The Commune Social
Add: 511 Jiangning Road, near Kangding Road / 江宁路511号， 近康定路
Tel: 6047 7638
Hours: [lunch] Tue-Fri 12-2:30pm, Sat-Sun 12-3pm [dinner] Tue-Sat 6-10:30pm (closed on Mondays)
Price: [lunch] 178-258 RMB/set [dinner] 200-300 RMB/person
Website: www.communesocial.com
Visited: Oct 2015
Light lunch at The Commune Social, a tapas / dessert / cocktail bar by Jason Atherton. If you’ve lived in Shanghai for a while, you recognize this name – he is the chef the behind Table No. 1, one of my favorite restaurants in Shanghai years ago. His second venue in town is – again – designed by Neri & Hu, and the rustic industrial chic continues here with raw iron, reclaimed wood, unfinished concrete and exposed bricks. Lovely texture and patterns.
There are a few distinctive spaces within The Commune Social, and the idea is to have drinks in the courtyard, some light bites at the open-kitchen Tapas Bar, then move to the Dessert Bar to see the pastry chefs at work, and finish upstairs at the Cocktail Bar. That’s a lot of movement for one meal. Since it was a nice day out, we chose the courtyard seats and were quite happy staying in one place.
So Jason Atherton isn’t actually based in Shanghai. Heading up the kitchen here is executive chef Scott Melvin and pastry chef Kim Melvin, who have put together a nice little lunch menu from which you can choose 3 to 5 courses (178-258 RMB) to piece together your meal with. Here are our choices, starting with an excellent “scallop ceviche, crushed avocado, corn”.
“Octopus carpaccio, bok choy, radish and picked egg”, less of a fan.
“Grilled broccolini, asian pear, deviled duck hearts”, delicious.
“Chilli smoked mussels, pickled shallots, aioli and watercress”, not bad.
“Jerk chicken thigh, peas and rice”, wonderful chicken, peas a bit bland for me.
Complimentary frozen caramel popcorn.
“Peanut ice-cream, red fruit, salted peanut caramel”.
“Glazed banana, miso puree, almond ice cream and yuba”.
A pleasant meal in a pleasant space. Looking forward to coming back soon for dinner.
