Voodoo Lounge
Metro: Belorusskaya
5/7 Sredny Tishinsky Per.
Tel: 253-2323
Cover: 150 rubles men; 50 rubles women
Hours: 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday

Located between Tverskaya Street and the Moscow Zoo, one of the best things about the Voodoo Lounge club is the South Pacific Tiki style interior.

The Voodoo Lounge attracts young hip Russians along with a diverse mix of Africans, Latin Americans, Arabs and Westerners, including kids from the U.S. Embassy. The party starts to pick up around midnight, and peaks at 2 or 3 a.m. A great girl-to-boy ratio makes the Lounge one of single men's favorites, provided that the women are good looking and eager to "poznakomitsya" (i.e., meet guys). This state of affairs is a result of an unusually lopsided cover charge setup: 50 rubles for women and 150 for men.

Drinks were normally priced for Moscow downtown while featuring a wide choice: 120 - 140 rubles for cocktails, 55 - 110 for beers. The restaurant part is worth a visit and offers good value for a variety of Mexican and American dishes.

The music, played by some of Moscow's better known DJ's, like Nassir and Stanley, is a mix of Western pop remixes, Latin salsa, and an occasional Arabic tune. During the week, the club has theme nights, boasting body-art on Tuesdays, expat night Wednesday, and salsa Thursday. The garderob is OK, and security does a good job keeping flatheads and prostitutes out. 

HIP-POPOTAM
5/1 Mantulinskaya Ul. (under the Santa Fe restaurant)
Metro: Ulitsa 1905 Goda
Tel: 256-2327
Open: 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. Wed. through Sun.
Cover: 120 rubles for men; 60 rubles for women

Located under the Santa Fe restaurant, near the Mezdunarodnaya Hotel, Hippopotam has gone through a lot of changes in the last year. Once upon a time, the place was babe central – anytime of the week you could count on meeting someone, no matter how bad you looked or how badly you spoke Russian. All you had to do was hang out around the dance floor or walk past the chicks sprawled out on the couches in the fluorescent chill-out room.Then the management changed and the place became flathead heaven.

Now, Hippopotam has reinvented itself as a hip-hop club, with this making up most of the dance music. Although the billiards room (40 rubles a game) is unchanged, the bar is now covered in graffiti, and there are male dancers jumping around in a rope cage by the dance floor. However, Hippo is now also offering live music on weekends in addition to Latin nights on Thursdays.

The crowd is aged between 18 – 25 and widely represents the international population of Moscow, yet without the obnoxious mafia types. Pickings are about average for the guys, that is, there almost always are a few decent prospects around.

Cocktails were moderately priced at 80 - 140 rubles each, while beers were cheap at between 40 - 110 rubles. The thriftier ones of you should look out for the daily specials, which normally offer great value for your dollar. 

PLANET HOLLYWOOD
14 Presnensky Val
Metro: Ulitsa 1905
Tel: 253-6343
Open: Daily from 8 p.m. until 10 a.m.
Cover: Within 100 rubles

Since Planet Hollywood, Inc. went bankrupt, its franchises worldwide have been forced to go it alone. Driven by the need to adapt or die, Moscow's own monument to tinseltown kitsch has moved away from its pretentious parent. It scrapped the outrageously expensive gift shop and the staffed, de facto, pay toilets.

Upstairs, beyond a closed curtain, is a little club. After being stopped by an OMON-trained security guard and directed back to a cash register, I found that the admission was a horrifying 10 bucks. Cocktails were $7.5 - 11, beer around $4.5 and a glass of juice $6. Gasp! The small number of people there mostly consisted of youngish Russians and pot-bellied middle-aged ex-pats watching two dancers slipping stripperlike around poles. I had a bad feeling when I walked into the club past a 40-something screaming into his cell phone in English. Hunting was likely to be futile: There were no prospects for women and very few for guys (although prostitutes are a stronger presence on some nights). The place itself was OK, with UV lamps on the bar and videos playing on large screens — but music videos replaced the movie clips long ago.

Downstairs the situation was better. First, there are the billiards tables, which only cost 50 rubles a game. Second, there is a new club that opened in December, which only charges a $4 cover, while drinks are about half the upstairs price. Although the music was similar, people seemed to be having more fun -- and there was a Russian billiards table. The service was very good and the pickings were good, but limited. The crowd was small, young (18-23), but enthusiastic. The decor had silhouettes of Hollywood figures like Charlie Chaplin, good lighting and a lot of space to cool down. There were a few quibbles: It was hard to tell that the place existed and security was overzealous (I thought I had trespassed into a forbidden part of the building) and they needed to add more color to the black and gray interior. However, the management is trying hard and the prices are reasonable, making the club worth a look.