Results tagged “shanghairestaurants”

Twist is a tiny little depot that specializes in cold Taiwanese desserts. They've got smoothies and juices, but what you really need to go to Twist for is the shaved ice. Though we're sure there are similar offerings sprinkled around the Taiwanese enclaves Hongqiao/Gubei, we're positive that in Shanghai proper, Twist has the freshest and most authentic ingredients meant to sit atop a mound of shaved ice.

A few weeks after Chris St. Cavish's epic breakdown of Stardog, we revisited Channel One mall to see how things have progressed for Shanghai's pioneer in the field of Asian contemporary hot dogs.

Fans of China's roaring 50's and all its rosy cheeked proletariat propaganda may want to take a trip down to Shanghai Stadium to try 9 Che Jian (9车间). One of several restaurants that wrap around the rear of the stadium, this Sichuanese establishment decks itself out as a 1950's era Chinese factory; the name itself refers to a factory's internal segmented workshops. The place is quite a sight; huge windows stretch from its floor its very high ceiling, from which thick beams and industrial lights dangle. The wait staff wear factory overalls, socialist slogans pepper the walls (there's nothing like the words "unity is strength" to spur the appetite), and propaganda ditties blare incessantly from the overhead speakers. Oh, and a large statue of the esteemed Chairman Mao casts a serene look over all.

Before one even gets out of the taxi, it's fairly evident who the celebrity is on the small restaurant stretch of Guyang Lu. Ji Heng (吉亨), an undersized eatery specializing in Taiwan-style beef noodles, is the only place on the block with a line of fans queuing up outside the door.

Greek munching: The Fat Olive, another recent David Laris project, serves some pretty good food. It's just that there's not very much of it. We went there a couple of weeks back and became smitten with the burger, which is served open-faced on a pita that cushions the drizzling juice from the tender, glazed patty. The meat on the kebabs were big, succulent, with a hint of spice but overwhelming original in flavor. A basket of toasted pita and tangy tzatziki were able sidekicks. But as far as mains go, that's about it. The Fat Olive is more for imbibing than it is is for eating, what with that huge terrace and the glam view of Pudong. Snacking on some simple Greek offerings is probably the more operative term. Check it out.

The new Barbie flagship store aims to capture the attention of more than just those with blonde ambitions, and nowhere is this effort more apparent than the Barbie Cafe.

After some follow-up trips to Pho King, it appears the the pho there isn't quite the triumph we might have made it out to the be in an earlier review. Since then, we've visited Aniseed and revisited Pho No. 1, and our conclusion is that pickings are still slim when it comes to this beloved bowl of Vietnamese rice noodles.

Issimo does lunch: The popular high-end Italian restaurant inside the JIA hotel is offering a lunch set dubbed 'Expressimo,' promising to get diners in and out within 45 minutes of ordering. 88 RMB (plus service charge of 15%) will get you a small salad, a pizza or pasta, and coffee. We love dining at Issimo, and this lunch set would be very seductive if only the pizzas were just as good during the day as they are in the evening. Hopefully, they'll get there before the deal ends at the beginning of May.

Taiwanese food in downtown Puxi has traditionally been the purview of second cousins Charmant and Bellagio. Somewhat ignored is Qian Qiu Shan Fang (千秋膳房) on Baoqing road, a few blocks down from Charmant. What it lacks in decor and vibe it more than makes up for with competent basics and great value for money.

On the eastern stretch of Guyang Lu, straddling the border between Gubei and Xuhui district, is a somewhat hidden block of Taiwanese and Japanese restaurants. We've tried a handful, all of them worth writing about it at a later date, but the standout for us so far is Yamatoya, which, while retaining some izakaya-ish features (there is a separate shochu bar and plenty of Japanese business folk talking shop), is popular because the food is pretty damn good.

The long lines in front of the entrance of San Gu Bullfrog Restaurant (三顾牛蛙店) are a tribute to the popularity of its namesake and signature dish: bullfrog dry pot (干锅牛蛙). Walk inside and you'll see an army of the sizable ceramic bowls adorning nearly every table top, and for good reason. We've never had a frog leg dish where the meat was so flaky and delicate that it seemed to naturally slink off the bone when it landed on our plate. The taste of bullfrog meat is often likened to the workmanlike chicken, but at San Gu it also shares the flaky consistency of broiled sea bass, tender and moist to a wonderful degree. Surrounded by a hefty mix of semi-drenched potato chips, lotus root, peppercorns and garlic, you can dig your chopsticks in blindly and be sure to pull out something worth chewing on.

