Last weekend I took my image-conscious friend with me to the renovated Chivas Lounge, formerly Na Lestnitse. I was expecting it to be another Moscow club/cafe with Fashion TV playing on a big screen over the bar and a DJ spinning hip tunes in the corner.

Since I was sick of making the scene alone, I figured dragging someone along – particularly someone obsessed with their outward appearance – might give me some new insight into what it means to be "cool."

Chivas Lounge is a super-chic little club/cafe with a modern yet carefully coordinated retro interior full of people smoking cigarettes and looking cool.

It’s not a bad place to chill, although the orange lighting and furniture does give it a 1970s throwback feel.

My friend was most concerned about my hooded sweatshirt underneath my topcoat. He said it made me look like a bum. Also, my plastic bag from a quick stopover at Stockmann’s – the club is near Smolensky Passazh – greatly troubled him as we approached the door.

"Please don’t bring that in with you," he said to me with pleading eyes, as we stood in front of the coat check. I questioned his sexuality for a second, then acquiesced and handed over my bag full of magazines and popcorn to the coat-check attendant for 10 rubles.

I am anti-image. Chivas Lounge is exactly the opposite. Sovietskoye Shampanskoye is served in buckets, flat-screen TVs show the fashion channel in every corner of the room, the chairs are the latest design and trendy sushi is an essential part of the menu.

The club has two main halls. One is downstairs near the coat-check room and separated by a black curtain. We chose to hobnob with the masses in the main room, near the DJ. There is a small flight of stairs in the main room leading up to a small loft with plush couches, but they were full of couples, so we opted for a table.

Even though we came on a Sunday, the club was packed, but the tables had not been cleared to make way for a dance floor, which usually happens on Friday and Saturday nights. The management promises big, Club XIII-style parties in the future, with many of their DJs former residents at XIII.

Most people were drinking wine or tea and smoking cigarettes. The clientele was heavy on the female side, with a few men in tight shirts mixed into the crowd – and everyone’s outfits were as carefully coordinated as the interior. Happily, baseball caps are allowed, as we could tell by one guy sporting one and eating sushi in the corner.

The menu is pretty standard for your super-hip Moscow cafe. A half-liter of Tri Medvedy can be had for 70 rubles, and imported Fosters and Edelweiss are also on tap for 120-130 rubles for a half-liter. Cocktails cost anywhere from 90 rubles to 200 rubles and espressos cost 60 rubles.

Most of the fare is simple. We skipped the sushi menu, but nachos and sandwiches cost anywhere from 130-160 rubles, along with a number of salads and pastas for 130-220 rubles. If you’re watching your figure, they have a "Fitness" menu with chicken, salmon and rice. Personally, I was more interested in the attractively priced cakes (70-90 rubles).

The service is curt, but fast and relatively efficient. While there were plenty of seemingly single women to choose from, my friend and I had little success, since everyone’s eyes and attention were glued to Fashion TV. Perhaps the image-conscious aren’t very good at conversation, communicating by color-coded outfits instead.

In fact, a day later my friend happened to see a young lady from the cafe in the metro. He remembered her white shirt, while she recognized his sweater and glasses. They swapped names and numbers, a carefully coordinated match made in heaven.

The renovated Chivas Lounge is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since the cool have no time to sleep.

Chivas Lounge

1/4 2nd Smolensky Per.

Metro: Smolenskaya

Tel: 244-0655, 202-7670