In the latest edition of Secret Bar: Shanghai, we find ourselves at Liyuan Lu and Ximinli Lu. No address, no phone number, but general directions, which are enough. Walk down Ximinli Lu until you see a giant panda on your right, turn and go past the panda then enter the first office building. Take the elevator up to the third floor and head down the hallway to room 318, where you’ll find Jerry – the skilled and incredibly gracious bartender and owner of U Bar.
He’s not expecting us, but is immediately at the door as we step inside, providing slippers before we continue our journey in. The one-room space fits about 10-12, which is probably all it could handle given Jerry’s artful cocktail craftsmanship. Inside it feels like the trinket-filled parlor of an elderly aunt – if she were a raging lush. There’s a boom box and a beta fish and bottle after bottle lining the shelf. As we post up, Jerry takes his position and asks what we’d like – there’s no menu so anything goes.
Nothing too sweet we tell him. What arrives is a metal cup adorned with elephants and containing a mixture of gin, Earl Grey, almond liquor, Aperol and lime. Jerry then makes a Superman-esque dash to change into a black suit, walking back as he does up his cufflinks.
We ask if he has anything grapefruity, and he pulls out a fresh grapefruit to squeeze, adding the juice into his next inventive elixir. Part of the fun is naming the cocktails, since they’re all one-off creations. We dub this one ‘Shirley Temple-wasted.’
Prior to setting up his secret shop, Jerry worked at HoF and Shen. When asked the reason for the change, he tells us, “This is my dream.” With first-rate service, excellent craftsmanship and unbeatable pricing – everything, no matter the level of creation, is RMB50 – he’s well on his way to seeing his wish come true.
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