The demise of the stalls and vendors on the eastern portion of Wujiang Lu has been rumored for a few months now. While the modernization of the popular food street might very well come to fruition in 2009, it's apparent that Yang's fried dumplings (小杨生煎) will maintain its Wujiang Lu roots for quite a while longer.

The Japanese restaurant En on Taikang Lu serves regional Okinawan cuisine, which is stamped with the imprints of its Chinese and other southeast Asian neighbors. Amidst the fresh sashimi, fermented cuttlefish, and crispy yakitori that En's menu shares with its mainland Japanese brethren, you'll also come across the quintessential Okinawan goya chanpuru (40 RMB), a stir fry with egg, tofu and chunks of bitter melon clinging to thinly sliced pork belly. Or a somen version of the chanpuru (38 RMB), with thin angel hair-like pasta swimming in meaty fragrance. Pork plays an important role in Okinawan cooking, and at En there is no better manifestation of this than the negi chashu (45 RMB), thick slices of pork with streaks of fatty goodness, smothered in green onions and miso. Wash all that down with , the island's wonderful wheat-based shochu.

Someone in Shanghai is looking out for us Californians. First, Cantina Agave arrived and delivered Mexican food the way we remember it. Now, a cafe on Jinxian Lu has brought us New England clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl.

This post was almost going to be a full-throated recommendation of La Dolce Vita’s business lunch. Starting at 78 RMB, the new Italian restaurant offers lunchers a pasta or pizza course, coffee or dessert, and access to an antipasto buffet that would be worth the money all by itself. Upgrade to 88 RMB and you can choose a main course instead (108 RMB gets you both).

The wait is over. We've finally found a Mexican restaurant that has satisfied our too-long simmering desires for big hearty burritos, soft fish tacos, chunky guacamole, and a selection of salsa both sharp and subtle. The new Cantina Agave, located on the Fumin side of the new Mansion complex on Changle Lu, has brought the California-style Mexican fare we fell in love with back home to Shanghai, wrapped up in reasonable prices and a much appreciated focus on authenticity.

Osteria, the warm and wonderful new Italian restaurant on Jinxian Lu, is having its grand opening tonight at 6 pm, though it appears to have already built up a following in its soft opening phase. Certainly co-owner Eduardo Vargas can move large swaths of diners with his involvement in any restaurant, mostly because his brand (and it's now definitely a brand) connotes an immediate sense of comfort and quality. Osteria easily clears the bar, but this time greatly due to the help of the charismatic Zoltan, partner and sommelier/wine journalist who zealously preys on empty wine glasses both downstairs in the lounge and upstairs where the main courses are served. This is a man who loves his wine and relishes in sharing it with his new friends. And you, dear reader, will be made to feel like a new friend right when you walk in.

Bullish: We stopped by Noodle Bull, the Taiwanese noodle joint in the new Mansion building on the corner of Fumin Lu and Changle Lu, for lunch last week. The decor was sleek and simple and the food was well presented and serviced. The noodles were authentic in texture and consistency, but the stock and meat pairings offered on the very scaled down menu were a bit ordinary and punchless when it came to flavor. Low prices (25-35 RMB), convenient location, and great service and environment are sure to offset these shortcomings for busy lunch-break professionals, who packed all the seats at the tables along the two walls and at the two large communal stretch tables the cut through the middle of the restaurant. We can see this place sticking around for a while.

So you're walking down that much talked about half of Wujiang Lu that has been torn down and built back up as a blandclean and modern commercial pedestrian street. You notice this section between Shimen Lu and Maoming Lu is bookended by a Costa Coffee on one end and a Starbucks on the other. A Coffee Bean is located in between, just in case you simply do not have enough time to reach the other two places for your emergency corporate caffeine fix. You notice the more homegrown Il Panino has reserved a spot here, and regional chains Awfully Chocolate and Honeymoon Dessert have taken root as well.

