He does it again: We had the pleasure of attending a couple of tastings at Bambou, Eduardo Vargas' soon to soft-open new Southeast Asian restaurant. Eduardo has taken over the former "duck bar" above his own Azul and converted it into a tastefully dark and intimate space. With the dim lights and Buddha bar music playing over the speakers, we felt like we were at a Dragonfly awaiting our full body massages. What we......

The group that brought us the popular Bellagio chain is clearly aiming to offer something grander and more upscale with the opening of Fontainebleau Cafe (风丹白露). Located on the nondescript corner of Hongxu and Yan'an roads, a block north of the backside of the Hongmei Pedestrian strip, this new venture combines Bellagio's distinctive flair for presentation, competent cooking, and beloved desserts and refreshments with a newer and broader canvas of regional Chinese cuisine. The result......

Last September we told you about Zagat collecting survey responses for their 2008 Shanghai hotel and restaurant guide. Well, the guide has just been published, and founders Tim and Nina Zagat were in town this week for its launch. We were on hand to get a first look a the guide and to ask some questions. Here's a little summary of what we learned: Slightly over two thousand people filled out the online survey. 208......

Every once in a great great while, when the stars are aligned just right and the temperature is just so and the winds are blowing at just the right speed, Shanghaiist will leave the friendly confines of Puxi and venture out into the foreign and terrifying netherworld that is known as Pudong. We had heard that some of the more familiar names (Moon River, Malone's, Paul, Punjabi) in Puxi had migrated out to the Dong's......

Readers who have patronized the trio of establishments at Loft 98 (Cantine, Shoka, and Delish) in recent weeks may have noticed the weird, bird nest frame adorning the entrance of the Chinese restaurant a few meters away. Walk into that restaurant like we did last week and you'll find a simple, modern interior specializing in an old traditional favorite from southern China: congee. Aptly named So Congee (头牌粥品), its menu offers a choice of either......

Spanish sunshine: El Willy has gotten off to a hot start since opening in February, with the Spanish restaurant receiving positive reviews and good word of mouth. We had a decent first visit for dinner a few weeks back, but lately we have become quite enamored with their lunch menu. Our favorite is the juicy duck rice, a small tin of paella that is the perfect blend of the fatty bird and its grape and......

Nestled in the corner of the Dragon Gate Mall behind the crowded bustle of Cheng Huang Miao and the Yu Garden is Donut Factory, which in its That's Shanghai advertisement that caught our eye last week, heralds itself as the bringer of true American donuts to Shanghai. Donut Factory makes an honorable attempt to elevate the social status of the donut in Shanghai. The glossy white tables, walls, and floors deflected all attention to the......

On the festival circuit: There's a week-long Indian Food Festival going on this week, which was kicked off at the Renaissance Yangtze Hotel two days ago. Twenty different dishes from across the country will be served throughout the week, and since there is no other information in the press release regarding where those dishes will be served, we can only assume that they'll be found at the Renaissance Hotel: Speaking on the occasion [Union Secretary......

A few weeks ago, SH Magazine's resident food authority Christopher St. Cavish asked some big names in the Shanghai restaurant scene to give up their favorite, secret dining destinations. We loved reading the piece, and wanted the unearthing to continue. Since we at Shanghaiist are complete narcissists, we couldn't think of anyone better to ask than ourselves. In honor of St. Cavish's feature, we compiled the following collection of a few of our contributors' more......

Though this article is a little old, from Reuters we learn that McDonald's is expanding its delivery service, which we first wrote about way back when. Apparently, demand for home delivery was strong but the restaurants could only meet orders within walking distance. But now, after spending the past year outsourcing its delivery operations and investing in 300 motorcycles across its 42 locations, McDonald's is in a better position to compete with rival Yum! restaurants......

Brunch at the Creek: We recently checked out Creek Kitchen's weekend brunch. Located at the Creek Art Center on the north shore of Suzhou creek, the restaurant on the sixth floor of this renovated art center serves an all you can eat brunch buffet that we enjoyed less for the food than for the relaxing vibe and cool atmosphere. The buffet includes a limited and very standard continental offering: scrambled eggs, thin pancakes, crispy potato......

There was a time when we took visitors requesting to eat traditional Peking duck to one of the many Duck King (鸭王) restaurants scattered about town, knowing that they'd be getting a decent and passable version of the dish that so famously belongs to our capitol in the north. We always tempered our expectations when it came to finding the crispy fowl fat here in Shanghai. Those days are now gone. After trying Xindalu, we......

We root for any joint that is ballsy enough to open up on Dagu Lu, the strip where many a restaurant has gone to die a lonely, customer-less death. So it was with a considerable measure of hope that we entered Kitchen 88, the few-months-old Chinese restaurant right next to everyone's favorite DVD stores. Maybe the proprietors here would be able to break from the pack and show a little more lasting power. With a......