Amber Lounge

Keep one word in mind if you want to visit Amber Lounge: patience. Even on quiet nights, Amber gets hammered. Whatever the size of the line outside, the club will be full. And as you descend into Amber's basement locale, it's easy to see why it's so popular. A favourite of international students, it's brimming with the gorgeous, the young and the beautifully-dressed. The hotness quotient is well above the city average. Some of the crowd are probably promo models, but the numbers still rack up well. Amber Lounge lives up to its name - the bars, pillars, tables, and sinks are all chunks of resinous orange, glowing with the lights embedded within them. It's an eye-catching effect. Even the urinal is swanky, a giant, glowing blue Perspex sheet with a faux-classical frieze printed across it (a culturally indecisive blend of Roman scrolls and Chinese dragons). A large venue with a packed central dancefloor, the two bars serve the usual limited and overpriced range of drinks, with no tap beer. A DJ with a retinue of hangers-on plays grating commercial club tunes. He's accompanied by some intense pep-men, who yammer constantly into the microphone - "Yeah-ya! Whoo! Amber Lounge make some noise!" - in a way that makes Lil Jon seem like a Tibetan monk. This place is all about privilege and proving you have it. There are the lines, the VIP lists, the reservation of tables and booths, the scrutiny by security to see if you're cool enough. So if you think listening to appalling music with beautiful people is worth the price of long waits and judgement, then this is the place for you.