By Caroline (smartshanghai.com)
Updated: 2007-07-02 10:14

Brrrrrr... You'll have to excuse my typos as I write. My fingers are still more than a little frozen. The coolest concept to hit Shanghai from the shores of Northern Europe is the new Absolut Icebar. The Icebar is not, as the staff there seem to think, the first one to hit Shanghai. We had the ridiculously far away Taste of Scandinavia near Zhongshan Park, great food, good drinks, nice interior and alas, no customers. After the death of that one came the Binjiang One sub-zero bar, with its tremendous selection of a certain spirit, as was gently hinted at in one of my previous articles, Vodka, Vodka, Vodka, Vodka. The Absolut version, alas, has a selection of just one, which we all know is considerably better mixed or served super cold.

As you'd expect from the Gods of Advertising Creative though, this bar isn't so much about the content as the packaging, and Icebar Shanghai sure does that well. The Icebar itself is a showpiece. Taken from a river in Sweden, the ice was brought (presumably in really big eskies) all the way to Shanghai to build everything from the bar to the chairs to the glasses. Not entirely sure what Al Gore would think of that, but anyway, you're sure of drinking nothing but the purest water as the glass melts against your mouth and your lips get stuck to it. Though you're kitted out with a furry poncho which I'm sure Paris Hilton would dig, this isn't a place you'd like to linger for long. Unfortunately, they also have no bag storage, so although I was perfectly fine with the cold (being British) I'm not sure how much of the five below my laptop could take.

After the 100rmb must-see Disneyland gimmick bar, I went for a spot to eat. I was served, alas, perhaps the most pathetic dish I have ever been presented with in Shanghai. The "black caviar" turned out to be the orange little poppers which you get at sumo sushi scattered over your 6rmb spicy tuna. It was accompanied by two pathetic bits of fish-shaped rubber, a herring destroyed by a mustard mayonnaise more at home inside a burger king bap, two pieces of anemic lettuce (grown in the Swedish summer?) and some unidentified thing which tasted more like egg than fish. It was served with two pieces of rye crisp bread which, despite the bartender assuring me had come all the way from Sweden, are actually available ten to the dozen across the street at City Supermarket. For a whapping 115 rmb this was one appetizer which left me with a non-pneumonia related shiver. All that, and it looked like it had been plated by a chef with his ice gloves still on. The whole thing left a bitter, slightly fishy, and well over-salted taste in my mouth.

After a couple of exceedingly expensive fish-ish stuff, I moved into the real bar (not the silly sub zero one) where the fun actually begins. The bar itself is beautifully designed. A large white marble round bar fills the space next to the restaurant, and the little alcoves around it are individually themed. Tiny igloos, little log cabins, a wacky-looking matchwood space and a bling mirror and crystal wall. The furniture is funkilicious and there's a little dance floor in front of the DJ booth for warming up those bones. The music is cool, if a little euro-pop, with the DJ placed high on his own ice tower.

Drinks are reasonable at only 68rmb a glass, but they oddly don't do champagne by the glass (clearly a problem for me) although you can BYOB (bring Your Own Bubbly) with a "corkage" charge (well, I guess you would look like a cheapskate?) of only 80rmb. That's something I haven't seen on a menu here before in Shanghai. Mealbay + Taxi + pretty cheap night out. The cocktails themselves, all based on Absolut, certainly taste fruity and delicious, and a Loganberry Champagne cocktail I had was a delight. There's also a selection of ten non-alcoholic cocktails, which could certainly provide something for the pre-Babyface crowd.

Criminally though, for a nation known for their practicality, you have to step outside, climb the stairs, take the escalator, pass McDonald's and Dairy Queen, and traverse the shopping centre to go to find the loo. My suggestion then, is to chow down before you arrive, have a drink to enjoy the design, and then head up for a night of debauchery at Babyface. Whatever you do, just don't go wearing your flipflops...

5 Below
Location: B1, 138 Huai Hai Zhong Lu
Tel: 021-6375 6500