(Chinad daily)
Updated: 2006-12-22 09:15

Finding your way around Jianwai Soho, with its identikit towers crammed with offices, shops and restaurants, isn't always easy. Thankfully, the sensible people at Kiss Club have made spotting their bar a little less challenging by projecting a swirling KISS logo onto the ground in front of it. The sign, which looks suspiciously like the one used by London's Kiss FM radio station, is also a reminder that this place is open 24 hours a day.

Inside, the concept is simple deep red sofas and chairs, soft lighting, mellow jazz from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and sweeping views over the white steel and chrome of Soho. A spiral, industrial-looking iron staircase leads into the bar, offsetting the red theme nicely. Carry on up, and, if you ask the wait staff nicely, you'll be allowed out onto a circular shaped indoor balcony that overlooks the complex.

Food after 11pm is limited to a handful of bar snacks that include baked mushrooms (20 yuan) and Italian-style bruschetta (20 yuan). These can be washed down with a beer from the rather limited selection (Tsingtao is 25 yuan a bottle and Carlsberg draught 35 yuan a pint) or a cocktail from a significantly lengthier list (try the Kiss Goodbye at 35 yuan). There are also some amusingly named mocktails, including the Puffy Love and Sexy on the Beach (both 35 yuan).

Only time will tell if Kiss Club can manage to entice in enough customers to justify its 24-hour opening. But with its intimate atmosphere, all-hours drinks license and couple friendly dcor, it stands a good chance.

Kiss Club
Address: Kiss Club, Dongsanhuan Lu, Jianwai Soho 112, 3/F Villa 6
Tel: 010-5869-4820