Vic's re-opening bash was completely over the top, with celebs like Huang Lixing, Furong Jiejie and Li Xiaolu posing for the paparazzi while media types slurped champagne and gawked. It was also long overdue. For a couple of years, Vic's has languished in second place in the Gongti club race, threatening to devolve into a slightly larger version of the upstairs room of The Den (which owns Vic's).

Mix, meanwhile, gobbled up the entire west side of the square. Beijing forgot that Vic's was one of the earliest clubs in town to throw hip-hop parties and that it was actually Mix that successfully hitched Vic's booty-grind formula to the Chivas express train. The tables ought to be turned for a while, as Vic's bought up the east side (everything except the apparently un-digestible Outback Steakhouse). The result is a pumping, Babyface-style party spot complete with two largely separate rooms promising different genres of dance music every night of the week. The most exciting celeb to hit Vic's this month wasn't Sister Hibiscus, though, but Goldie, who "soft opened" with hard-hitting drum n bass the night before the big bash. Vic's isn't content with dice rollers and shapeless DJs. They are committed to top international DJ talent. And that is always cause for celebration.

Vic's

Perfect For: grilled wings and grappa
Add: Inside the north gate of the Workers' Stadium