Big news, boys and girls!! I have it one excellent authority that Maxim's of Paris (not Maxim's of Hong Kong!!) is planning to open a restaurant in Shanghai later this year!!! I understand the restaurant will be situated within the new Shanghai Opera House on People's Square. How exciting!!! I once had dinner at the Maxim's Restaurant in Beijing, which is now closed, and it was excellent except for the fact that my teeth suddenly found a piece of lead in the pheasant I was eating! Crunch!! Ouch!!! I hope the Shanghai Maxim's will only stock wild game that has been killed in a way which is humane both to the birds and to us!!
I was walking down Urumqi Lu the other night when I noticed that the Angel Bar, near the Shanghai Hotel has closed and the sign taken down. I don't miss it. I tried to go in a couple of times, and was always stopped by the heavily made-up girl at the door, with some weak excuse. I can make some giesses about what the Angel was all about, but who knows?? Maybe they saw me as being competition for their own stars! As if I'd be interested!!!
Last night at MGM I saw a boy with a beeper strapped to his belt!! He looked so out of place amongst the crowd of people near the entrance making endless phonecalls on their portable phones. It looks like the possession of beeper is becoming a new definition in Shanghai for "under-privileged"!!!
We have another new bar in the consulate area near Hengshan Lu. This is called George V, it is on Urumqi south of Huaihai Lu, north of Hengshan Lu. The manager is a lovely French-Swiss gentleman with a delightfully sexy accent named Frank. He looked at me and in an understated Swiss sort of way said: "You are quite pretty." "You are quite Frank," I replied.
The bar is just wonderful. Three storeys, all wood, like a mini Paulaners, or a multi-storey Cotton Club. Frank said he plans to have the Sunflowers playing there several nights a week. Aaah, I said, but which Sunflowers!!! It turns out it is the Shirley, Molly and Angel Sunflowers NOT the Club Absolute Sunflowers!! How confusing, but rather two sets of sunflowers rather than none at all.
Byeeeee!!!
One Night in Shanghai -- is like a year in any other place!!! There was a song I heard once that went something like that, I can't remember who by, if you know email me.
So. Here was my Saturday night. First, I dined at Mars, the Chinese restaurant with live jazz at 88 Changshu Lu. Except that there's no live jazz any more. One sweet waiter told me that business is so bad, that it just made no sense to employ the band any longer. He said the boss was thinking of changing the restaurant into a "head-shaking" dancehall. !!!!
Now, that's interesting. A few days ago, I was at Pink, the new bar/disco on Tongren Lu, and the manager there said something similar, that he wanted to attract the "head-shaking" crowd. To me, "head-shaking" refers to the effects of a certain artificial substance often found these days in discos, or so I'm told. Either these establishments are considering trying a highly adventurous forms of business, or else the term is moving beyond its original meaning and coming to refer to a form of dancing as well. Who knows? Anything is possible these days.
I went to the Blues and Jazz Bar briefly, which has re-opened again on Sinan Lu after moving for a week to the Cypress Hotel. Then to Park 97, and on to YY's where I choked on the smoke upstairs for a while (ughh!) before going for a quick dance downstairs.
Then on to MGM, which is definitely the place to be these days. there was a crowd of opeople trying to get in, but of course they opened the door for me immediately and I slid inside. Ah, the pleasures of being a celebrity!! I saw man-about-town Paul outside in his Nehru jacket, but he may just have been on the phone. I can't believe the MGM staff would keep him out.
Incidentally, MGM's name is related to me in a round-about way. The owner came to me once and asked if he could call it MM's after me, and I said no. So he stuck a G in the middle for some reason, and there we are!!!
I then went on to Yangyang, the old JJ's disco, but it was 2:15 am by the time I got there and it was already closed!!! Everyone is at MGM's, I guess. Including at least two people with red hair. This hair dyeing craze in Shanghai is getting out of control! I used to be amazed at the colours Coco used to come up with, but with Shanghai fashions developing so fast, even he is now looking conservative!!! Where will it all end?! Who knows? All I know is that I will be there if I can to report it for you, my darlings!!!
Byeeeee!!!
