Shame on the French. Yes, it needs to be said. They left a legacy in Shanghai of some crumbling old buildings—now home to rusty bicycles, stray cats and hanging laundry—but for all their years masquerading and womanizing, they neglected to pass on the basic skills of making baguettes, crepes, pastries and cakes.
Let's talk about bread. The baguette is a daily local staple in formerly French-colonized Vietnam and Algeria where delicious baguettes are sold in baskets on the street, so it is rather surprising that the baguette never made it mainstream in Shanghai... until now.
Photo of French bread stand in Vietnam from Pickle
Gubei has had Paris Baguette (Korean) since 2004, but in the French Concession, we have had to make do with the likes of Bread Talk (Singaporean), Fresh Express, Christine, Marco Polo (Taiwanese) and a host of unmentionable local bakeries whose offerings may fool the naked eye but disappoint the taste buds. The cakes taste like plastercine, the bread like sawdust, the cookies like dried mud. And while bakeries may be a traditionally Western innovation, the presence of bakeries in every metro stop bears testimony to their popularity amongst the Chinese also.
In 2007, good bakeries have started to pop up around this city like crocuses in spring. Shanghai residents embraced the popular, but over-priced Paul (French) with five outlets in the city. Lillian Cakes still makes the best egg tarts for 3.8 RMB. Manne et Sante (in the Ladoll Hotel 831 Xinzha Lu) is consistently excellent.
On Dec 3, 85℃ opened on the corner of Maoming Lu and Weihai Lu. Since opening day, the bakery/café is never without a lineup at its two tills. This Taiwanese chain is said to be more popular in Taiwan then Starbucks with over 137 shops opening in 1.5 years. But thankfully the lineups are dealt with the kind of efficiency that could teach Starbucks a lesson or two. The key to the instant success of 85℃ is excellent product, friendly service and reasonable price. The bread is sold while still warm, the buns ooze with garlic, bacon, cheese and mashed potatoes 7 RMB, the bread and butter pudding for 3.5 RMB a slab. There is also seating (if you are lucky enough to get a seat) and lattes for 12 RMB. And best of all, the bakery has a delivery service/menu. This is not the kind of cafe like Citizen or Boona to bring your computer and book, but rather, here you pile a tray high with all the excellent goodies, get in line and get out quickly. But, it's worth the wait and you'll be back for more.
So perhaps it will be the Taiwanese, rather than the French who will eventually succeed with a franchise of both quality and affordability for the Shanghai masses.
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I totally agree about the city without ovens. It's driving me crazy.
Has egg tarts, buns with garlic, bacon, cheese, bread and butter pudding, anything to do with good bakery? Where is the good bread?
i'm curious about the comment i see here of paul being over-priced, and a shared sentiment with the author that i've started to pick up recently.
have you ever bought a baguette from them? the last one i bought was ¥9. how in the world is that overpriced? the first (and last) baguette i bought from bread talk was ¥10. do you really need someone to explain the difference in quality between the two? and when paul inevitably raises their prices to account for the rising price of ingredients, they'll still be underpriced, not overpriced.
sure, maybe you don't want to shell out ¥30-40 for a raspberry or strawberry tart - they're not an everyday breakfast item. but consider the price of importing the frozen fruit they use in them. consider the price of butter. consider that they use michel cluizel chocolate in their pastries, which runs neck and neck with Valrhona (also spotted in their pastry kitchen) as one of the world's best chocolates. and that's in pastries that cost less than ¥20. what more do you want?
i fail to see why it's overpriced. it just seems like an easy, and thoroughly misinformed, snipe at them.
and, no, i don't work for them.
@santochino, this was a Shanghaiistisement, so that "other" vendor needs to be put in a bad light, for example by being labeled as "overpriced".
Paul is overpriced? If you can't afford to pay 9 RMB for a beautiful, chewy baguette that's fine - you probably don't deserve one. But for a bakery that imports their flour and other ingredients, holds high-rent locations and has great quality control, I think their bread is pretty affordable. Desserts too (though the quiche does seem a shade extortionate). If you're talking about egg tarts, or breads made with local flour, dribbled with kewpie mayonnaise and garnished with a fluttering crown of pork floss, you're confusing apples with oranges here.
Even better than Paul, I think, are the baguettes by Daniel (i think that's his name), sold at Feidan and served at Franck, an 'expensive' French restaurant that is good by virtue of good ingredients.
The supermarket in the basement of Grand Gateway also has surprisingly decent baguettes.
Anyone got any other surprises?
You beat me to it santo. Damn you.
Let's not forget Yamazaki! They make a mean baguette.
Putting the picture of the Banh Mi stand on the front of Shanghaiist, and then talking about baguettes or something like that, is a really cruel trick to play on your readers.
Call me silly, but I really enjoy City Shop's banana bread.
I'll chime in about Paul not really being that overpriced.
And add to it one plea: if we're going to have Hong Kong style bakeries - with the pork floss and hot dog buns (cheung zai bao) why can't we have a real Hong Kong bakery? You know .. . Maxim's? Man, I'd kill for a real good pineapple bun.
85℃ is open 24 hours a day. That is a key point that was not mentioned. I would love to see hot baguette stands become street food. Now that would be innovation.
I'd like to add that I don't find Paul expensive, either -- but that's probably just because I am filthy rich off of all of those Shanghaiistisements.
Dan, I have nothing against Shanghaiistisements :-) Actually we visited many of the locations you guys posted perviously. But you have to admit, that in recent months the quality of reviews and overall quality of the posts went down, and most recently the reviews were written by "stingy students" who will get broke by buying baguettes for rmb9...
Again, i know nobody is getting rich of this, and it's damn difficult to find skilled expats in shanghai to do the writing these days. I'd write, but English was my native language.
Actually, forget it. i was just trolling.
p.s. Rebekah, good job, but try to make the articles less artistic and more straight to the food. :-) Going to that shop, tasting the food and comparing it to what we know "from home" might actually improve this post. I've been frequently to Taiwan, and I fail to see how Taiwan made "sweet sponge bread" is better than any other "sweet sponge bread" in china.... but hey, i may give it a try.
Baguettes and imported flour aside, Paul is pretty expensive.
Take flour and water and bake it into bread - 3 kuai
Add a French man to stir the mix, triple the price.
"I'd write, but English was my native language."
Ponder please.
Hungry for a Wonderbread and mayonnaise sandwich, Mullet?
@1:
Just out of curiousity, which of Shanghaiist's recent reviews did you think were written by "stingy students"?
i will gladly pay more for Paul-quality bread... especially if nobody yells at me while i am buying it.
The Portman bakery has always been pretty reliable, too (but expensive).
Shanghai has come a long way, but we still have to take whatever we can get. Beijing only has a few places for good bread, and not as good as the spots mentioned here.