We always enjoyed Gourmet Cafe's playful creativity when it came to its selection of burgers. Thankfully, they've transferred that same sense of innovation to their doppelgänger; a noodle house on the flip side (literally and menu-wise) of the beloved burger restaurant but still under the same moniker. For those diners that constantly grapple with simultaneous east-west cravings, Gourmet Cafe now gives them the best of both worlds.

Shoka Reduxa: Back when little Shoka opened up as part of the Loft 98 trifecta early this year, most saw the restaurant as an attempt to move in on Haiku's turf. Specifically, upscale and modern sushi wrapped up in a trendy dining experience that attracts tons of business. Months later, with too many conspicuously empty tables, Shoka started offering an all-you-can-eat-and-drink special on certain days of the week to jump start business. Now, we've discovered, the special is an option on any day of the week.

Things are looking slightly up for long-suffering diners clamoring for decent Mexican food. Colossal (and the not so colossal) burritos burst onto the scene last year and found salivating customers willing to throw money and lower standards. Recently, ambitions to elevate the cuisine and fill that still simmering void in Shanghai have manifested themselves in the form of Maya, Brad Turley's reintroduction of Zoco's former space and new introduction of a classier, upmarket Mexican restaurant.

FCC (tasty but in overly small portions) and Golden Bull (crap) aside, we were dismayed when Le Garcon Chinois stopped serving Vietnamese on its menu (because we haven't had a chance to go try it after all that we have heard). So it's opportune that we stumbled upon the newly-opened Pho No. 1 at Taikang Lu the other weekend. In spite of the mediocre review we've recently read, we think they did up decent enough pho to satiate our craving nevertheless.

In place of the usual scoops and updates on the happenings around Shanghai's restaurant scene that make up his weekly "New and Noted" column, this week SH Magazine food eminence Christopher St. Cavish gives us a tale of revenge and betrayal with two embattled Thai restaurant owners as the players. Though the issue isn't on stands yet, it's already up here on the SH website. St. Cavish gave us a follow-up via email that we won't include here. Suffice it to say that he doesn't see through their recent claims of truce, especially since one side is still flaunting its financial advantage over the other in a fight that leaves us still planning on Coconut Paradise for our next Thai food fix.

We were first introduced to Cincinnati-style chili back in the States when our roommate brought back a few cans of Skyline chili from his hometown. Poured over spaghetti and topped with a mound of shredded cheddar cheese, the chili's consistency was much thinner than the denser, Texas-style chili that we had come to cherish. Still, the finely ground beef and combo of spices made it a memorable one time experience before we packed up for China. At least, we thought it was a one time thing, since its lack of availability in California was a pretty good indicator that we probably weren't going to come across it in Shanghai.

Kelley Lee and Eduardo Vargas have teamed up again to give us Closed Door. Well, not exactly all of us. Their new little wine bar and Italian restaurant is willing to share its coziness with only those who call ahead and reserve a table at this purposefully tiny and hidden place. And they seem pretty serious about this initial round of exclusivity; prospective diners are queried first through a sliding peep-hole in their large, inconspicuous front gate.

Remember that post a few weeks back about the growing obesity problem in China? Well let's temporarily store that in a deep, dark place as we rejoice the latest and most concrete indicator yet that Krispy Kreme, our favorite of all decadent donut shops, is finally bringing its fatty treasures to the Mainland.

Jarrett Wrisley first wrote about Matsuri 123 in a post on Shanghaiist earlier this year. We thought we'd check it for ourselves and share our thoughts.

And from now on, we know where we can get good ones. No more dry, over-microwaved renditions that we've found at other pubs around town; Park Tavern has the real deal. Gooey, stringy, piping hot mozzarella bundled in a nice, crispy, flaky coat. The bar owners even have a sense of humor, with each order of six delicious sticks actually accompanied by a bed of lettuce. Yes, we know, we're not talking about gourmet food here, but this is a brewpub and it's a more than solid brewpub snack. Chicken wings, on the other hand, were pretty blah.

And not just one location, at that. Co-owner Greg Duerfeldt notified the Moon River Facebook group this afternoon that the partners have decided to close the restaurants and go their separate ways. A thread on Shanghaiexpat attributes Moon River's demise to infighting and financial woes, the hallmark of every nutritious restaurant closing. For grieving, please add to the thread or start one here; we will miss the Santa Ana breakfast burrito the most.