This Chinese and Japanese infusion restaurant, bar and club has more to offer than you first imagine. It may look ordinary - if not a little confusing - but it will surprise.

The Venue
Found on the edge of the Millenium Leisure Park in Greenwich, the Shanghai Bar is easily located at the end of a row of shops, restaurants and a cinema. Once inside, the venue has an intimate family feel, happily encouraged by the staff. All the tables are a respectable distance apart and range in size. The restaurant is clean and modern with square lines detailed in the furniture giving a uniformed tidy appearance whilst maintaining an oriental theme with fresh flowers and authentic crockery on all the tables.

Located on an overlooking balcony is a second bar area used for private parties and club nights. At the weekend, the restaurant and bar reinvents itself as a stylish late night club open until 5am with a capacity of 250.

The Atmosphere
During the week, when the majority of the clientele here are diners, there’s a relaxed, ambient atmosphere where happy, confident staff play a huge part in making you feel welcome and keen to return. Friday and Saturday nights, however, are much livelier with a DJ playing your weekend in, giving the Shanghai Bar a completely different feel. It’s still relaxed and friendly but with a more upbeat and sociable skew.

The Music
Jazz and soulful melodies play in the background whilst you drink and dine – it’s not exactly in keeping with the cuisine but it doesn’t grate too much on the senses. Weekend nights are a different story with DJs like DJ Flava, DJ L and Sharky gracing the decks to pull in a cool and trendy up for it clubbing crowd. Open until 5am, the club plays host to a variety of parties offering a great mix of music from funky house and old school garage to hip hop, bashment and RnB.

The Food
Japanese food is as much the speciality as Chinese here so expect a large range of dishes presented in beautiful ways with delicate flowers and well cut vegatables.

Sushi comes in 10-30 piece boxes containing a wide range of salmon, vegetarian, tuna, prawn and octopus offerings alongside nigiri, maki, sashimi, futomake and temaki. If you’d rather have different courses then there is a variety of traditional Chinese and Japanese starters to choose from, including the popular prawn toast, grilled dumplings and tempura prawns. Highly recommended, however, is the yakitory chicken, three juicy pieces of chicken marinated in a sweet soy that really gets the tastebuds going. Another highly recommended starter is the duck with pancakes, especially good here with plenty of crispy but succulent duck and deliciously sweet, thick hoi sin sauce and as many pancakes as you need.

Where Shanghai Bar particularly stands out, however, is their second course offering of either a whole crab (£12) or lobster (£22) cooked to your liking with a choice of sauces. For the mains, black bean, sweet and sour, kung po, char sui, cashew nuts with yellow bean, sizzling dishes, chow mein, ramen noodles, japanese udon noodles, ho fun, the list is endless. Highly recommended is the teriyaki salmon - a large, perfectly marinated salmon fillet on a bed of soft noodles with greens. At prices of £5.90-£8 for a main course it is very reasonable.

The Drink
As with the food, there is an array of different drinks from B52 shooters to sake, Tsing Tao to Sambucca. Wine on offer varies from a Sauvignon Blanc from Chilli for around a tenner right up to Bollinger for £65. The Sancerre Rose is very nice with a dry but fruity aftertaste and costs £17 a bottle. The cocktail list is quite extensive for a venue like this and they are obviously catering for the club crowd, too. The Pimms infusion is a refreshing unusual take on Pimms and lemonade with added raspberry and strawberry liqueurs – sweet and fruity and only £5.50, whilst the more sophisticated drinker can enjoy a Remy Martin XO for £6.50.

The Last Word
The Shanghai Bar is a diamond in the rough with nothing resembling competition for miles. Worth a visit.

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