Rumor has it that the Confucius Temple in Rehe will house a hotel and restaurant in the near future! more ›

The restaurant could be be the latest item in a long list of revealed-to-be Chinese inventions! Formerly misattributed as Western creations, gunpowder, printing, and even New World exploration have all been claimed thoroughly as Chinese in origin. more ›

Their "Christmas Party Pizza" features a pie that is topped with turkey meat and surrounded by a crust-like object, half of which comes stuffed with cheese with the other half stuffed with sausage. You can see a video advertisement for it here (where you can also see the full holiday spread on offer — they supposedly have egg nog). The Christmas Party Pizza looks to be a riff on the Jessica Simpson-approved Cheesy Bites Pizza in the US, which is 360 calories per slice sans toppings — a fact Ms. Simpson apparently knows all too well. more ›

Woah! Who knew that PAUL bakery was having so many problems? I'll admit I usually passed them up for much cheaper taiwanese pastries at Croissants de France or 85C, but I thought it's expat following for overpriced baked goods was strong enough to weather it through any storm. Apparently not. more ›

If you've ever been in New York and wanted good Sichuanese food, you've probably found yourself at Wu Liang Ye: with so few authentic options, your choices are pretty much limited to them and Grand Sichuan. Though this isn't Shanghai news, it's still pretty interesting: we never knew that the Chinese government owned the restaurants! In the wake of a labor dispute with their workers, it seems that the Village Voice did some uncovering, and gives you the issues behind why the laborers are having such a hard time seeking justice: more ›

Anyone taking a stroll down Taojiang Lu towards Hengshan Lu is bound to spot the bright green shutters of 'The Cottage', a new coffee shop at number 25a. more ›

The sky was a rare blue yesterday, so we decided it was high time to check out the views from the top of Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). The observation deck has been getting consistently good reviews even priced at 150 RMB (to get to the 100th floor) and with the added convenience of getting to queue for hours. So we've been avoiding the place for a few months waiting for the hype and novelty to die down a little. more ›

Everyone likes a good party, especially one with free flow champagne like last night’s M1NT pre-launch. In spite of the copious amounts of alcohol, we are sad to say this exclusive billionaire-millionaire club opened not with a bang, but with a pop. As an old China hand, maybe Shanghaiist is just too jaded to enjoy the hype, but here's our summary of Shanghai's newest club. more ›

Despite being around for a while now, Morrocan eatery Marrakech is holding its grand opening tonight. The details we were given were rather brief, but apparently visitors will be able to sample the food and drink between 6pm and 9pm. more ›

We seriously LOVE some of the things we hear about going on in our city. Yes, some of the people we meet here can be harsh and mean, but this story goes to show that humanity still exists in Shanghai. Two weeks ago, Rebekah Pothaar, an executive with Ctrip.com, found that her ayi's husband was in a serious motorbike collision. They went with her to the hospital and found that surgery was going to cost... more ›

With Christmas just around the corner, there are plenty of parties to attend, plus more wine tastings and other opportunities to get thoroughly blotto. Here's what Winopete has heard about so far: Nov 29 Oriented Happy Hour at MoCA art gallery in People's Park. Please visit www.oriented.com for details. Nov 29-Dec 1 Italian wine exhibition at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre (Tongren and Yan'an Roads) hosted by the Institiute of Fine Italian Wine. No other details... more ›

This week's Shanghai pub news HAMILTON HOUSE: Hamilton House Restaurant and Bar (137 Fuzhou Road 福州路137号) opened last week and is located at the corner of Fuzhou and Jiangxi Roads, opposite the Metropole Hotel and a couple of blocks back from the Bund. Hamilton House is a 1930s art deco building with nice high ceilings and reminds me of many bars in Melbourne. On the ground floor (i.e. first floor for you North American readers)... more ›

