Despite being around for a while now, Morrocan eatery Marrakech is holding its grand opening tonight. The details we were given were rather brief, but apparently visitors will be able to sample the food and drink between 6pm and 9pm. more ›

WHAT TYPE OF DRUNK ARE YOU? When you get pissed out of your mind, are you a harmless drunk? A violent drunk? A poetic drunk or what? We all prefer not to meet a violent drunk because that's just trouble, and it's then up to somebody like a Zapatas bouncer to take him out. Loquacious drunks, like a German acquaintance, are pains in the backside, but it's usually easy to make a quiet exit. Then... more ›

Metro news from the local press: more ›

If you have the 35-year-old Swede in your HSBC Champions office pool, you're sitting pretty. Fasth is 8-under after 17 holes and currently holds a 4-stroke lead on the opening day at Sheshan International Golf Club, in Shanghai suburbia. But don't gloat too much — it's only 12:30 pm Thursday and there are guys named Mickelson, Singh, Cabrera, Garcia, Goosen, Els, Choi and Harrington in the field. No Woods, though, for the first time since... more ›

Cross-posted on the Shanghai Public Transportation blog more ›

Have you (like us) waited until the last minute to get your Halloween costume even though back in September you promised yourself you'd start putting it together early this year? Not to worry. Shanghaiist has you covered. Here's a list of places to get pre-made Halloween costumes and accessories that we put together last year. We've given them a call and apparently they're all still up and running. If any of you finds any other great places for costumes, please email us at info AT shanghaiist DOT com and we will add them on to the list.

Holiday House: 1188 Panyu Lu, near Hongqiao lu (番禺路1188号，近虹桥路). Tel: 64477189, Open 9:30-6:00 pm (Sucky hours!). A kind of one-stop-shop for costumes for kids and adults and decorations. Staff speak English and can be pretty surly.

Shanghai Zhongbao Dress Ornament Co. Ltd.: No.99, Lane 2035 Wuzhong Lu (吴中路2035弄99号). Open until 9pm on weekdays and slightly different hours on the weekend (we suggest you call first). Tel: 64780825/54859199, Fax: 6419 3855, E-mail: zbxj@public8.sta.net.cn. Longer hours, wider adult selection and cheaper prices, but really far from downtown (expect a 40-50 kuai cab fare) and a little hard to find as Lane 2035 is hard to see, the street numbers are out of order and the "99" is spray painted on the wall, and it's a warehouse behind a gate. But it's worth the effort!

Nantai Costume Company: 181 Henan Zhong Lu, near Fuzhou Lu (河南中路181号，进福州路) Tel: 63238344. This place, five minutes west of the Bund outfits many of the local opera troupes and has the ambience of a factory store. Shelves are stacked with everything from tasseled platform slippers to stringy beards. Say hello to Chun Ge, the store's pet mynah bird -- he'll say ni hao back.

Okay, Shanghaiist has got several hundred blogs on his RSS that he scans through everyday. Some things scream at us, others are quickly forgotten and yet others are hidden in some corner of our brain for (mostly useless) information ready to be used at some future point in time. There are all these bloggers that you've never met personally that you can form an impression of only after a long period of reading their blogs. You're reading them every single day, and sometimes it almost feels as though they're your friend, even though you don't really know them. It's most surreal. more ›

Closing Dish: Cafe Transat fought the good fight with its relaxing terrace and inviting happy hours. Unfortunately, it appears that not even a Shanghaiist endorsement was enough for it to sustain the business that this high-rent district demands. We were taking a break at Bellagio on Taicang Lu over the weekend when we noticed that Cafe Transat across the street had closed shop (picture of the storefront on the left). According to the Bellagio staff, the restaurant stopped operating around two weeks ago. more ›

What's happening now: The Thai Food Festival is currently running in Shanghai through September 9th at four Thai restaurants that have received the official "Thai Select" designation from the Thai government. Organized by the Commercial Section of the Royal Thai Consulate General, Baan Thai, Lan Na Thai, Ma Boon Krong and Simply Thai will aim to present dishes that represent the four regional cuisines of Thailand. more ›

The problem with objectively trying to discuss food is that it’s an inherently subjective experience. Let’s face it; when it comes to eating out, everybody and their uncle has an opinion, and they inevitably polarize into two distinct groups: those who think ‘this place is great!’ and those who think ‘this place should be razed to the ground and sown with salt so that nothing can ever grow in this spot again.’ It makes discussion… difficult. more ›

Fingers crossed: A wise man once proclaimed Backyard Cafe, tucked behind the Bridge 8 complex on Jianguo Lu, to be the purveyor of the best steak in Shanghai. We agreed that, dollar for pound, Backyard was a deal not to be missed. A buy one get one free Enjoy Shanghai coupon sweetened our visits. more ›

Never unhappy to hear about new pizza joints opening in the city, Shanghaiist is excited to find out that one of the most controversial pizza chains in the world might be coming to China; Hell Pizza. We say might because Shanghaiist isn’t sure at this point and we are waiting for official word from the franchise, but we did stumble upon this site, which may or may not be associated with the official Hell Pizza chain (same logo though). Also of note, this site mentions that Hell Pizza is interested in the China market: more ›

We remember, a few months ago, walking to Embre on Changshu Lu only to discover it had closed down, after decent reviews and six months of existence. We were exploring the restaurant options near our new apartment, and our second choice, a tapas place on Huashan Lu, also was no longer in operation — really, the building had been leveled. Food and beverage places disappear quickly here in Shanghai ... but sometimes they reappear quickly, too. more ›

