Results tagged “pizza”

At the side of the Maglev station, between the two terminals, three new restaurants are opening at Pudong Airport on August 10 (Sunday). There is a new KFC (for those who can't walk 5 meters to the existing branch), a Pizza Hut, and a Chinese fast-food joint. Also opening soon is a branch of the noodle chain that features Bruce Lee wearing the "Game Of Death" yellow tracksuit as their logo (Note to self: find out name of that restaurant!).

The perennial search for good pizza continues … from this side of Huangpu River. Finding good pizza in Shanghai, or anywhere in China, is like being in a Western movie. You’d have tried and seen it all - the good, the bad … and the kind that tastes like melted plastic.

The title of "Best pizza in Shanghai" is a hotly contested one that frequently sparks passionate debates, not least within Shanghaiist towers, and these days, it's a crowded field in Shanghai, with a number of restaurants jostling for position. However, in this correspondent's humble opinion, Pizza e Pasta might just pip the others to the post.

A few weeks ago it came to our attention that what appeared to be a large price tag-shaped sign was affixed to the front of a building under construction across the street from Zhongshan Park. The sign was under wraps, but the shape alone was enough to conjure up images of Best Buy and many high school hours spent searching in vain for movies and music that they don't keep in stock. Now despite the fact that Zhongshan Park already has a Gome, Yolo, Suning, and a host of other crappy electronics stores, we couldn't help but get a little nostalgic for the good old days, when buying a print cartridge just meant you had to pick up the box and take it to the register. No red stamps, no getting an attendant to take it out from behind bullet-proof glass, and no waiting around for someone to go find the 'real' product after you've paid and shown your stamp to the requisite three to ten people.

Way back in '04, when we were young(ish) and brazen, we declared that Da Marco on Yandang Lu had the best pizza in Shanghai. "I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life," is what we said. It was easier to be so sure-minded about pizza back then, because there were very few reasonable options Shanghai. Are there more now? We think so. But perhaps, after nearly six years, our definition of "reasonable pizza" has changed a bit.

The Italians are famous for their invention of romance and pizza. The Chinese are famous for expertly copying the Italians. And now along with Dolce and Prada, romance and pizza have been copied in time for Valentine's Day. Perusing the delivery menu of Deli Roma Pizza, you will be delighted to discover the 10" Love Pizza–heart-shaped and extra cheesy for 98 RMB (buy-one-get-one-free, in case you don't like sharing, also comes with chicken wings and 1.25 L of Pepsi or 7up).

Taco Bell, we hardly knew ya. An article in this morning's Metro Express commuter paper reported that a Yum Enterprises spokesperson has confirmed the closing of Shanghai's two Taco Bell Grandes, at People's Square and in Gubei, as well as the chain's single Shenzhen location. Instead of pushing Americanized Mexican food in a tough market, the owners of KFC and Pizza Hut have chosen to concentrate on expanding their new Chinese "quick service" venture East Dawning (东方既白), which according to Dianping.com already has 10 locations sprinkled throughout greater Shanghai. The People's Square former Taco Bell Grande will become East Dawning's flagship location. According to TIME magazine:

If you love pizza, pasta, risotto and the rest, then no doubt you've come across some shocking examples of pseudo-Italian cuisine in Shanghai. However, the experience of one Shanghaiist reader at Babela's Kitchen, the newest establishment in the Food Park on the corner of Beijing Lu and Jiangning Lu, was truly scary. "I found a shard of glass as big as my little finger in my risotto, after I'd already put it in my mouth....

Back in the office and just can't concentrate on work? Here's a bunch of useless links we gathered that you can entertain yourself with (while pretending to look oh-so-busy)!

From tigerbalm06 [h/t CDT]:

McDonald's has announced that with effect from next month, it will increase workers' wages in China to levels 12 to 56 percent above local minimum wages. The move comes after a 4-month long controversy which began in April, when Chinese newspapers reported it was paying part-time workers far below local minimums -- eg., 4 yuan (52 cents) per hour in Guangzhou, or just over half the city's minimum. McDonald's is not the only foreign company facing accusations of exploitation. Chinese unions have also criticised the wage policies of Pizza Hut and KFC and may be expected to step up pressure on them next, while Wal-Mart only began to allow its Chinese staff to join unions after the media slammed it for exploiting lower paid workers.

