The "Central Perk" logo on the storefront glass of room A105 at The Old Commercial House 1913 in Hongkou district may just convince you that you are Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler or Joey.

And if you still have doubts, seven luminous letters at the door - F. R. I. E. N. D. S - will assure you that you have been transported to the fictional café featured in the television show.

A 33-year-old Chinese man Du Xin, who nicknames himself Gunther after a character in Friends, is the owner and manager of the shop.

Caters to fans

Du, an avid fan of Friends, began watching the American television sitcom in 2004.

"I was fascinated by everything about all 10 seasons of the show. I felt in my heart that I had to do something related to Friends," he said.

Du's Shanghai café officially opened on September 22 - the day when the first episode of the first season of Friends was broadcast in 1994. The opening of the café received overwhelming media exposure that has brought a large number of customers flooding into the imitation "Central Perk."

Du opened the first Friends-themed café in Beijing in 2010. After two years of business, the Beijing shop still enjoys a stable flow of customers, although it is not as crowded as it was when the shop opened. Du said he expected this.

"My café is open to every customer, but we especially welcome Friends fans. During the initial phase of business, the café attracted various people. However, the customers that I am targeting are those real fans of Friends that have continued to frequent the shop," Du said.

He added: "I want this to be a place where Friends enthusiasts feel that they can share and express their love for the sitcom."

Prices at the café are reasonable, at about 15 yuan ($2.38) for a dessert and 20 yuan for a cup of coffee. Nevertheless, Du said that the food and drinks served are not the focus of the café, but the theme and atmosphere are.

Exact replica

The café is designed and decorated almost exactly the same as "Central Perk" is in Season 10 of Friends. The focus of the café is a long orange sofa similar to the one in the television program on which the six friends spend a lot of time. Other parts of the café - the crown-shaped ornament on the wall and the style of the bar stools - are all designed to be exactly as audiences see them in the sitcom.

Du has not seen the Friends set in person, but obtained information about it from high-definition screenshots and from online photos taken by people who have visited the actual set.

"In many cases I noticed minor details after taking a really close look at photos from the set and included them in the café," Du said.

Customers will also find that various punch lines from the sitcom are written on the café's white coffee mugs, that the names of desserts served in the café can be traced back to specific dialogues from the show and that the café's television continuously screens Friends.

Du said he will soon introduce a "Student ID Card of the Friends School," which he will present to customers who can pass an exam on Friends. The card will provide the holder with VIP services and discounts.

When asked about copyright issues related to operating the café, Du explained: "I avoid using 'Friends' or 'Central Perk' in the shop's official name, and consider the two logos displaying those words as decorative elements."

The café does not have Jennifer Aniston as waitress, but it does have a cute, young Chinese barista called Rachel, who will serve you coffee.

 

Address: A105, 160 Harbin Road, Hongkou district (near the 1933 Old Millfun)

虹口区哈尔滨路160号1913老洋行A105号

(近1933创意园)

Opening hours: 11 am to 10 pm

Everyone's a critic

Jiang Xiaojing, 20

University student

"It's an amazing experience sitting in a café that's almost exactly the same as 'Central Perk' while watching Friends on a big television screen. As a fan of Friends, the experience is like an exciting dream for me. My friend who knows little about Friends is also having fun here. But if the café were more spacious, it would be perfect!"

 

Gao Yueyin, 30

Office worker

"The interior decoration is really impressive, and brings you straight into the world of the sitcom as soon as you enter. I find it interesting that each table has been named after a character on the show. Although the highlight of 'Central Perk' is its Friends theme, as a café, one of its main responsibilities is to serve coffee that tastes authentic, and I think it still has a long way to go towards this end. On the whole, though, as a Friends fan, I'm happy to see such a café, and I hope it keeps on getting better in the future."

 

Eric Wilson, 28

Tourist in Shanghai

"What astonished and confused me is that the Chinese like an American sitcom even more than we do. Still, I have to admit that the coffee shop looks nice, and it seems a good way for fans to show their love for Friends. Having said that, copying the external form of something is easy, but I wonder how they deal with the internal cultural gap."