Shanghai’s just had the hottest July day for 140 years. Boom! That’s a fucking statistic right there. Journalists always make them up and throw them around when it’s hot or cold or drastically average. We just had the most average July 13th for two years. Suck on that, December 4th.
So, nice time to sit outside and have a drink. Here are a bunch of spots around town that a) have outside seating; and b) will fling you discount booze while the sun’s still shining. Some of them even do it on weekends. Here we go:
Qi Bar at the Mandarin Oriental
This is the ritziest place to open this year in Shanghai. But they still recognize that the fastest way to our hearts is through discounted inebriation, so every day until the end of August it’s two for one cocktails, wine, premium spirits and beer. Hey, it’s still not going to be cheap, but this deal probably brings things down to about 40-50rmb a glass. And you get to sit around on their beds, snapping your fingers at waiters and sneering at the proletariat like you’re the master of the universe.
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Kartel’s really sorted itself out since it had that overhaul last year. It’s now pretty rammed every time I go, which is justified, because the terrace is huge and pretty cool. Last time we were at this bar they had a live piglet running around. It peed on our dining editor and took a crap on the table. True story. Evidence on the SmSh Instagram. I think they roasted and ate the little fucker later. The happy hour runs daily from 6-8pm and gets you draft beer for 25rmb, red and white wine for 25rmb a glass and a Ricard pastis is 15rmb, but don’t drink that.
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This place only does its happy hour on a Sunday: two for one drinks from 3-10pm served inside at the bar or out in the large, lawned garden that divides this place from the street. The deal also works on bottles of wine and champagne, which start from 330rmb. The food here is really good, high-end Japanese, presented in the "capo" or "kaiseki" fine-dining style, a multi-course Japanese meal that incorporates sashimi, meat and fish dishes, miso soup and rice -- all served in a historic villa surrounded by a walled garden.
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There are three of these suckers now. Both the original one on Shanxi Bei Lu and the latest on Dagu Lu have outside seating (there’s a children’s playground at the Dagu Lu one), and all three have the following deal: every day, including weekends, from 5-9pm you get two martinis, two glasses of wine or two draft Kronenbourg 1664s for 68rmb. On the beers and the martinis that’s quite a steal. Most places charge at least 60rmb for a single 1664, sometimes more. Hit it.
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This is the place that used to be Sugar. Now it’s called Barfly and they have a large outside space in an easy location with room for about 40 people to sit down. Every night, Tuesday to Sunday (they’re closed on Mondays), they take 50% off house spirits, house wines and beer from 6-9pm. On top of that they have other deals, like this one where you get free tapas if you order a bottle of wine.
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Something for our friends out in Hongqiao. This bar’s owned by the same people as Abbey Road, but they’ve eschewed the Beatles malarkey for this location and instead themed the bar around the second most populous city in Switzerland. Yes, it’s needle exchanges and non-interventionist politics plus a large, grassy terrace area for summer drinks. The happy hour works every day from 4-7pm when beer is 25rmb for half a liter and most other drinks are discounted. Then on Tuesdays they mix cocktails for 30rmb a glass from 7pm all night.
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Yes, the Apartment makes most of its cash from men who wear rugby shirts with popped collars, but the rooftop is still a nice place to get a drink in the afternoon. They do two-for-one house spirits, house wine and beer from 2-8pm Monday to Friday and all day on Sunday, and Jon Benn just had a book signing there. Hey, if it’s good enough for Jon Benn, it’s… probably a teenager with a pulse.
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I throw this in because it’s really, really long. Ideal, in fact, for anyone cutting class, skipping work or gainfully unemployed. From 11am until 8pm every day they do draft Tiger and Carlsberg for 20rmb, and 30% off all cocktails. They probably have a lot of food specials too, like French Tuesdays or German Thursdays, when you get 15% off a schnitzel if you can argue the finer points of EU farm subsidies with DJ Clint.
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Not the most exciting place in town, but Shanghai Brewery does what it says on the tin. Lots of beer, decent food, sports and well-trained staff. Both this one and the other location have plentiful outside seating and a long happy hour. All their micro-brews are 22rmb for a small, 30rmb for a large from 2-8pm in the week and 4-8pm on weekends. Other beer, cocktails and house wines are 20, 30 and 36rmb. Cocktails from 30rmb? Bang some of those and then head upstairs where you’ll often find a Shanghai Expat mixer that you can ruin.
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Still there, slinging cocktails and some brunch action under the gaze of ironic social realist screen prints. When this place opened it was just fields as far as the eye could see, fields and whore houses, and workers melting down their fillings to fulfill steel quotas. Some things never change, such as Kommune’s daily happy hour, which gets you two for one cocktails and discounted beers every day from 7-9pm.
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This place is hidden down a lane next to that whisky bar, Al’s, just down the street from Surpass Court . It’s like being on the lawn of some rich friend’s house in the 1930s. You’re sat out there sipping punch and complaining about how hard it is to find the right help and all of a sudden the king comes on the wireless and says we’re at war. Again! On Monday all day they have wine, beer and cocktails, two-for-one. On Tuesday 6-9pm they give you free tapas with any drink. Wednesday, guys get a free glass of wine, 6-9. Free rose for girls 6-9pm Thursday. Friday, order a dozen oysters and they’ll give you a free bottle of wine. *** Find more happy hours here, and a full list of bars with outside seating here.