CARMEN RESTAURANT: Carmen Restaurant recently materialised on Xikang Lu, near the even newer Steak and Eggs. Passing by, what caught our eye was their blackboard promotion for all you can drink: 50RMB for chicks and 80RMB for blokes. Went inside and discovered the deal was just for draught beer (Carlsberg) and cocktails. OK, could be acceptable, but decided we'd better try their cocktails first before committing to an all-out drink fest. Winopete chose a G&T that was actually quite decent. A friend opted for vodka and tonic which was also quite satisfactory. What was not so good was being hurried into deciding did we want the all-u-can-drink deal or single drinks, and also being asked to pay before a sip of alcohol had passed our lips. Furthermore, this night a bunch of rowdy German card players to descended around us which led to the staff cranking up the music to a very conversation-unfriendly level. The timing of both these events led to us upping and leaving. The mouldy-looking furniture for a brand new venue is never going to earn brownie points with me, but a decent all-you-can-drink deal grabs our attention, especially given the dwindling reputation of Bon Bon. The bottom line is we'll try Carmen again. more ›

This rather unassuming restaurant sits near the corner of Changde Road and Xinzha Road. It looks far too kitschy to be any good so we were skeptical when a Chinese pal suggested we eat there, but he seemed to recognize it as being somewhat well known. The decorations inside are about what you’d expect from a place with lanterns hanging outside, but frankly we didn’t go to the restaurant for the atmosphere, we went for... more ›

In preparation for the upcoming National Day holiday and the enormous amount of tourists that it will bring to the city's eateries, top restaurant review website Dazhong Dianping (roughly "Reviews by/for the Masses") has posted a list of the best locations to indulge in five of Shanghai's local specialties: more ›

Shanghaiist loves our dear readers because you never hesitate to let us know when you disagree when it comes to a restaurant recommendation. Well, now's your chance to put a little of your own skin in the game. Famed restaurant guide Zagat is currently collecting survey responses regarding restaurants in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Users who submit the survey by the September 23rd deadline will receive a free copy of the resulting 2008 China's Restaurants and Hotels Guide when it's published. According to Zagat they are covering over 175 restaurants in Shanghai. We signed up (site registration is required in order to take the survey) to take a peek. The restaurants are broken out by district, and glancing at the full list it looks like usual suspects from the listings on City Weekend (which, by the way, appears to have upgraded their website). more ›

Beijing's Olympic countdown extravaganza suggests China is likely to put on a spectacular show next August, but the run-up also illustrated that the next 382 days are unlikely to be trouble free for the hosts. more ›

Closing Dish: Although we haven't ventured out into the heat to check with our own eyes, we did hear from a very credible source that, at least for the 12 minutes he was standing in front of the place, Rendezvous Cafe appears closed for business. Apparently, all the lights were out and a sign written in Chinese had been placed on the locked doors. more ›

Shanghai. It is all happening. Here's the proof: more ›

Editor's Note: Sorry, forgot to send these out last night in our rush to get to the Sonic Youth show.

