Plucky cherubs and bored bar girls at Shanghai's new underground nightspot

The bars from Maoming Nan Lu and Tongren Lu have moved underground, literally, to Datong Mill, adding a bizarre dash of faux Venetian style to their brand of Shanghai nightlife

Names like Libido, Nightshift, and TT Club hint at the nature of many of the bars at Datong Mill (大同坊), Shanghai’s newest (and only) underground nightlife strip mall. Splayed underneath a park off Yanan Lu and Ruijin Er Lu, this hole-in-the-ground maze of talking girl bars, dance clubs, eateries -- even a nail salon -- appears to be a scantily publicized reincarnation of the Tongren Lu stretch formerly infamous for its girlie bars.

Datong Mill, like many of Shanghai’s baffling “concept” constructions, has yet to take off, with businesses opening and closing in swift succession since the Mill opened early this year. The result is a sleepy vibe even on a Saturday night, but this place is worth checking out not least for its dumbfounding -- Venetian hotel-esque -- décor.

The most striking landmark in the area is a shockingly angular Eiffel Tower-esque construction jutting out of the Mill’s gaping mouth. It was a good idea on paper, perhaps.

At one end of the Mill lies a faux-rock garden with fountains and waterfalls that turn on at 10 p.m. Oh, the drunken folly that could happen here!

A walk to the other side will bring you to the “Food Court”, a street that’s part Disney World, part movie set, part Macau’s Venetian casino-hotel, a slice of a world where the sky is always blue. Most of the restaurants have yet to open for business.

The developer’s attempt to class up the talking girl bar environs appears to center on tack and lute-strumming cherubs and gilded busts. It’s almost impressive that men on the prowl could take their quest seriously in a place so gaudy...

...because the girls here sure don’t seem to. Their pacing and loitering about connotes a sentiment more of extreme boredom than of intrigue and seduction. Of course, we might just have arrived too early.

One of the few clubs to show any sign of life is Departure 10, a just-opened airplane-inspired “ultra lounge” shaped like an aircraft cabin, complete with uniformed stewardesses, overhead compartment bins and a first-class VIP section.

If girls aren’t your thing, head over to ZG Club for your fill of cute boys, lush sofas laced with red-silver-gold sequined cushions and -- what any night would surely be incomplete without -- tranny dancers.

“Maybe this place will become popular in a year,” says the owner of Nails & Spa from America, a Shanghainese man who spent 10 years in New York City perfecting his craft. Set to open in the wake of the closing of the nail salon next door, his shop seems a bit of a misfit in this space -- we wish him the best of luck.

The high hopes that Datong Mill business owners have for the place make us hope too that it’ll soon find momentum, but until it does, the area (above ground at least) will remain to most as a family-friendly Shanghai park, perfect for an afternoon stroll.