Eat Me: Cheap sandwiches and juices ... in Shanghai?

Nangka Cafe on Fuxing Zhong Lu

The October issue of That's Shanghai has been good to Shanghaiist thus far. Already it gave this site a rather gushing review and now it has introduced us to our new favorite neighborhood eatery, Nangka Cafe. "Nangka" is Malay for "jackfruit" -- and we're not sure what "jackfruit" is English for. We hear it is part of the mulberry family, which still doesn't help us much. In Chinese, "nangka" is 波罗蜜 (bōluómì). Anyway, all this matters little, because the Nangka Cafe serves up a lot more than nangka. It's a "Malaysia inspired" sandwich/smoothie/pastry shop where the food is great -- homemade and fresh. And cheap. Damn cheap. Sandwiches start at RMB 6 and max out at RMB 16, which will get you maybe a single slice of bread at Shanghai's higher-priced sandwich shops. Speaking of bread, the home-cooked flat rolls that Nangka's sandwiches come on are pretty tasty. A small sandwich might be a little too small for a normal-sized person, though. Especially if you arrived at the shop sweaty after a trip to the gym. But at 6 kuai a pop, keep buying until you are stuffed.

Shanghaiist is quite addicted to the large curry chicken sandwiches, which are 12 kuai and just spicy enough. We like to wash it down with either a freshly-squeezed apple juice (RMB 12) or a "yellow" smoothie, 15 RMB and packed with pineapple, mango, nangka and yogurt. The pastries are also hard to say no to. We love the coconut bread pudding (RMB 5) and banana squares (RMB 3). The pineapple puffs (two for 3 RMB) are also nice and a "house special." Nangka Cafe, on Fuxing Lu near Shunchang Lu, is just a five-minute walk from Shanghaiist's office and they also offer free delivery to locations within reason. And yes, they now recognize our voice when we call ... which lately has been very, very often. We don't cook much.

A couple mini gripes: We find it a little odd that they don't offer orange juice (it's apple, carrot, cucumber, watermelon and tomato) and what is labeled as a "Caesar salad" isn't really a Caesar salad. It's an OK salad, mind you, but it comes with thousand island dressing. Be prepared.

Nangka Cafe, which opened in August, is Malaysian owned and sleek, clean ... and tiny. There are only eight seats in the place. Which is fine, because that's likely how prices stay so low. We have scanned in a copy of the menu for your perusal, both because we are nice and because we don't want this place to go out of business.

Hear are some more photos of the Nangka Cafe. (Shanghaiist just got a new camera phone.)

Nangka Cafe, 209 Fuxing Zhong Lu, near Shunchang Lu (请带我去复兴路209号，近顺昌路). Tel: 5382-2477. Hours: Mon-Thu 9 am-9 pm, Fri-Sun 10 am-10 pm. Menu.