Le Nest

The bar features faux-gold chandeliers, a miniscule dance floor, and overpriced whiskey. A flock of girls dressed in fetishized Japanese schoolgirl outfits to greet you at the door. Inside, it’s four-to-the-floor dance music with not-so-classic cuts that could have been ripped from any mid-1990s compilation. You can get bottled beer for 50 RMB and mixed drinks for 58 RMB.

Le Nest’s failings irk us more than they usually would, because this place could be so good. The two VJ and DJ booths, top-notch sound system and great layout—a high-ceilinged, square structure with what would be a huge dance floor, if it weren’t always cluttered with empty tables. Clearly, promoters have seen this potential too: Le Nest hosted one-off nights with Australian DJ Bass Kleph and young Swedish upstarts Cazzette last month. During nights like these, when they tidy some of the tables away to make room for the dancing foreigners, it’s a slightly different story.