Shanghai's best queer-friendly venues

Lucca

Formerly known as 390 Bar, queer bar Lucca has chilled, casual weekday vibes, and raucous, drag-tastic disco-dancing Friday and Saturday nights. There’s a thoroughly decent selection of pizzas and pastas, as well as burgers.including BBQ bacon, mushroom swiss or, PB and bacon for 58RMB, and ...

Roxie

Roxie is a safe, versatile LBT space established to give women a place to hang out in comfort everyday of the week. Owner Ting Ting Liang focuses in creating an inclusive space catering for all crowds with a special focus on providing high-quality highly-affordable cocktails.

Elevator

If you’ve ever tried cramming yourself and your group of friends into the tiny lift up to LUNE on the corner of Xinle and Fumin Lus, you’ll recall the short but terrifying journey – a memorable experience that has inspired the name of the club replacing LUNE, Elevator. It’s the project of ...

ALL Club

The new club from The Shelter founder Gaz Williams and friends. It's the place to get your weekly doses of techno, house, tech house, deep house, drum 'n' bass and more.

HUNT

A slightly more upmarket and refined alternative to Lucca – just round the corner for those who wish to bar-hop – that offers a great line-up of weekly events and drinks deals. Expect drag performances on Saturday and a laid-back yet party-ready vibe throughout the weekend.

Moon Café and Bar

Moon Café and Bar offers intimate interiors as well as fun cocktails such as rainbow shots.

Rice Bar

Lollipop

Asia Blue

Asia Blue has a dive-bar atmosphere, with rotating neon lights, a small black and white-tiled dance floor, discreet booths to cosy up in and three karaoke rooms.

XO Bar

Having shaken up Shanghai’s booze delivery market with their fantastic app and ability to get ready-to-drink alcohol to you anywhere in Shanghai in under an hour, BottlesXO launched a bricks-and-mortar outlet at the start of the summer, taking over the ground floor of Hengshan Lu restaurant ...

My Place Ruin Bar

This two-year-old bar at the former home of I Love Shanghai is tucked away on the third floor of an old European-style house and you have to enter through the Singaporean restaurant on ground level. It’s a ragtag place with artworks around, an accessible pool table and a friendly crowd of ...

District

Chilled and informal, this split-level bar and eatery is located in a pleasantly peaceful corner of Jingan. Opened by American Clara Davis, District Bar Kitchen offers a bar-style menu that lends itself well to both boozing and dining – a trend we’ve been seeing more of in Shanghai lately....

M CAFÉ

The new queer daytime concept by owner's of Lucca and Happiness42, M CAFÉ is a solid option for light bites, coffee and cocktails until the party-goers start to trickle in to Lucca.

Sproutworks, Xintiandi

Popular health-focused (but not annoyingly so) salad and sides cafe from Kelley Lee on the ground floor of Xintiandi's south block. Below is our write up from the original Donghu Lu branch: ‘Sides’, which might suggest chips and onion rings, are in fact, Lee’s strongest suit: bright, creative,...

Cambio Coffee

Cambio Coffee joins the Sprout Lifestyle concept, with Lizzy's All Natural, Happy Buddha, Better Bentos and more.

Egg

There’s fresh blood in the kitchen at the small-but-mighty Xiangyang Bei Lu café. Egg has trundled along quite blithely with its avocado toast and coconut cold brew, but owner Camden Hauge has brought in Jamie Pea to head up the café’s kitchen. First order of business? A refresh of the ...

The Pearl

Set in the former Buddhist temple which was once home to burlesque club/theatre Chinatown, The Pearl Theatre is a three-storey events and performance space with a vintage 1930s feel. Home to local drama productions, cabaret, and markets, The Pearl hosts regular events, but is also available for ...

Candor

Craft cocktail bar from Aaron Feder

Jin Hua

Yes, the slide is still there. It’s an answer to the inevitable question on hearing that a new venture replaced what was once the loosely Austrian restaurant and highly spirited creative venture Daliah. Well, though the menu, soundtracks and décor have changed, the space’s offbeat, whimsical ...

Azul

The latest iteration of the nearly-20-year-old restaurant, Azul's newest all-day location in Shankang Li will be serving up more of Eduardo Vargas’ expertly executed Latin American-inspired dishes. Expect a feel-good vibe fitting for both dates and group dinners. Opening October 2020.

Colca

When questioned on what Shanghai’s culinary scene is all about, I often say that you can get a great version of nearly any type of global cuisine you can think of. But here comes veteran Shanghai chef Eduardo Vargas (Azul) and his executive chef Oscar Beltran to show the city something new – a ...

Liquid Laundry

From micro-breweries to Tex-Mex joints and salad bars, everything local restaurateur Kelley Lee touches seems to turn to (edible) gold. Her latest ambitious venture with Boxing Cat partner Lee Tseng, a Western gastro-pub concept, is no exception. Enlisting a crack team comprising ex-Maya ...

Beef & Liberty, Shanghai Centre

Formerly Gourmet Cafe, Beef Liberty is a new American style diner in the Shanghai Centre. Decor is all warehouse chic, with brushed concrete walls and angular metal chairs in bright primary colours. The simplified menu features classic burger options, which generally come cooked to a high ...

Pure & Whole

Previously known as Kush, everything on the menu at Pure Whole sounds and looks sublimely healthy. However, while many dishes taste as gorgeous as they appear, others sadly perpetuate the mistaken stereotype that heatlhy eating is a chore. With just four booths, the pristine space is sparse ...

HowFun

Taiwanese take on Spanish tapas opens at Shanghai Centre

Rockbund Art Museum

Rockbund Museum has gained a name for itself for all things strange and quirky. Situated in the historic Royal Asiatic Society building at the north end of The Bund, Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) regularly exhibits innovative works from some of China’s biggest contemporary artists including Zheng ...