Casa Romano, the nightclub on Huaihai Lu which broke a record by closing on its very first night, is now open again, and I think it's wonderful. You must go along and experience it. The club has a very interesting and comfortable design, all it lacks at this point is customers. I was up there last week and watched in amazement at the crafted, coordinated dancing of the three singers in the band that is currently performing there - 911. I met three members of the band -- who glory in the names Ivory, Brazil and Nasty, and they are charming. Such good dancers.

While there, I bumped into Jesse Zhang, who is in charge of the entertainment in Casa Romano. I haven't seen her for ages, so we had a good chat in the cigar room which features a bar consisting of a huge fish tank. There are no fish in it, however. I suspect the barboys, who have significant amounts of time on their hands at present, fished them all out and ate them. They denied it, but who knows? There is a fumidor on one side of the cigar room featuring a wide selection of Cuban cigars, including one which costs 880 yuan. You may be aware of my views on cigar smoking, which is that it should be a crime carrying at the very minimum a life sentence. No, perhaps that's a little over-the-top. But you get my drift.

Back to Jesse. I asked her why the club had closed down for six weeks immediately after the opening. Her eyes glazed over, and she said: "I'm not sure." Which was of course the correct answer.

This week, I also found time to visit Whisky-a-go-go on Jianguo Lu, which it turns out has absolutely nothing to do with the Whisky-a-go-go which closed on Yanan Lu more than a year ago. Although in fact there is one connection -- business is terrible. I had a long chat with Dong Dong, the tall, gorgeous creatyure who runs Whisky, and she says she is not optimistic. I told her my view: repeating the old saw the only three things matter in this business -- location, location and location. She loses on all three. It's not absolutely true, of course. DD's proved that with its bar on Xingfu Lu. But they provided attractions which overcame the disadvantages of being in a hopeless location.

Back this time to Dong Dong -- if you haven't met her and you're male, or otherwise interested in attractive ladies, then next time you're passing along Jianguo Xi Lu, drop in for a drink and a game of pool. I asked her about how she does her hair, which is magnificent, and am considering a similar hairstyle. The big advantage to this bar is that it is quiet. Not much use if you're the owner, but very pleasant if that's what you're after.

DD's has just opened a new place in Beijing. They claimed they had kara-oke in their own swimming pool, which puzzled me mightily given the incompatibilities between water and electricity. That turned out to be just hype. But it is nice to see successful a Shanghai nightlife operator looking to expand into the northern capital. Others will no doubt follow.

I have been looking with ever-greater interest recently at a certain phenomenon -- romances between Chinese and foreigners -- trying to figure out why they are so fraught with problems in this city of ours, even more than is usual in love. The Shanghai nightlife whirl involves just an endless range of stories on this general theme, and I thought I would start including some of the many stories I come across, for your edification, and hopefully to help the unwary avoid unnecessary problems. The names and the identities, and some of the details, are naturally hidden or altered to avoid embarrassment all round.

First off, the story of a European businessman who dated for a couple of years one of my best friends. He returned home recently, after a farewell evening in which dozens of whiskies were consumed (I watched in amazement from the sidelines). My friend's comment: "You can't get a new guy until the old one leaves your life." Which I've proved myself many times and oft as well.