The International Settlement wrote its own laws and poured its own whisky. The Bund keeps the marble, the jazz band kept playing, and the settlement is renegotiated nightly.
- 1 · The Cold Open
Long Bar, Waldorf Astoria
The Shanghai Club's 34 metres of mahogany, where taipans stood ranked by seniority with the harbormaster nearest the window. Rebuilt to the inch. Take your station and open the settlement.
est. 1911, rebuilt 2011 · from afternoon · verified Jul 2026 · 🏨 the night ends at Waldorf Astoria Shanghai On The Bund
- 2 · The Detour
Jazz Bar, Peace Hotel
The Old Jazz Band's average age hovers near eighty and they have played these standards since before your passport existed. Art deco in every cornice, a Victor Sassoon story behind every column. Respect is payable in applause.
hotel est. 1929 · evening sets · verified Jul 2026 · 🏨 the night ends at Fairmont Peace Hotel
- 3 · The Anchor
Old Jesse
Shanghai's most stubborn kitchen: red braised pork, scallion oil fish you must order hours ahead, tables the size of verdict forms. No decor worth naming, food worth the whole case.
Tianping Road institution · book ahead, dinner · verified Jul 2026
- 4 · The Wildcard
Speak Low
Push the bookshelf in the barware shop and the stairs appear. Floors of Japanese precision cocktails that put Shanghai back on the world bar map. The password is confidence.
behind the barware shop · night · verified Jul 2026
- 5 · The Last Call
Captain's Bar
Six floors up a backpacker stairwell to a plywood terrace with a millionaire's view of Pudong neon. Cheap Tsingtao, folding chairs, the best bad bar on the Bund. Settlement reached.
hostel rooftop shack · till late · verified Jul 2026