(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-23 10:40

As one of the heavenliest nightspots on the Gongti Xilu strip, Angel provides a divine place for Beijing's pretty things to dance devilishly.

Opened in early 2005, the 12,000-square-foot establishment hopped on the local mega-club bandwagon early in the game and shares many of the features typical of its neighbors. It might be somewhat cookie-cutter, but it still shapes up to be a place featuring the best of the standard.

Angel's proportionally small dance floor is illuminated by a well-thought-out system of mechanical colored lights, strobes and laser bouquets that paint 3-D shapes in the haze belched out by the club's smoke machine. In a somewhat unique touch, Angel's chandeliers flash changing colors in sync with the music.

The club stays packed with a young, mostly Chinese crowd through the early hours of even weekday mornings, and Angel's patrons seem particularly tuned in to the dancing component of Beijing's nightlife scene. Its dance floor keeps moving full-speed-ahead after neighboring clubs such as Cutie have emptied out, and Coco Banana's and Babyface's dancers have slowed to a crawl.

Angel's dance floor is sandwiched between the main seating area and a particularly grand and unusually crowded DJ booth. From this elevated black sheen throne, Angel's DJs issue decrees to their loyal dancing subjects in the form of Western dance tunes long forgotten in the lands where they originated.

Friendly bartenders serve drinks starting at 30 yuan from a square bar in the middle of the room. Surrounding the bar, the main seating area proffers box-lit tables lined with red-felt couches on their far sides and square, red-felt stools on their insides.

By taking all of the standard features of a Beijing nightclub and executing them well Angel has earned its wings.

Daily 8pm-4am.
Address:6 Gongti Xilu, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 010-6552-8888.