The Bund is clearly a bar in a state of confusion. The owner must have thought if we throw in enough styles, someone must like something. On entering, first impressions are pink then a sickly light green and flowers on tables for two hail from the cheesiest of Italian restaurants. Fitting then that I should find out the bar did actually used to be an Italian restaurant. It seems the owner couldn't quite bring himself to leave the past behind. Pan to the right and the bar is transformed into a poor man's opium den from 1920s Shanghai. Clusters of red sofas are separated by lacy shower curtains, which the waitress can't wait to pull around. The brickwork on the far wall, with black and white photographs of the Paris of the East, does look good though and you are left wondering why all four walls are not the same. The mini spiral staircase up to a circular hideaway provides the best seats in the house and refuge from pink paint but plans for relaxation are ruined by the music.

If your customers total four, including one couple eating dinner, you should leave the hard house alone. But next to the dinner area is a set of decks on autopilot, churning out the kind of stuff that would be proved very effective for torture in an isolation chamber. In a crowded club it might work but this was another example of staff outnumbering customers and the bartenders have little else to do but stare at the drinkers. Luckily you can escape this attention by taking a seat in the patio area outside.

On a more positive note, draught Yanjing is available at 15 yuan (US$1.9). There is a good wine list but inevitably a bottle will set you back around 200 yuan (US$25). The food menu is extensive and very reasonably priced with sirloin steak at 78 yuan (US$9.8) and pizzas around the 45-yuan (US$5.6) mark.

The Bund
Location: Building 7 (next to Golden Elephant restaurant), Sanlitun Beijie, Chaoyang District
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 10-2 am, Weekends 10 am-late
Tel: 010-64178288