This photo was taken this morning on Yongfu Lu near Fuxing Lu. Nothing screams "Better City, Better Life" like walking on some blacktop. A local business owner said this ugly, quick-fix approach to city planning could be a sign that Shanghai is really feeling the crunch as it tries to get its myriad "beautification" projects completed before the May 1 start of the 2010 World Expo. On the plus side, asphalt sidewalks will probably last a bit longer than the already-cracking-and-coming-unstuck brick ones laid out not too long ago in other parts of the French Concession. But we're definitely not looking forward to strolling on — or getting stuck to — these human driveways when they help make Shanghai's already muggy summers even muggier. more ›

Second in our winter series of hotpot reviews is Aberdeen (春秋火锅), a Cantonese style hotpot located in a renovated old house on Fuxing Lu. For us, Cantonese hotpot has always connoted clean and uncomplicated broth spread across a variety of regions. Want a spicy or satay stock? Aberdeen's got it, but don't expect anything more than a mild tang. What they do have is an assortment of seafood and premium meats that you wouldn't find at your local Little Sheep. more ›

Around 1:30pm this afternoon thick plumes of black smoke could be seen coming from the corner of Huaihai Lu and Fuxing Lu, just above Laifu Restaurant. There is a small roof garden on top of the building and this seemed to be the main source of the fire, though officers from the five fire engines that arrived also gave the adjacent Hot Pot King restaurant considerable attention. The streets became flooded with people - evacuees and onlookers - while the toxic smoke covered the section of Huaihai Lu between Laifu and the Citic Bank opposite. There appeared to be no injuries or casualties. more ›

It's almost as though Shanghai restaurateur Kelley Lee is reading our mind. First she opens Shanghai's best Mexican place, Cantina Agave, a short stroll from Shanghaiist headquarters (and she always has the flat screen tuned into classic NBA games). And now, we learn (from her) that she is opening a Boxing Cat Brewery almost next door to us. (If next Kelley takes over the Iranian consulate building and turns it into an art house movie theater, the wife may start to get suspicious.) more ›

Got photos of this morning's storm or the flooding that followed it that you'd like to share? Email them to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically show up on our Contribute Page. Flickr users, simply tag your photos "shanghaiist". more ›

Please excuse us for what will be a day of light posting. We've been puking cosmopolitans and bile ALL morning from this really hot party last night at the Le Meridien that we didn't tell you about (hah! sometimes we prefer to keep the fun to ourselves), but even before we've said goodbye to the thousand diablos hammering on our head right now, we're already planning on where to get ourselves further plastered tonight. Long-time... more ›

Due to multiple requests (total of two, and one was me) here is more golden week festival news. The previously mention Hop Festival has gotten an official name...so....let it hence forth be referred to as the Yue Festival. Ticket prices are set at 140rmb for students, 280rmb advanced purchase and 360rmb at the gate. Rock-ing has also released their ticket prices and they range from 280-880 depending on how special you want to feel. For those who are worried about getting to Zhujiajiao and back to see the 1234 Beach Rock Festival, your sleepless nights are over! Promoters have promised to keep the complimentary shuttle buses running to Shanghai Stadium late into the night. Shanghai isn't the only Chinese city to catch festival fever. Modern Sky in Beijing will also be hosting a 3 day festival at Haidian Park that first week in October. Rumored headliners are the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Mogwai. We will keep our ear to the underground and keep you updated on the freshest festival news (aren't we clever? we can string words that rhyme into sentences!). more ›

For this Shanghaiist, lunch during the work week typically consists of lukewarm slop served downstairs in the company canteen. So, when we get a rare chance to take a day off from work or telecommute, we like to venture out and take advantage of the many lunch specials that are offered by Shanghai's popular restaurants. more ›

These are definitely the dog days of summer and as in summers past, live shows have dried up with the heat. Ironically enough Shanghaiist has chosen to skip town and head to even hotter Hong Kong where PK-14, Hedge Hog, New Pants and the Re-tros will be playing in the cramped but intimate Fringe Club on Sunday. more ›

Still recovering from your May Holiday partying? Well, there's no respite. Here are a few things that Shanghaiist is keeping an eye on over the coming week. more ›

Maoming Lu is no longer a wild party street. Gone are the lascivious hostesses running around in a noisy chaotic fashion, challenging beer-drenched men to games of Connect Four. H & Y' s boss must have seen it all, because this low key Japanese restaurant is still going strong in this street after seven years. We enjoy this restaurant, because it has tasty, inexpensive Japanese food in a very casual environment. Inside, H & Y revels in Bohemian kitsch. It has "I heart you" sprayed on the mirrors, alongside kooky paintings, New Year emblems and Christmas lights. Expect to hear Eric Carmen or some Chinese power ballads as the soundtrack to your meal. more ›

Critics have ladled some lavish praise upon the 23-year-old pianist, who began tickling the ivories — “really playing!” Ottignon insists — at the age of one, when most of us were still trying to wrap our heads around the concept of left-foot-right-foot-left-foot-right-foot. At age 11, he picked up what was to be his first of many jazzman accolades — New Zealand’s 'most outstanding jazz musician under 25' honours. “My grandmothers on both sides were pianists,” he explains. “It came very naturally at a young age.” And it seems that music courses through the veins of the entire Ottignon clan — Aron has shared the stage with both brother Matt (saxophone, and occasionally flute and clarinet) and sister Holly (vocals) in various projects. more ›

