Thai Food Festival (and other food news)
What's happening now: The Thai Food Festival is currently running in Shanghai through September 9th at four Thai restaurants that have received the official "Thai Select" designation from the Thai government. Organized by the Commercial Section of the Royal Thai Consulate General, Baan Thai, Lan Na Thai, Ma Boon Krong and Simply Thai will aim to present dishes that represent the four regional cuisines of Thailand.
Shanghaiist is a little curious about the aforementioned "Thai Select" designation, which, according to Shanghai Daily, is a "certification of authenticity and excellence." We wonder specifically about the process by which the these restaurants were granted this coveted designation, considering some of our favorites are not part of the festival. Have we been enjoying unauthentic Thai food at Coconut Paradise this whole time?
Good stuff, good stuff: We've crowed many a time about Southern Barbarian and the fact that they have the best beer selection we've ever seen at any Chinese restaurant here. Looks like they're now lapping the competition by hooking up with American Craft Beers Partners (ACBP) to add even more beer goodness to their drink menu. We've also crowed about ACBP before, so you can see why we're excited, especially now that they've added Gordon Biersch and some Hawaiian brews to their already wonderful portfolio: Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen, Gordon Biersch Märzen, Kona Longboard Lager, Kona Wailua Wheat.
Wait, there's more; they seriously can do no wrong. Southern Barbarian also has the following beer promotion going on up to September 15th:
- Tuesdays: Hoegaarden, 2 for 1
- Wednesdays: Coopers, 2 for 1
- Thursdays: Brooklyn Lager, 2 for 1
Openings: Over a week ago we mentioned a tip we received about Le Garcon Chinoise moving away from Vietnamese fare and promised to follow up on it. Well, we're back with the news that their Vietnamese chef has moved to Ginger's newest venue, Miss Ginger Indochine. Having just soft-opened on the 18th, Ginger's fourth restaurant is located a few meters down from Miss Ginger on Taikang Lu. We visited Miss Ginger today for lunch and they were also offering the Indochine menu, so we expect a lot of synergy between the two cozy little sister restaurants. We didn't try the food at Indochine today but will definitely give it a go our next trip down to the art district. Stay tuned for the forthcoming review.
Photo of Southern Barbarian by 2 dogs via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Eric Hu is Shanghaiist's Food Editor. Email tips, recommendations, and news and gossip about Shanghai's food scene to food at shanghaiist.com.
