in scenester territory – so it’s no surprise to find it managed and co-owned by music/event promoter Michael O. of Antidote renown. Inside, more reds in the form of comfortable couches and candles create a low-lit, lounge-like atmosphere. Lounge-like, because this intriguing little hole-in-the-wall does its best to defy definition. A short tour of the four walls: a brick bar, bottled-lined shelves and a TV showing sport; a projector screening surreal reels of stopmotion animation over a dancefloor; a DJ booth and stencil-graffiti artwork; a raised end with an orb of what can only be described as Christmas-colored fairy lights. It sounds schizophrenic, but doesn’t feel it.
Good beats play at a volume which you can appreciate while also having a conversation, while the menu offers a respectable selection of beers – including Vedett on tap and Xinjiang Black beer – from RMB20 up, and the cocktail list offers all the classics at prices so reasonable (RMB25 up) it’s quite possibly the cheapest place to get blind drunk in this city without actually risking going blind. We went for the Bloody Mary (RMB30) and a White Russian (RMB35) and so comfortable were we, and so good were they, that we went for two. As for the clientele, well, it’s the hipster crowd you’d expect – a place for the Alt-cool kids. On our visit, geek chic vinyl fetishists were sharing tales from the turntables with girls who were just straight-up chic. Hit it up before, between or after its two established neighbors, it works.
Dada
Daily 9pm-late. No cards. 115 Xingfu Lu, by Fahuazhen Lu (150 0018 2212)
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