In this city, where no new building is too tall or too gaudy, no architectural wonder so wondrous it can't be pulled down in a flash, this breakbeat of a hotel feels different. The brainchild of Singapore an hotelier Loh Lik Peng (the man also behind Bethnal Green's Town Hall -curiouser and curiouser,said Alice), it's a genuine piece of local history, housed in a Thirties docklands warehouse that's been given a knock around the chops with faceted bronze and glass panels. Inside, all is industrial chic, with chipped-plaster walls and exposed pipes. Rooms are kitted out with design-classic furniture - Hans Wegner sofas, Acne Jacobsen chairs - bare-brick floors and vast windows that look onto the Huangpu River and the space-age skyscrapers of Pudong. Despite all the uncompromising materials, the whole thing is surprisingly warm and comfortable, and a little humour dashed about - quotes frosted onto the windows, dance steps printed onto the floor-undercuts the severity. Table No 1, the restaurant from Jason Atherton (ex-chef at the Michelin-starred Maze), whips up mod-Euro morsels designed for sharing. You'll find Shanghai fashionistas and design boffins with thick specs and asymmetric haircuts seated at the long refectory tables. In other words, it's a little bit of Shoreditch in Shanghai.