Bar Review: Adam's Bar

What: Minimalist cocktail bar with a touch of the Book of Genesis
Why: You’re looking for a nice cocktail without the pretense
How Much: Specialty cocktails from RMB 60; standard cocktails RMB 40; beer RMB 30
Where: Unit 5, 448 Xinhua Lu, near Dingxi Lu. Tel: 5230 2003

Drinking, Shanghai. Drinking is what seems to be our number one sin. Your humble nightlife reviewer can remember his first two years in Shanghai only through the foggy lens of teppanyaki sake bombs and Tsingdao tallboys slugged in the backseat of a cab. Shanghai is a boozer’s paradise. And in typical Shanghai fashion, it seems that if Adam, master of Eden, paradise numero uno, were traipsing around Shanghai, codpiece frond and all, he’d be really into cocktails and Berlin-styled minimalism. Or at least this is what the folks at Adam’s Bar would like you to think.

Housed in the location that once held MJ, a low-key local unabashedly obsessed with the late King of Pop, the interior has been reborn a spartan one. Wide, uniform expanses of grey frame the touches that hint at the mythical garden of Eden. Slats of wood cleverly mounted on the wall give the feeling of trees. A giant mural on one wall depicts a local artist’s interpretation of Adam and Eve. You’ll also find real apples on the high wooden tables. The overall effect is a little muddled, but the owner promises more art displays in the future to fill out the décor.

The bar’s obsession with sin carries over into its specialty drinks, tincture-based cocktails designed by the Alchemist’s Lu Yao. The apple flavoured Origins of Sin (RMB 80) comes in both a male and female version, complemented with cinnamon flames or cinnamon fog respectively. The God of War (RMB 60) is a strong “man’s drink” that features rum infused with cinnamon and fennel. Paradise Lost (RMB 70), a vanilla-infused bourbon with nutmeg and grapefruit has the uncanny ability to blend egg nog with a tropical cooler. All these drinks are strong, Shanghai, and many of them are stronger than they seem, ready to cause yet another lost evening, another fall from grace.