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PLACES BEGINNING WITH 'M'
Opened: Soft opening Oct 11, Grand opening Nov 15.
Opened: Aug 6.
What: Muse Club takes over the poorly promoted Wynn Win club in the city’s premier shopping mall.
Look: Opening a new club never seemed easier – keep the all-white decor and labyrinthine layout of its predecessor, throw in a celebrity for the grand opening (co-owner/Hong Kong actress Carina Lau), and furnish with light-colored comfy couches. The weird thing? We didn’t actually find a dancefloor in this two-story nightclub on the opening night.
Music: Rich house, beautiful house, and famous house reigns.
People: The rich, the beautiful, and the famous.
Don’t miss: The soon-to-open terrace overlooking Nanjing Xi Lu.
Price: ¥60 gets you a cocktail – consider it a bargain in this city’s most expensive shopping destination.
Opened: Jun 8 officially, although they’ve been on one of those extended under-the-radar soft openings since the beginning of April.
What: Reasonably priced Italian restaurant in the ever-expanding culinary magnet that Hongmei Lu has become.
Look: Creamy yellow walls are interrupted by faux brick supports on the first floor (a testament to the original Macalle in Italy, from whence the chef’s training comes), and a spacious largewindowed second floor room. It’s one step up from casual Italian, and the choice of yellow keeps it feeling light and airy, not full of dust, wood, and guys from New Jersey.
Food: A pretty well worn pasta-pizza path, decent, though the pizzas do shine brighter than most other dishes. The cooking bows slightly to the large Japanese demographic in the neighborhood, meaning well-cooked noodles, less cream and lighter on the cheese, though the kitchen will gladly keep your pasta al dente, or anything else that is requested.
People: A mixed lunch crowd – about half the people employed in the area, the other local housewives.
Bill: Pizzas and pastas easily stay under ¥75, mains a bit more. The ubiquitous lunch set is of the ¥50/70/100 variety.
Testing the waters of the skin care market in Shanghai, founder of Red Earth beauty line Steven Ko has recently opened up a little boutique behind Xintiandi to showcase his new innovations in home skincare. Inside, gleaming white cabinets line walls loaded up with products catering to every skin type and ailment possible. Along one wall is Skin Vitals - boxes of hydrating cloth facial masks and eye masks - each box using different natural herbs or essential oils to ‘revive,’ ‘soothe,’ ‘energize,’ or ‘lift.’ Undercutting other international brands, Skin Vitals also come nice and cheap with packs of four (to last you the month) at ¥88 (face masks) and ¥68 (eye masks).
Over on the other side of the room is the Herbaceutics collection – a TCM-based line of products that caters to Asian skin specifically. Providing for a comprehensive skin care regime, there’s facial wash, moisturizer, lotion, serum and more, including anti-aging and whitening products. There are testers to try and staff are on hand to advise you in your picks.
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