[Shanghai 上海] Grains

Categories shanghai
[Shanghai 上海] Grains

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Grains (venue closed)

Add: 202 Wukang Road, near Fuxing Road
Tel: N/A
Hours: [Mon-Thu] 8am-6pm [Fri-Sun] 8am-7pm
Price: [coffee] 25-50 RMB [pastries] 8-20 RMB
Visited: Sep 2015

It’s Franck Pecol at it again.  After Franck, Le Petit Franck, Rachel’s, and Farine, his most recent project is Grains, a stylish coffee shop located on – you’ve guessed it – Wukang Road. It’s a sleek space with beautiful interior design and some charming outdoor seats to match. They roast their own beans daily before the shop opens (more details below),  source mini croissants and pain au chocolat from their very own Farine, and rumor has it that the space will turn into a bar in the evening…sometime in the future.

Franck Pecol又開新店了。繼法式餐館Franck，小酒館Le Petit Franck，漢堡店Rachel’s和面包店Farine之後，Pecol先生最新的項目是間名叫Grains的咖啡店。你猜他開在哪裏？沒錯，又是武康路。這裏的咖啡豆每天早晨在開店前新鮮烘培，可頌和餅乾等則由自家的Farine提供，加上漂亮的設計和舒服的戶外座位，也難怪每到周末就門庭若市。

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[Shanghai] Farine

Categories paris
[Shanghai] Farine

Farine

Add: Ferguson Lane, 1/F, 378 Wukang Lu, near Tai’an Lu / 武康路378号1楼， 近泰安路
Tel: n/a
Hours: 7am-8pm
Price: [pastry] 25-40 RMB [viennoiserie]14-20 RMB [coffee] 30-40 RMB
Website: www.farine-bakery.com
Visited: Jan 2015

Franck Pecol knows how to create little corners of France here in Shanghai. I was a fan of his Franck and Le Petit Franck when I lived in Shanghai a few years back, and soon after I moved to Paris I heard that he opened an excellent bakery called “Farine”, also located in the same block. Apparently he produces the best baguettes and croissants in town thanks to imported ingredients from France and artisanal know-how. Perfect, I thought, this means that when I’m back in Shanghai, I will have a little piece of something to remind me of the good old days in Paris.

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Farine is “flour” in French. “In flour we trust,” as is written on the wall, seems to be the mantra at the shop. On an unrelated note, I like this slightly eery and awkward-looking baker boy in the window.

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The space is small, with a display of pastries, viennoiseries and breads on the right, counter and coffee machine at the front center, and some bar stools on the left. There is an outdoor communal table out on the patio for days with pretty weather, which are unfortunately not so common right now in Shanghai.

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[Shanghai] Franck

Categories restaurant
[Shanghai] Franck

Franck

Add: Ferguson Lane, 376 Wukang Lu, near Tai’an Lu / 武康路376号, 近泰安路
Tel: 158 2167 6767
Hours: 6~11pm last order (open daily)
Website: www.franck.com.cn
Price: 450~600 RMB/person
Visited on: Jun 2012

Despite all the negative reviews Franck has received (most of which targeted its service and price), I had a very charming dinner here just a few evenings ago. The prices are still up there, but the service has improved dramatically since the restaurant’s earlier days, while its ambience remained as bewitching as always with its Jazzy lounge music, exposed light bulbs, and dark wood furnishings. And the food? Fantastique.

The menu du jour, scribbled in French on two blackboards, offers a selection of hearty dishes that changes according to the availability of ingredients. Our waiter, a young Chinese man who has been working at the restaurant for 4 years, was knowledgable about the details of each dish and happy to explain.

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[Shanghai] a Côté

Categories restaurant
[Shanghai] a Côté

a Côté

Add: Ferguson Lane, 376 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu 武康路376号, 近湖南路
Tel: 3368 8757
Hours: 12-2:30pm, 6-11pm (closed Monday)
Price: 80~160 RMB/12-inch pizza
Visited: June 2011

a Côté, literally “next door”, is a small pizzeria by Franck Pecol from the neighboring Franck Bistro and Le Petit Franck (see update below). The short menu, scrawled in French on a piece of wooden plaque, consists of 10 Marseille-style pizzas and nothing else (though a green salad is available upon request). There’s no novelty here. It’s simple, and it’s good.

2014 update: Just got word that a Côté is no longer associated with Franck. I wonder who is in charge now?


For lunch, two of us shared the Royale (120 RMB), a gorgeous tomato sauce-based pie generously topped with mushrooms, ham, olives, and cheese. The crust is thin just the way I like it, and pulling one piece away from the pizza dish is not an elegant affair as the pie disintegrates. Juicy, greasy, messy, totally satisfying.

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