Never unhappy to hear about new pizza joints opening in the city, Shanghaiist is excited to find out that one of the most controversial pizza chains in the world might be coming to China; Hell Pizza. We say might because Shanghaiist isn’t sure at this point and we are waiting for official word from the franchise, but we did stumble upon this site, which may or may not be associated with the official Hell Pizza chain (same logo though). Also of note, this site mentions that Hell Pizza is interested in the China market:

McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut have been accused of paying part-time workers less than the minimum wage in various Chinese cities, Chinese labor officials found.

Michael Ohlsson is an American living in Shanghai. He's a DJ named Ozone. He writes about Shanghai's music scene for City Weekend. And, like many people we know, he eats meals ever day. On his Weird Meat blog (where he writes about eating, um, weird things) he recently posted a list of restaurants he likes in Shanghai. It's not meant to be a definitive list, but he does say he has worked as a food critic and knows "good food." Anyway, lists like this are always good conversation starters, and who knows — you may discover a great place you didn't know about before.

Photo by Shanghai Sky taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site.

-Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores. And the politically minded Curt Schilling went on "Jeopardy!".

Photo by shanghai ultra taken from the Shanghaiist photos page. To see your photos on our photos page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site.

Three years ago, when this Shanghaiist first arrived in town, the downtown area was THE place to be for quality foreign food. It wasn’t exactly Manhattan (or even Omaha) but it was where you went when the craving struck — for Mexican at Taco Popo, Pizza at Melrose, burgers at Rendezvous Café, and that take-your-visiting-parents favorite, M on the Bund.

Zhou Wenyue of Shanghai Daily tells us about the debate that has been simmering for some time now, since the issue of sexual discrimination in advertising ignited.

Shanghaiist received the same email press release about the new book Billions: Selling to the New Chinese Consumer that Danwei and China Herald did. The book is written by Tom Doctoroff, Greater China CEO of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. And the press release includes a list -- “Twelve Facts About the Confucian Consumer” -- that was "compiled by JWT to coincide with" the release of the book. Are all Chinese consumers Confucian consumers (whatever that means)? Are all Chinese consumers the same? Of course not. But they, obviously, are different than your average Western consumer, and we believe Doctoroff is trying to explain to his (mostly Western) audience just how they are different. We are publishing JWT's list below. As Danwei said, some of the items "ring true." Others can, and should be, contested. We'd love to hear what you have to say about this list, especially our Chinese readers:

Tired of getting stood up by people who call to reserve cabs and then fail to show, Shanghai's taxi drivers will implement a customer rating system, reports the Shanghai Daily (via CRIENGLISH.com). Customers who habitually leave taxis hanging will have their phone numbers blacklisted and will end up like the rest of us, running around frantically trying to find a cab during rush hour in the rain because the taxi line at the Portman stretches all the way to California Pizza Kitchen.

Quick -- How many Papa John's locations are there in Shanghai? If you said 15, either it was a lucky guess, you eat too much pizza or you get out a lot more than Shanghaiist. Papa John's opened its 15th Shanghai store earlier this week. It's a dine-in restaurant -- unusual for the delivery chain -- at 999 Changning Lu, near Zhongshan Park.

Rising up from the soulless Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and McDonald's doldrums of "Thumb Plaza" in Pudong is the Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art's international new media exhibition, ElectroScape. Only in operation for six weeks, it has created one of the first avant-art footprints in Shanghai with its premier. Don't know about you, but creating a discourse between the digital and organic usually makes Shanghaiist's stomach go to tizzies. While this exhibition falls well short of inducing a state of tizziness, it is well worth checking out if you enjoy such exercises in mental masturbation. And if you want to support the Shanghai art scene, it's the place to be before August 25.

We all know that California is famous for its pizza. Wait ... no it's not. Still, the California Pizza Kitchen, a mainstay in malls across America, is a welcome addition to the Shanghai restaurant scene, even though they tend to put some crazy shit on their "hearth-baked pizzas." CPK, as they refer to themselves, opened an 88-seat branch in Shanghai Center on Tuesday. It's right next door to the Haagen-Dazs.