• Leading Chinese Enviro Activist Detained
  "In the meantime,here, from today’s Wall Street Journal, is another thing all those green minded local officials are doing: locking up irksome environmental activists"
• China to keep 2008 Olympics 'dry'
  "Beijing will use aircraft, missiles and cannons in what could amount to a massive umbrella over the city to keep athletes dry during next year's Olympics, state media reported on Friday."
• U.S. knew about China's anti-satellite test, chose not to act, says N.Y. Times
  "U.S. intelligence knew about preparations for January's test in China of an anti-satellite weapon but the U.S. government chose not to intervene because of insufficient leverage with Beijing, The New York Times reported on its Web site Sunday."
• Speeding, Overloading Blamed for Road Tragedy
  "The guardrails on each side of the bridge were only ten centimeters in height, far lower than the minimum height of 46 cm required by law, Li Yizhong, Minister of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), said at the scene of the accident."
• Beijing to destroy its oldest Peking Opera house
  "The Guanghe Theatre, which sits in Beijing's historic Qianmen quarter, will meet the wrecking ball, making way for the capital's "remorseless" onslaught of modernisation, Xinhua news agency reported."
• Foreign banks offer tea,insurance to lure Chinese
  "For those Chinese rich enough to open an 80,000 yuan ($10,350) account, Citigroup Inc and Standard Chartered are now promising an alternative to the long queues at China's big state lenders."
• Doing business in China: Popular Shanghai restaurant falls prey to joint venture dispute
  "The lights at Renren Restaurant now are dim all the time. The once thriving cafe has fallen prey to a dispute between the Hong Kong company represented by Ho, a Canadian citizen, and its mainland Chinese partners, who want him out."
• Top 40 blogs according to Zhuaxia stats
  Chinese blogs. Keso is No. 1.
• China delays climate change plan indefinitely
  "China has delayed indefinitely its national 'action plan' on climate change, which was due to be released on Monday after exhaustive consultations among ministries in Beijing and provincial and local governments."
• Shanghai signboards call for Chinese
  "The all-English signboards are catering to a false admiration for anything Western. Some people tend to think it's a high-end shop if the name is written in a foreign language," said Huang Anjing, an editor of a local monthly journal, Yaowen Jiaozi.
• 9 Tough Tricks, and a Title for Shanghai
  "This year’s world bridge championships are in Shanghai beginning Sept. 29. And one week ago Shanghai won the Chinese Contract Bridge Association Open Teams championship, beating Qinggong in the 96-board final, 239 international match points to 211."
• Image damage
  "Xuhui District People's Court ... ordered the Shanghai Normal University to compensate 9,000 yuan (US$1,166) to Francesca Manganelli [who] said the institute used her photo without her agreement in an advertisement for student recruitment in June 2005."
• 非常真人's photo-comic blog
  "非常真人，非常娱乐 (Very Real People, Very Entertaining) is a blog that posts short, amusing photo-comics of every day life in Beijing."
• China Yields to Inquiry on Pet Food
  "China .. has given American regulators permission to enter the country to investigate whether Chinese suppliers exported contaminated pet food ingredients to the [US] earlier this year, leading to one of the largest pet food recalls in American history."
• China aims to further tame Web
  "Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of 'unhealthy' content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine, state television reported." This happens every week, no?
• China molten steel tragedy highlights lax industry
  "Lax safety measures, unsuitable equipment and 'chaotic' conditions have been blamed for the deaths of 32 steel workers engulfed in molten metal, Chinese investigators announced, warning that such failings were common."
• Letter from Beijing: Enemy of the State
  "Jianguo was arrested and tried in the summer of 1999, and I remember with perfect clarity the moment I learned what had happened."

Potatoes grown from seeds that mutated in space while aboard a Chinese spacecraft are the newest culinary fad in Shanghai. This potato, dubbed the Purple Orchid Three, is supposedly going to be popular choice for upscale Valentine's Day dinners:

Several Shanghai restaurants have developed dishes using Purple Orchid Three 'space potatoes,' claiming that the unusual colour of the vegetables represents the 'nobility and romance' of Valentine's Day, the official Xinhua news agency said. more ›

Shanghaiist was browsing around on SHExpat Forums yesterday, and came across a thread discussing the loss of one of Shanghai's renowned cheap eating establishments — Turk's. more ›

We're a little late on this, but we're sad to report Shanghai has lost one of its better dining options: 239. Shanghai-Eats had the scoop last week: more ›

Because Shanghaiist is too poor to afford satellite TV, he's often had to entertain himself with China's favourite (and only) English-language channel, especially when he's suffering from insomnia. Today's news coverage includes a story of what is touted as "Asia's first Dark Restaurant" which has just opened in Beijing (we briefly told you about this on Jan. 5). The video to the right is from a Chinese-language CCTV report. more ›

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. more ›

After almost half a year, Shanghai’s iconic “alternative lifestyle nightclub”, Home Bar, officially reopened last week under its new brand, Pinkhome. It has been transformed from its previous existence into what is China’s first gay multiplex including a dance club, restaurant/lounge, and hotel. As some readers may remember, there was a pre-soft (is that a word?) opening last October for the bar, after which the establishment was closed again until renovations were completed. For those of us privy to that event, the ground floor décor looked much the same as it did in October, though, vastly different from the old, gritty, but lovable Home. more ›

We've heard a lot of buzz about Arch opening up a new place on Changshu Lu near Changle Lu. And we had friends who were looking forward to smoke-free Mondays and Wednesdays within walking distance from home. Too good to be true? Seems to be the case based on this email sent out to the aFuturePerfect mailing list by Arch owner Frank Steffen: more ›

Another week, another edition of Shanghaiist Reads. SH and Shanghai Talk are on the clock … more ›

Shanghaiist Reads returns—to the delight of some, to the dismay of others—with a blow-by-blow markup of the Oct. 20, 2006 issue of SH. Get your highlighters out, kiddies: more ›