Shanghai Bar Review: ASL

By Betty Richardson, December 16, 2016

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It’s not often a decent new club pings onto our radar, and with a name like Age, Sex, Location (ASL for short), we didn’t immediately have high hopes for this new party den in Jing’an. We do like to be proved wrong, however, and as it turns out, a night on the tiles at ASL is often as fun as its rivals on Donghu Lu.

No club in Shanghai is without an abundance of bottle-serviced tables, often at the expense of a decent dance floor and bar, and while ASL is no exception, its relatively small proportions mean the club manages to conjure an intimate vibe.

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If you’re not going down the bottle-popping route, ASL’s twin bars are enough to cover a night’s entertainment, and its modestly sized dance floor has the added benefit of getting you up close and personal with the DJ booth. As for the music, ASL makes like Shanghai’s other mainstream clubs and drills out a steady stream of chart house music and EDM. On most nights, ASL’s patrons are a youthful bunch, made up of what must be the majority of Shanghai’s under-30 Taiwanese population.

Non-Asian expat partiers are definitely in the minority here, but the club’s international atmosphere makes it a friendlier option than other local clubs. Getting past the door staff is also relatively easy, provided gents in your party aren’t wearing shorts, flip flops or other nightclub no-nos.

Drink prices and quality are what you’d expect from a Shanghai nightclub, steep and average quality. Fortunately you won’t be paying through the nose for them, prices are around RMB70 for cocktails. Tables are another story, however. the cheapest you’ll get away with is RMB4,000 for a six-seater. Be also warned that the action here doesn’t go on too late, on all but the busiest nights the party tapers off after 2am.

Price: RMB70 for drinks, tables from RMB4,000
Who’s going: young locals, a few expats
Good for: partying, groups, birthdays, EDM


See listing for ASL

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