The new year has barely begun, but we've already got news of the first closure in 2011. Feng Jianwen, proprietor of the well-loved Yunnan restaurant, Southern Barbarian, has written in to inform us of the sad news that his Pudong location has been closed down "due to a dispute with the landlord". We've all got our own evil Shanghai landlord story to tell but one can only imagine the nightmare that he went through -- Southern Barbarian's Lujiazui outlet has been around for only half a year. Well, the good news is that the restaurant is still alive and kicking on Maoming Road in Puxi. Those of you in Pudong will now have to travel a little further to get your goat cheese fix, but hey, it's worth the trek and you know it. more ›

Shanghai Street Stories blogger and erstwhile Shanghaiist contributor Sue Anne Tay will be exhibiting some of her marvelous photos in "Construct, Demolish, Repeat: Building the Shanghai Dream" at the Southern Barbarian: Lujiazui on Saturday. It'll be well worth a visit - not only will you see great photos by a talented photog who's been recently featured in The Atlantic and Foreign Policy, but there will be some free eats and drinks too! more ›

• We announced the details of our July 4 celebration at the Boxing Cat Brewery! Want to enter a drinking relay for charity? Want to take part in a pie-eating contest? Want to win stuff in a costume contest? Then read up here!
• We went to the Expo on one of its busiest days: Over half a million during the first day of the Dragon Boat festival... and we got pictures.
• We checked out the new Southern Barbarian restaurant in Lujiazui District, and found it tasty and pretty!

"Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il has already been outed as an avid film buff, but does the rest of the country share his passion? With the first Shanghai show of hand-painted North Korean movie posters and film art, Southern Barbarian offers a look at how movies are marketed to the people in the hermit nation. more ›

One of the Shanghaiist staff's favorite hang outs, Yunnan restaurant Southern Barbarian, is opening its second location in Lujiazui this week and we went there to check out the menu. In short: same great food, same insane beer menu, fancier digs. more ›

Ladies and Gentlemen, China Telecom has finally officially launched its 3G commercial service in Shanghai! The new 3G network signal covers all urban areas within the Outer Ring Road, as well as towns in suburban areas. The CDMA2000-based (that's the network usually used in Europe the U.S.) 3G network technology promises to be 20 times faster than our current 2G data streams - though whether it will ever reach advertised speeds is up for debate. From today to the end of the month, users who have agreed to use 250 yuan in monthly service feeds could get trial 3G Internet access cards and high-speed wireless internet access for 100 hours a month. Source: People's Daily more ›

Photojournalist Chua Chin Hon has amassed an impressive collection of photographs charting the transformation caused by the Three Gorges Dam project, soon to be showing at Southern Barbarian. The pictures, taken over repeated visits to the area in the last five years, document historic townships being submerged and new communities taking their place. more ›

A nice crowd of beer lovers gathered at Southern Barbarian on Saturday afternoon to ... well ... drink beer. Very good beer. And eat food. Very good food. Mission accomplished. For attendees who left with minds foggy thanks to the strong beers, these photos should jog your memory. Yes, you did drink that much. more ›

Around three hours until our craft beer tasting at Southern Barbarian. Plenty of time to take in "A Better Brew: The rise of extreme beer," Burkhard Bilger's story in the latest New Yorker. That should get you in the mood. See you soon. more ›

Updating yesterday's list of Lucky Draw prizes for Saturday's beer tasting at Southern Barbarian, Sherpa's has generously offered RMB 500 in vouchers as a prize. See you Saturday. Come thirsty. more ›

Our big beer event at Southern Barbarian this weekend is just a few days away, so it's time to give you a few more details. Below you will find a complete list of the beers on offer for unlimited tastings. But first, let's run down the event's lucky draw prizes (everyone who attends will automatically be entered into the drawing): more ›

SH mag food guru Chris St. Cavish somehow got his hands on two free passes to the Shanghaiist beer tasting at Southern Barbarian. Check out his latest column for details on how you can win a ticket from SH. (And everyone loves a good sandwich joke. Those never get old.) more ›

Visitors to the Life Art Center, also known as that place on Maoming Lu with lots of bad art and Southern Barbarian, may have noticed something a little out of the ordinary lately: Shanghai's first head shop (that we know of at least). more ›

Enjoy an autumn afternoon tasting world-class American craft brews. more ›

Next time, Steve, stay for some Grandma's Mashed Potatoes. Trust us. more ›

Here, Shanghai, were your favourite stories for the year 2007: more ›

What's happening now: The Thai Food Festival is currently running in Shanghai through September 9th at four Thai restaurants that have received the official "Thai Select" designation from the Thai government. Organized by the Commercial Section of the Royal Thai Consulate General, Baan Thai, Lan Na Thai, Ma Boon Krong and Simply Thai will aim to present dishes that represent the four regional cuisines of Thailand. more ›

Back in January, we told you how much we loved the food at Southern Barbarian, the great Yunnan restaurant that some people complained was too far away because it was north of Beijing Lu. Well, we are happy to report Southern Barbarian has moved farther south, and now resides amongst a cluster of art galleries and shops near the intersection of Maoming Lu and Jinxian Lu (just one subway stop from Shanghaiist headquarters). The grand reopening party, with requisite amounts of free food and booze (and live music from The Cardinals), was last night, and some photos can be found above. more ›

We were leafing through the latest City Weekend* over breakfast this morning when we realized we forgot to tell you something very important: We love Southern Barbarian (南蛮子). It's a Yunnan restaurant that opened in the fall (we have mentioned it briefly twice before). It is easily one of our favorite restaurants in the city, Chinese or non-Chinese. The food is fantastic — tasty and plentiful — and it is cheap (especially when compared to another Yunnan restaurant that opened recently). An added bonus is that Feng Jianwen, the owner (yes, he's from Yunnan), is a lover of beer — the result is the best selection of bottled beers we have ever seen at a Chinese restaurant. There's Hoegaarden, Chimay, Coopers (Sparkling Ale and Best Extra Stout), Leffe and a bunch of others. They are priced reasonably, too. Hoegaardens are 28 kuai; Coopers are less than that. Or you can always just get a tall bottle of Suntory for 6 kuai — they have that, too. more ›

We're sure glad we left Southern Barbarian* when we did. We were told that the Maxïmo Park gig would start at 9 pm and that there would be an opening band. So someone brought up on Western rock concert tradition would assume the very earliest Maxïmo Park would take the stage would be 10 pm. But we figured it would be more like 11 pm or midnight — that way the bar sells more drinks. But when we arrived at 4 Live (or Fabrique ... or whatever we are supposed to call it) at around 9:45 pm we were shocked to find the headliners already on the stage and even more shocked when a friend told us they had already been playing for 20 minutes and that the opening act started at 8:15 pm. What kind of a punk (or post-punk) show was this? Oh — that's right — one in Shanghai. more ›

The restaurant is called Southern Barbarian, and it is up in Zhabei District, our old stomping grounds. They sent us an email back in September. Here is what it said: more ›