Racks

What: Premier pool club reopens as mellower lounge.

Why: Show off your hustling skillz in style.

How much: Beer RMB 30 – 40. Standard drinks RMB 40.

Where: 5F, 221 Jinxian Lu, near Shaanxi Lu. Tel: 5212 5971.

A few years back, Hong Kong billiards spot Racks opened their Shanghai branch in Xintiandi to great fanfare and much promise. Hoping to simultaneously be a club and a pool hall, the oversized venue didn’t click and quickly joined the great slag heap of the city’s failed F&B ventures. But like Lazarus himself, Racks has been resurrected from the dead, restyling itself as a smaller, more intimate lounge. This relocated, Zerolab-designed venue is now franchised from the original Hong Kong owners by the president of Shanghai’s 8-ball pool league.

The multi-level lounge features five tables that go for RMB 68 per hour; for singles, one table will offer free open sign-up. The second floor includes a small dining area under an atrium glass ceiling and a terrace – a snack menu is currently in effect, but plans are in the works to expand to a light menu. From its fifth floor vantage point, impressive views of downtown Puxi dominate.

Booze is very affordable with local and import beer for RMB 30 and 40, respectively. Proper brand house pours, including scotch and whisky, are RMB 40 too. An assortment of cocktails (RMB 65) and a decent wine list rounds off the menu. Slightly more diverse than the XTD original, crowds are a more balanced cross-section of Shanghai’s 25+ demographic, but rest assured, gleeful cries of ‘Eight-ball corner pocket, holla!’ can still be heard echoing through the night.