Review

Situated alongside the JR Ebisu station on the Yamanote Line, Shanghai is a bar, coffee shop and café, although externally it looks like a Garden Centre because of the greenery, flora and fauna that sits outside, surrounding the entrance. The entire frontage of the bar opens onto the street and gives the bar an airy, breezy feel, ideal in the Tokyo heat, and the glass of iced water presented upon arrival is much needed.

If it were a Garden Centre there would be plenty of opportunity to demonstrate its Insect Repellent, as the bar teems with ladybugs, beetles, butterflies, dragonflies and other various roaches. Before you subconsciously start to itch, it’s worth noting that the bugs are of the large, wooden type and very tasteful. The Jazz/lounge music, plain concrete walls and varnished floor are all stylish, yet the unidentified canvas washing baskets dotted about the bar are perhaps not so chic.

The bottles stacked at the rear of the bar itself are covered with a canvas blind, unlike the rolled up wicker blinds, and matching lampshades, that are prevalent elsewhere. Stools around the horseshoe counter offer a great view of the numerous small lamps, bottles, Buddha statues and plants that are lined along its length, and a magazine rack offers a ’library’ for the use of customers. A small glass of Miller is ¥500 (£2.81), although it’s typical of my Spinal Tap-esque tour of the World’s pubs and bars that the Miller pump broke while my beer was being drawn; perhaps it’s still broken.

The most prominent feature of Shanghai, apart from the bugs, are the coat stands, of which there are at least twelve with eight hooks on each. Ninety-six places to hang a coat is excessive, as that must exceed the bar’s maximum capacity, unless every punter strips when they arrive - unlikely considering the bar’s open façade onto the street.

This is a stylish, yet not trendy, café-cum-bar in a pleasant location and staffed by pleasant, welcoming locals who make the effort to speak in English. Probably not the ideal choice if you’re on a bender, but great for a quiet, relaxing drink, as the clientele are well-groomed and charming.

Review by mr_psm