salon de ning - a taste of the high life
I am not sure of how to describe this place. This joint reminded me of that oriental casino in the recent Bond flick, Skyfall. The waitresses were in costume and I am torn as to where they look hotter, in Ning or Martinis at the Mandarin (the answer is Kipling's in Mandarin :D). In Salon de Ning everything felt opulent, well appointed, would be minimum adjective for a place like this. Even the crowd felt different, typically hotel bars are filled with foreigners from different nations. Who is Ning anyway and why are we in her salon? According to what I read on the net, Madame de Ning is a fictional 1920's Shanghai socialite (not a madame as I imagined) and Salon de Ning is a tribute to her but I cannot find the origin of the character or more about her, as I would love to know more as to why the Peninsula is building salons in her name please email me if you have any information.
Looking around, the only thing I could think of was swanky. This place must have cost a small fortune to make and decorate (sheesh, check out those shell chandeliers! I pity the fool that had to put that together and those mosaics!). There are four semi private rooms, each with its own theme, the boxing room, shoe room (after our famous former first lady), zepellin room (my favourite) and the Shanghai room. I remember going to a KKB party in the Zepellin room a couple of years back, there used to be a P25k minimum for the room but as we were told to sit in the boxing room.
The live entertainment is crazy good, they play their version of current and past hits and even bloody Gangnam Style which feels like I have heard it a billion times. There is a dance floor in front of the band but I notice few locals get up there, its mostly white boys with their "chicks".
If you plan to go there to meet people, I would recommend Opus or Repuliq instead. From what I saw that night this is a place for groups with cash to burn. There are some ladies but I think they are there to entertain out of town guests. There are "girls" but those have their own clientele there if you know what I mean.
For those with ladies, the Salon de Ning signature drink, the Ning Sling, or their version of the Singapore sling is smooth, fruity and somewhat potent. The drink list is comprehensive, Ning Slings were P270 each, Scotch was about P600 a shot. Our bill for four people – no food and seven cocktails and four shots went to P5k mostly because of the entertainment surcharge.
This great blog has more of the awesomeness of Salon de Ning (lots of pictures). Heck, its always interesting to see our country from the point of view of someone who isn't from here. Its amazing what they find underneath our noses.
Looking around, the only thing I could think of was swanky. This place must have cost a small fortune to make and decorate (sheesh, check out those shell chandeliers! I pity the fool that had to put that together and those mosaics!). There are four semi private rooms, each with its own theme, the boxing room, shoe room (after our famous former first lady), zepellin room (my favourite) and the Shanghai room. I remember going to a KKB party in the Zepellin room a couple of years back, there used to be a P25k minimum for the room but as we were told to sit in the boxing room.
The live entertainment is crazy good, they play their version of current and past hits and even bloody Gangnam Style which feels like I have heard it a billion times. There is a dance floor in front of the band but I notice few locals get up there, its mostly white boys with their "chicks".
If you plan to go there to meet people, I would recommend Opus or Repuliq instead. From what I saw that night this is a place for groups with cash to burn. There are some ladies but I think they are there to entertain out of town guests. There are "girls" but those have their own clientele there if you know what I mean.
For those with ladies, the Salon de Ning signature drink, the Ning Sling, or their version of the Singapore sling is smooth, fruity and somewhat potent. The drink list is comprehensive, Ning Slings were P270 each, Scotch was about P600 a shot. Our bill for four people – no food and seven cocktails and four shots went to P5k mostly because of the entertainment surcharge.
This great blog has more of the awesomeness of Salon de Ning (lots of pictures). Heck, its always interesting to see our country from the point of view of someone who isn't from here. Its amazing what they find underneath our noses.