Speak Low

Top class speakeasy-style venue on Fuxing Zhong Lu

Shanghai is fast approaching saturation point when it comes to speakeasy-style bars. You can barely walk down a gentrified lane without a Prohibition-era cocktail being splashed in your face, and while the likes of the former French Concession's Senator Saloon and Rockbund's Library Distillery have helped raise the bar, the over-kill factor is looming.

But Japanese barman Shingo Gokan, who recently worked at famed New York cocktail bar Angel's Share, is doing something different: he's opening an actual speakeasy bar. While the aforementioned Shanghai venues are speakeasy in style rather than reality, Speak Low is found only when you slide open a book shelf at 579 Fuxing Zhong Lu.

The first room is an intimate affair that straddles the line between classy and casual with panache. We tried their zingy English Mule (a Moscow Mule twist with Earl Grey tea-infused gin, 85RMB), with the availability of snacks such as a pickled egg with aioli (35RMB) adding to the relaxed vibe, as do the incredibly friendly staff members.

The 'we'll-be-back-again-tomorrow' factor, however, comes from the second room, accessed by heading upstairs and pushing a finger against a certain city on the world map on the wall, causing a door to slide open. Inside lies an exceptionally cosy room.

A completely different, more expensive and complex cocktail menu is served here. The standout is the Speak Low (120RMB), from which the venue takes its name, while the Banana Fostered Fashioned (110RMB), with banana-infused Bacardi and chocolate bitters, brown sugar, cinnamon, cherry and vanilla flambé, is a subtly unique fruit sip.

At the time of going to press, Speak Low, still in soft opening, was putting the final touches to a third room – a members-only whisky-based area. Regardless, Gokan has already managed to achieve service standards that help make this bar one of the most delightful high-end drinking spots we've visited in a very long time.

Any new speakeasy-style bar in Shanghai has to be special to stand out. Speak Low has the potential to be the most special of all.

The drink to try

Ingredients Bacardi Superior, Bacardi 8, Pedro Ximenez sherry, matcha, kimake.

Shingo Gokan says 'It tastes almost like chocolate, slightly bitter and sweet. I used to learn Japanese tea ceremonies – I combined the idea of those with Bacardi and sherry, as I used to work in a sherry bar. It's named after the jazz standard song, which is fitting as I live in New York.'