For: People who are tired of top 40 music.

Welcome to Shanghai 101 the definitive guide to the best places in town. From dive bars to swanky Bund Champagne lounges everything is welcome here…if it’s good enough that is.

Over the weekend I spent some time at Surpass Court.  After a couple of drinks at the excellent ‘The Roof’ I popped in to Lola to see what all the fuss was about. Was it true? Was there a club playing legitimately good music in Shanghai? To my surprise both these questions turned out to be true.

Part of the increasingly popular Sinan Mansions complex Lola has forgone the easy route to success and done away with cheap drink deals and Lady Gaga remixes and instead has created a European style nightclub/lounge with deep house and techno music that has boutiquey Ibiza vibe both in feel and sound. There are no dice games or any of the other things you might expect from a club in Shanghai and once inside you could be anywhere in the world.

If, and when you do go there expect to be surrounded by a crowd of young professional Chinese locals and large amount of hipster guys and gals all on the lookout for people to talk to about their eco-charity work or how they were listening to Soul Clap months before they got popular.

Drinks at Lola are much as you’d expect; with everything from your standard club fare, to a variety of more upscale cocktails, and of course expensive bottles of spirits for those not on a budget.

As with all bars visited by the Shanghai TALK web team the menu was tested with the fool proof vodka tonic challenge. A drink so hard to do well and easy to do terribly it is the perfect litmus test when it comes to clubs and lounges. The result was positive. While not as good as what you would get a devoted lounge like the aforementioned The Roof it was up there with the best drinks I have had in a club.

All in all Lola is a step above the rest both musically and drink wise. And, despite its relatively new status, is a welcome addition to the hallowed halls of Shanghai 101.

Where: Bldg 4, 570 Yongjia Lu, near Yueyang Lu