Club Hei Hei is perhaps the only installation of Beijing's club scene with dcor louder than its music. Its creators seem to have adapted to nightclub design that mlange of disparate gauds characteristic of baroque cathedrals.

Here, geometric shapes, organic forms and floral patterns sharing no unifying color scheme whatsoever coexist in a seismically shaky truce.

Whether visitors find the decadent dcor to be garish or grandiose depends on the sensitivity of their cheese-o-meters. And that could depend heavily on whether or not they sit on the snow-leopard-print sofas.

But for all of this gimmicky gimcrackery, plainclothes punters pack this place. It's baffling why the T-shirt-and-jeans crowd is attracted to a nightspot that is to Beijing's club scene what the zebra-striped pink flamingo is to the animal kingdom.

Perhaps it's the appeal of the club's unmatched lighting system, which is even trippier than the rest of the setup. The dozen-plus robotic lights that whir above the main room intermittently go from merely giving light to giving lightshows, swathing the club in rainbows of shifting shapes.

But the minds behind this nightspot put less thought into the dancing area below. Only an empty space large enough to accommodate two small tables in front of the bauble-studded DJ booth provides indication of a dance floor.

Some of its most devoted dancers can be found behind the counter. Between smooth moves, boogying bartenders serve beers for 30 yuan and cocktails starting at 40. Drink prices are on the level with most nightclubs in Beijing, but Hei Hei's fees for a private booth are as over-the-top as its dcor, with the most expensive costing 6,880.

As the best place in Beijing to see blinding flash and frantic farrago, Hei Hei's tawdriness and tipple will win over clubbers with a soft spot for the tacky and wacky.

Opening hours: Daily 8:30pm-late.
Address:35 Xiaoyun Lu, Chaoyang District.
Tel: 010-6464-9888.