The Cottage

 

Area: The Cottage is part and parcel of Taojiang Lu's cheaper, boho block. It's on the section that has a tiny Italian-cum-vegetarian restaurant painted temple-yellow, a small bar whose name I forget in what feels like the first floor of a house, and La Creperie at the very end.

What it is: It's a quaint cafe with a bit of style. Old Mike, the owner, made his bucks in the banking industry and wanted a place where he could hang out with his photographer friends, drink vodka-spiked coffee (30rmb, first thing on the menu), and store his collection of old tchotckes/antique stuff. So he took over a three-story dilapidated house (once an annex to the German Consul's house) and made one. It's kind of in keeping with that whole Boho Youth Vibe that the local indie kids favor, done by an adult. Every single piece of decor in The Cottage is for sale and there's a lot of decor in there - shelves and shelves of travel books, amateur photography, vintage ads on the walls, a dusty hat collection, clocks and clocks and clocks, gramophones.... There's not much food but there's a lot of coffee and tea and wireless internet and even a couple of free terminals to use the internet. The Zero Hike Outdoor Club meets here every Tuesday night to chat.

Atmosphere: Shabby chic. Cottage-style. Shanghai Jumble. The walls are reclaimed wood carefully painted sloppy white and some parts of the floor are lovely original tile. There's already writing scrawled in black marker up the staircase. The basement has some of that whiteness, but also some original shab. The rusting hulk of the house's antique boiler takes up a corner. The second floor is probably the nicest, with larger wooden tables and a miniscule terrace for smokers with a view of the main house's garden.

Damage: Not much. Really, you're probably just coming here for a coffee and some wireless. Maybe a piece of blueberry cheesecake and a sparkling water with the girls. It'll be less than a hundred. Big cups of coffee are 28rmb, cheesecake is 30rmb, and a special blueberry wine that Old Mike gets from some friends in Dongbei is 40rmb per glass.

Who's going: People with shabby shoes who feel out of place at the PAUL around the corner. Old Mike's circle of friends drinking the 80rmb pot of Pu'er tea. The youth.