Interior of Unico — Shanghai, China
(Image credit: Unico - Shanghai)

The Bund, Shanghai's glittering riverside strip, has long been the epicentre of the city's cosmopolitan ambitions. So it's only appropriate one of its brightest lights is a Latin tapas lounge. Touted as the largest of its kind in Asia, Unico was conceived by French-Argentine architect Marcelo Joulia as an intimate gentlemen's club. This explains the mood lighting, deep Chesterfield banquettes and low-slung, mismatched armchairs that anchor a marble-clad bar over which hovers a polyhedronal ice sculpture. In the kitchen, executive chef Thibaut Pouplard teams up with the Michelin-starred Mauro Colgreco to mastermind an exquisitely inventive menu of crackling baby pork with creamy polenta, and lobsters stewed with peanut oil, coconut and tomatoes. From the bar, mango and rosemary caipirinhas and agave and coriander mojitos make perfect post-prandial cocktails.

It’s only appropriate one of its brightest lights is a Latin tapas lounge

(Image credit: Unico - Shanghai)

The mood lighting, deep Chesterfield banquettes and low-slung

(Image credit: Unico - Shanghai)

Mood lighting, deep Chesterfield banquettes and low-slung, mismatched armchairs that anchor a marble-clad bar over which hovers a polyhedronal ice sculpture

(Image credit: Unico - Shanghai)

Intimate gentlemen’s club

(Image credit: Unico - Shanghai)

INFORMATION
Website

ADDRESS

Three on the Bund
2nd Floor
No.3 Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road
Shanghai

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Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.