We are not fruit experts, nor do we play one on TV, so we have no idea why these oranges look like they do or if they happen to be a Jiangxi specialty. We do know we have not seen oranges like this before. And we also know that simple Google search tells us that oranges are an "economic staple" of Jiangxi's capital, Guangzhou loves oranges from Jiangxi, and allegedly so did Stalin, calling them the "King of Orange". more ›

Sunday night we headed down to the House of Blues and Jazz to check out the new band from New Orleans, “Continuum”. They started a couple weeks ago but already have their groove on, with an easy stage presence that shows they are comfortable playing together and a group sound that is starting to come together nicely. Front man Thaddeus Ford, who plays the trumpet and acts as MC, is a 6th generation New Orleans jazz musician, and has about four different names for each of the musicians onstage as he announces them. He and the vocalist Evelyn are actually the only ones originally from New Orleans, as their band was originally scheduled to come play later in the year but was recently contacted by the club and asked if they could come earlier. Because of the short notice they were not able to use their regular band members, but were still able to bring some solid players to fill in on piano and drums. In fact they were never able to line up a bass player before arriving in town, so they picked up Michael Brownell, a bass player who has been based in town for the last half-year or so now. In any case they are creating a good atmosphere already, mixing some jazz standards in with the funk, soul and R&B where Evelyn really shines. more ›

Last Saturday night, Shanghaiist fancied going to this new place we heard of — the bar where you can drink cocktails with Absinthe — called Tara 57. Located on Fuxing Lu, just next to Boona 2, and opposite JZ Club, this “cocktail lounge”, as they call it, is a very small place. And that is actually a good thing — it's very cozy. Even more (and this is important for us), there is a coat-rack, so you don’t have to keep your coat on your knees while sipping your drink, so you can actually show that, yes, you did dress up tonight, and, no, you are not wearing jeans again. But the coat rack at Tara 57 was ridiculously small (or maybe our coat is ridiculously large?), and it kept falling on us, which spoiled our visit just a little bit. more ›

Shanghaiist is getting in the holiday mood--it's December, it's cold, and Christmas gifts are beginning to be bought! (Though not by us. We've thought about it--does that count?) more ›

Because the boss tells them to. more ›

Shanghaiist went gadget shopping today -- tired of carrying around the laptop to check emails and blogs, we are planning to upgrade our mobile phone. And we bumped into the Sony Ericsson Z610 (official link). This phone made us happy with its slim design and the nice glamour effect on the outside (despite business functionality, we want to stay fashionable -- gotta keep appearances up). The big surprise was the built-in RSS reader. Wow, keep yourself updated with Shanghaiist feeds on your mobile -- that is very convincing selling point! Actually, we didn't find any other brand offering this function (here a list of Sony Ericsson phones with RSS-reader). more ›

Good more ›

Today is the first of three days of jazz music in Fuxing park, and if you aren't into jazz then perhaps the enticing prospect of being allowed to sit on the grass field is enough reason to show up. Yes, folks, you heard it right- an outdoor music festival on a lawn, in China. The last time they had a music festival here, the grass was covered with some protective hard lego-like pieces of plastic that fit together and were more uncomfortable to sit on than concrete. It appears that this time things will be a bit more like the music festivals of yore, with food and drink, picnic style enjoyment of music, and a mellow sunny atmosphere. more ›

This many come as a shock to some of you, but some of us here at Shanghaiist can be, well, a little cynical. No! Surely not, you say! Ah, but true, my friend, but true. For example, we never took much notice of the restaurant Nuova Vita, near the intersection of Fuxing Lu and Ruijin Er Lu. It had existed pretty much since we moved to the city, and considering its age and curious lack of hype, we had it pegged as traditional Shanghainese Italian fare—canned sauce, rubbery noodles, with prices fit only for a Roman Pontiff. more ›

Shanghaiists aren’t frequent patrons of Xintiandi establishments: With a can of diet Coke going for 38 kuai, we prefer to spend our hard earned Renminbi elsewhere. But, there has always been one notable exception -- we love Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Although the place is hardly budget (26 kuai for a medium ice latte), we like it because it’s close to our gym (no, not Physical -- Megafit, though seemingly just as rainbow friendly), because it’s well air-conditioned and smoke free, and above all ... because it has free wireless internet. That is until today: The wireless service, while still free, isn’t exactly working. more ›

Shanghaiist loves Boonna Cafe. Now, we have a reason to love it a little more. The artsy coffee shop, favored both by savvy locals and laowais looking for a home away from Shanghai's trendy club hopping crowd, is now smoke free … on Tuesdays. more ›

Someone just sent us this joke (in Chinese) about the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Shanghai. The rough translation is: more ›

Photo by 2 dogs. Yep, Shanghaiist's favorite little cafe has added a new location: Boonna 2, 57 Fuxing Lu (opposite JZ). more ›

Driving in Shanghai more ›

Shanghaiist was in the mood for jazz last night, so after a simply delicious dinner at Simply Thai, we headed up Fuxing Lu to JZ Club. Unlike the bluesy house band at Cotton Club, JZ tends more toward roots jazz and improv jams, so we were surprised when we showed up to find jazz fusion/electro/drum & bass combo This Is Junglecat setting up on the stage. Led by vocalist Jess Meider and drummer Mico, the Beijing-based band blends jazz standards with electronica, drum loops and rap, creating a decidedly unique sound. more ›

Nangka Cafe on Fuxing Zhong Lu more ›

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