Shop 1104A, 8 Jianguo Xi Road near Sinan Road. 建国西路8号, 近思南路
Shop 1104A, 8 Jianguo Xi Road near Sinan Road. 建国西路8号, 近思南路
We liked Backyard Cafe. We like its successor, Kakadu, even more. After proclaiming that we were going to visit the new Australian restaurant during the Spring Festival holiday, we did as we always do and ended up lazing in bed instead. We finally made our first trip down there, and are happy to report that Kakadu is what this particular diner is always pleased to find in Shanghai: quality uniqueness. We profess to be quite the ignoramuses when it comes to Australian food and culture, so we had some help from the affable Aussie co-owner and manager, who described to us the recent revival in his home country of its indigenous cuisine. Dishes that included barramundi, kangaroo, and crocodile meat were once solely the purview of restaurants and chefs catering to the tourist crowd, but now are blended with the country's superlative produce and spices and other international influences, and have properly been reintroduced and welcomed into the mainstream to form a modern and unique culinary renaissance.
Spring Festival: The holiday is around the corner, and for the first time in years we'll be stuck in Shanghai, undoubtedly huddled under the covers and looking sorrowfully through our phone's address book for anyone who might also be here to help brush away the loneliness. Since our ayi who cooks our grease-ridden meals will also be leaving us for the holiday, we're going to have to trudge out into the snowy wilderness to eat. If any of you similarly cold and lonely souls are willing to join this Shanghaiist to pig out at places both old and new, here's where you'll find us: