Threesday: 3 gorge-tastic ways to brunch this weekend
In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. And this week we're all about boozy all-you-can-eat-and-drink brunching. Because, really, health is sooo overrated.
One thing Shanghai is surprisingly good at is stuffing you with an endless amount of food and alcohol. Every time our friends from the U.S. come over, we usher them into one of the many all-you-can-eat-drink Teppanyaki places around the city, gorging them with sushi and grilled meats and sake and Asahi. We're not going to talk about those here. Instead, we're going to highlight three other non-Teppanyaki drunken gorge-fests you can take part in, especially over the weekend. And especially for brunch.
1. Vedas Sunday Buffet
While some will argue that if you wanted to stuff yourself with Indian and beer at the same time, Punjabi's is much cheaper (at 90RMB), they're not open lunch times on the weekend. Sure you could wait until night (and this deal is good every night of the week), but what's the fun in that? It's the weekend! Brunch it up!
To cure your hangover as soon as you wake up with greasy tandori goodness and... more alcohol... you go to Vedas. It helps that the Indian food here is also delicious and some of the best in Shanghai. We only wish the buffet lasted longer; a paltry three hours is not nearly enough time to get our Naan on.
When: Sundays, 11:30am to 2:30pm.
Where: 550 Jianguo Xi Lu near Wulumuqi Lu 建国西路550号进乌鲁木齐路
Cost: 128RMB for buffet and free flow of beer, soft drinks, tea or coffee
2. Vargas Grill Weekend Brunch
It may be the most expensive of the options we're listing, but it's also the classiest and still way less costly than any of those hotel brunches. Go early to secure a seat by the window; they have these amazing lounge couches there that make you feel deliciously decadent while you partake in cold cuts and booze. As for the pricing structure, there's quite a bit of flexibility here. You can pay 100RMB for a just cold cuts (and desert) buffet and not be forced into the all-you-can-drink deal.
But you'd be missing out on one of the most varied and brunchy all-you-can drink selections in town. Mimosas, Mojitos, Marys of the Bloody kind - why in the world would you stop yourself? We sure didn't. We took off our shoes, grabbed some appetizers and crunched on alcoholic celery stalks until they closed.
When: Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30am to 4pm
Where: 3rd floor, 18 Dong Ping Lu near Hengshan Lu 东平路18号进衡山路
Cost: 200RMB for cold & desert buffet plus unlimited drinks. Add 50RMB for grilled main course.
3. Indulge @ The Spot
We almost didn't believe it when we heard about it. And despite actually partaking, we're still having a little trouble wrapping our minds around this gorge-o-thon to end all gorge-o-thons. Every Sunday, The Spot in Jing'an offers this deal: All you can eat off a five page menu PLUS all you can drink Tiger beer. FROM NOON UNTIL 10PM! This menu is extensive too. Besides things like burgers, tacos and pizza, it also has old favorites from Irene's Thai, some salads, and weird options like Beef Goulash (which wasn't actually goulash, but we'll forgive that since it was tasty as hell). Oh yes, and there's ice cream too, assuming you have room for it.
Think you can make it the whole stretch? Our record so far has been about six hours before we finally gave up (lest we fall asleep on the seats). It helps that The Spot also has free wifi. We can't think of a better way to catch up on shows we missed on Youku while getting really, really fat.
When: Sundays, noon to 10pm
Where: 331 Tong Ren Lu near Beijingxi Lu 铜仁路331号进北京西路
Cost: 150RMB for the whole shebang