The Shanghai Traffic Bureau has announced that another 100 public bus routes began offering passengers transfer discounts today, on top of the existing 140 discount routes. Public transport card holders will receive a 0.5 yuan discount on their two-yuan fare for air-conditioned buses if they take a second trip on any of the routes involved in the discount scheme within 90 minutes of boarding the first bus. This follows moves in Beijing earlier this year to axe bus rates to encourage the use of public transportation as an environmentally-friendly choice. Public bus tickets now cost between 20 and 80 cents in the capital. more ›

Maoming Lu is no longer a wild party street. Gone are the lascivious hostesses running around in a noisy chaotic fashion, challenging beer-drenched men to games of Connect Four. H & Y' s boss must have seen it all, because this low key Japanese restaurant is still going strong in this street after seven years. We enjoy this restaurant, because it has tasty, inexpensive Japanese food in a very casual environment. Inside, H & Y revels in Bohemian kitsch. It has "I heart you" sprayed on the mirrors, alongside kooky paintings, New Year emblems and Christmas lights. Expect to hear Eric Carmen or some Chinese power ballads as the soundtrack to your meal. more ›

A round-up of BBS posts on the Shanghai metro:
• People's Square concrete drying... and drying... Poster SanNiu British Teacakes noticed yesterday that the yellow metal floor protectors place in front of the glass safety doors on the People's Square Line 1 platform have been moved around as the floor is repaired following the safety door installation process.
• Line 7 to perform "double crossing" of Suzhou CreekThe Metro Line 7 will perform a over-and-under double crossing of the Suzhou Creek south of the Zhenping Rd station. Line 7, a north-south line stretching from the outer Putuo District down to the World Expo site in Pudong, will cross the Suzhou Creek southbound through through a tunnel and northbound over a bridge. This is an unprecedented arrangement for the Shanghai metro system. On its journey, Line 7 will also intersect with Line 2 at Jing'an Temple and with Line 1 at Changshu Rd.
• Rumors say Line 4 to be delayed to 2008Rumors say that the structural engineering of ring line 4 will be complete by mid-2007, and that the installation of equipment and testing will take another full year to complete.

We don't know honestly. We ride Shanghai's metro every day and have only used Beijing's a couple times back in 2004. Still, seeing Beijing ranked No. 9 (and Shanghai unranked) in this list of the top 11 underground transit systems in the world surprised us a bit — because all the China subway hype we hear is about Shanghai's fast-growing system (or maybe that's just because we live in Shanghai?). Here's what the list, from Virgin Vacations, said about Beijing's system (which ranked one spot ahead of Hong Kong's): more ›

Lots of juicy transportation news today: more ›

We're a little late on this, but we're sad to report Shanghai has lost one of its better dining options: 239. Shanghai-Eats had the scoop last week: more ›

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. more ›

After almost half a year, Shanghai’s iconic “alternative lifestyle nightclub”, Home Bar, officially reopened last week under its new brand, Pinkhome. It has been transformed from its previous existence into what is China’s first gay multiplex including a dance club, restaurant/lounge, and hotel. As some readers may remember, there was a pre-soft (is that a word?) opening last October for the bar, after which the establishment was closed again until renovations were completed. For those of us privy to that event, the ground floor décor looked much the same as it did in October, though, vastly different from the old, gritty, but lovable Home. more ›

Shanghaiist has been wary of taking pictures of protesters, as it's gotten us in a wee bit of trouble with the authorities before. We got a call a couple of a days ago from some of the folks connected with the housing demolitions and tenants' rights "movement" here in Shanghai, telling us that something was going to happen on Monday. We went, and saw this man (pictured here), making one last stand on the roof of a building where he lives and which is slated for destruction. He'd been there since early in the morning and policemen on motorcycles were on the street monitoring the situation. Our contact happened to live nearby and we managed to get some snaps before they urged us to leave for our own good. more ›

Torontoist has some awesome, cutting edge news: A movie is being made about a gay hockey player - filmmakers even got approval from the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs! Also awesome: Toronto's "Do the Sneeze Sleeve Campaign". And most awesome is this dreamy photograph of Toronto's skyline in fog. more ›

Want to be the devil this Halloween? Or maybe you’re more the Snow White type. We all know where you are going to be this Halloween (actually, Oct. 28) -- but what are you going to wear? Whatever you’re looking for, Shanghai’s specialty costume shops have a plethora of fun and affordable options. For do-it-yourself types, there are tons of great accessories including wigs, tattoos, face paint, colored hair spray, fake asses, fake breasts, pitch forks, swords, cowboy hats, chicken hats and elephant hats, too. more ›

This many come as a shock to some of you, but some of us here at Shanghaiist can be, well, a little cynical. No! Surely not, you say! Ah, but true, my friend, but true. For example, we never took much notice of the restaurant Nuova Vita, near the intersection of Fuxing Lu and Ruijin Er Lu. It had existed pretty much since we moved to the city, and considering its age and curious lack of hype, we had it pegged as traditional Shanghainese Italian fare—canned sauce, rubbery noodles, with prices fit only for a Roman Pontiff. more ›

We were naughty last weekend and became that which we hate -- we went to absolutely no shows (lovely weekend in Xitang, though). So please fill in the blanks: more ›

Phillyist rejoices in the Phillies' wild card chances, mourns the injuries sustained by Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse, and goes pirate on our asses. more ›

Here is how we ended up at Cafe Transat over the weekend. We were planning on taking a friend for dinner at A Future Perfect, but they were hosting a private function. So, we started leafing through our Enjoy book to find a replacement and, well, restaurants are listed alphabetically, Cafe Transat starts with a "C", the description sounded pretty good ... and we were hungry. (And, as usual, we ended up forgetting to use our Enjoy coupon anyway.) more ›

Every gay man Shanghaiist knows has a taxi driver story. It’s not the typical long-way-around-the-block taxi tale either. The details vary by person, but they all start at the end of a long night at a popular gay bar. more ›