Everyone likes a good party, especially one with free flow champagne like last night’s M1NT pre-launch. In spite of the copious amounts of alcohol, we are sad to say this exclusive billionaire-millionaire club opened not with a bang, but with a pop. As an old China hand, maybe Shanghaiist is just too jaded to enjoy the hype, but here's our summary of Shanghai's newest club.
The Good
- All black decor, very classy looking.
- Cathedral ceilings with huge windows.
- Great balcony, except for the occasional waft of sewage. Or maybe that was just the smell of the Huangpu River.
- Central location
- Fantastic Bund views, even in some of the bathrooms.
- It's huge. You can avoid people you don't like.
- According to friends, smoking hot women and a lot of them.
- Shiny chandelier, which looked really expensive.
- Chocolate lollipops.
- Rumors that Jude Law would make an appearance.
The Bad
- Screams pretentious (which we understand may be a good thing for some people, especially the shareholders).
- Despite the attempts to create a feeling of luxury and exclusivity, it didn't seem all that different than any other Bund establishment or swanky nightclub.
- So elite the place was relatively empty for a pre-launch party in a city like Shanghai where people will beg, barter, and steal to get on an invite list. (No, we aren’t talking about ourselves. Although, our media invitation did get lost in the mail.)
- It's huge. We lost our friends.
- Women’s bathrooms. Way too few - 6 stalls in the whole place by our count. Even though according to a That's Shanghai interview, M1NT says most of their members are men, we still don’t think they should have scenes of topless women covering the ladies' room.
- Where was the furniture in the restaurant area?
- The promised shark tank was not filled with the elusive hammerheads, but small, common blacktip reef sharks. One friend referred to them as fish.
- Painting of women wearing g-strings and 'entertaining' men. Totally crass. Maybe if this really was a gentlemen’s club that would be acceptable. Otherwise, it's just sexist.
- Fish salad with onions appetizer. Anything with onions is never a good idea at a social function.
- No hot tub in sight, despite advertisements.
- We never saw Jude Law! Did anyone else?
We are certain that many will disagree with our comments (except maybe the number of women's bathrooms) and that M1NT will still be very successful for some time (predictions on how long it will last have already begun here).
Photo courtesy of L.K.'s iPhone (which obviously has fantastic night mode options).
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According to friends, smoking hot women and a lot of them.
This part sounds good. How much do these things cost?
excellent timing just after the Giglobubu (Gigantic Global Bubble Burst), with foreigners beginning to leave and Chinese beginning to watch their pockets.
I give them 10 months.
10 seconds is too long for these preening peacocks of pretentiousness.
How do I join?
Application instructions here on our previous post.
What a surprise. Screaming hot women, in a place which is supposed to have lots of people with money.
Color me unsurprised. I still go with 6 months before this place is belly-up. Or at least has radically changed their business model/pyramid scheme.
I think it is really down to what you in too. If you are the type of person that enjoys venues like Lounge 18, Bar Rouge, Vue Bar, Jade on 36 you are going to love it there. M1NT takes that exclusivity level and knocks it up a couple of notches.
As for the timing with the economy, etc. I think that most of the target clientèle are generally going to the be the least effected by the slow-down. Like all these things, time will tell.
Perhaps my standards are a little different but I and several others felt there was a below average number of women, very few of which would be classified as "mildly hot" let alone smokingly so.
But the drinks were quite good - and it was nice to have an option for other cocktails once you got tired of Mumm.
I agree about the number and quality of women there. There were some really fine girls, but they were few and far between. I guess as it was the evening for the shareholders, members and their associates then chances were high of it being overly populated with guys.
I am sure once it is open for real the balance will swing back to the normal levels for this type of venue. I just really hope they keep all the hookers out. It's been a nightmare in Bar Rouge forever for that and I have noticed that Lounge 18 is rapidly going that way now.
Not that I am being down on hookers, it's just supply and demand after all, but when half the girl in the whole place are working it does take some the fun out of it.
You forgot to mention that their idea of a drinks suitable for those who can afford top luxuries is Jose Cuervo Gold and Chivas Regal, no doubt because they were to greedy to turn down sponsorships to maintain some sense of class.