[Shanghai 上海] Cafe Dan 丹咖啡

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Cafe Dan

Add: No. 41, Alley 248 Taikang Lu (inside Tianzifang)
Tel: 6466 1042
Hours: 10am~11pm
Price: 100~150rmb/person
Visited: Dec 2016

In a city like Shanghai, where the F&B scene changes constantly with daily openings and closings, the restaurants and cafes that stick around become all the more rare and precious. Like Cafe Dan. This small cafe in Tianzifang has been there since 2007, and is perpetually filled with the alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee and delicious Japanese comfort food that I don’t mind going out of my way for.

上海的新餐廳如春筍般不停的冒出,可是我卻越來越喜歡那些長年來靜靜存在著的地方,比如丹咖啡。這家日式咖啡屋2007年開幕至今已快10年,小店藏身于田子坊內,不是一個我平會常去的區域,不過偶而想念他們健康美味的餐點時,就會爲之專門跑一趟。

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There are three stories to Cafe Dan. The 1st floor is used mostly as storage, and to get to the seats one must climb up dangerously steep steps to the 2nd and 3rd floors. It’s not an especially spacious cafe, and fills up quickly on weekends.

丹咖啡共有三層樓。一樓沒有可坐的空間,只是用來擺放制作咖啡的器具和雜貨。爬上陡峭地有些危險的樓梯,二、三樓和中間的夾層都有一些小木桌。空間不大,周末時一座難求。

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[Shanghai 上海] TASTE Shop

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TASTE Shop

Add: 105, Building 3, Lane 210 Taikang Road
Tel: 18221041418
Hours: 12:30-8:30pm (closed on Mon)
Website: www.taste-shop.com
Price: [coffee] 12-99RMB
Visited: Jan 2016

When I was wandering the tiny alleys of Tianzifang a few weeks ago, my attention was caught by this quietly stylish shop near the entrance of lane 210. “TASTE Shop”, it says. I went in for a quick round and was impressed by its selection of homeware, accessories, fragrance, tools, and other pretty knickknacks, mostly imported from Europe and Japan. I had no idea at the time that I would soon be introduced to the owners of this place via a mutual friend. “They are opening a cafe right upstairs and need pastries,” explained the friend, “You guys should talk.”

某次在田子坊閒逛時發現了一家很漂亮的店,叫做 TASTE Shop。不大的空間裏陳列了各式各樣有型的雜貨,大部分好像都是從歐洲和日本挑選來的。心裏想著這家店主品味真好,沒想到兩周後就通過朋友介紹認識了。“他們樓上要開咖啡店,想跟你討論下甜點,” 朋友是這麽跟我說的,“你們聊聊吧。”

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So I came back on a sunny day to meet shop owner Yutaka, a fashion designer-turn-visual merchandiser, originally from Tokyo but has lived in Shanghai for over 10 years. Together him and his Chinese Canadian wife Viko (photographer by profession) started TASTE Shop back in 2013. Since then, the space has evolved to what it is now – a select shop, an exhibition space, and most recently, a cafe.

所以我挑了個陽光明媚的日子回到 TASTE Shop,和店主之一的 Yutaka 碰了面。他是東京人,不過在上海住了10年,加上母親是上海人,中文說起來極順(順到我一度以爲他是個取了日本名字的中國人)。做視覺設計的他和攝影師太太 Viko 兩人一起在 2013 年開了 TASTE Shop,本來是家選品店+展覽空間,然後就在這個月,又多了個咖啡館的角色。

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The newly-opened cafe has so many chic details to notice. The menu, for example, is handmade – and by handmade, I mean even the paper itself is made by their staff.

這裏有太多漂亮的細節。比如說菜單是手工做的,而且真的是連紙本身都是店員自己做的,非常用心。

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Manning the cafe counter is Yutaka and his colleague Patrick. Both trained with Mr. A of Shinzan Mono (a coffee shop in the French Concession), but Yutaka specializes in hand drip coffee while Patrick does the espresso-based variations.

在吧台煮咖啡的有 Yutaka 和 Patrick,兩人都是從 “新參者” 咖啡店主理人小A那裏學的,不過 Yutaka 做手沖,Patrick做意式,一人一台機器玩的很開心。“新參者” 這家咖啡店我倒是第一次聽說,下次有機會去看看。

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[Shanghai] Norman+Karen

Norman+Karen

Add: No. 36 Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu / 泰康路248弄36号, 近思南路
Tel: 6467 7223
Hours: 11am~7pm
Visited: Feb 2012-02-04

If you weren’t specifically looking for Norman+Karen, you will probably miss it. Its slender storefront, tucked away in one of the small lanes in Tianzifang, is not screaming for attention. But venture inside, and you will discover an enchanting little world of stylish designs and alluring fragrances.

Norman and Karen met in San Francisco while studying architecture, and together they started Norman+Karen in Shanghai 6 years ago as an interior architecture studio. Because of their personal interest in home fragrance, they converted this little shop in Tianzifang to a retail space for a select few imported home fragrance brands, including Baobab Collection, Ladurée, MIZENSIR, LINARI, DayNa Decker, Anthousa.

Let’s start with Baobab Collection, a fragrance brand inspired by the enchanting landscapes of Tanzania. Handcrafted in Belgium since 2004, the collection captures the intense colors and bewitching fragrances of Africa. Illuminate the candle and take a plunge into the cradle of humanity. Click here for more information.

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[Shanghai] Café Dan (2)

Café Dan

Add: No. 41, Lane 248 Taikang Lu (near Sinan Lu) / 泰康路248弄田子坊41号后门 (近思南路)
Tel: 6466 1042
Hours: 10:30am-10pm
Price: 100~150 RMB/person
Website: www.idancoffee.com
Visited: Jun 2011

Last weekend I took some out-of-town friends to Café Dan, one of my natural go-to spots in Shanghai. This unpretentious little cafe serves up luxurious iced latte and Japanese comfort food that rarely disappoint. See my previous post for detailed introduction and more pictures.

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[Shanghai] Café Dan

Café Dan

Add: No. 41, Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu / 泰康路248弄田子坊41号后门, 近思南路
Tel: 6466 1042
Hours: 10:30am~10pm
Price: 100~150 RMB/person
Website:  www.idancoffee.com
Visited: Sep 2010

Café Dan is small cafe in Tianzifang filled with an abundance of sunlight and the alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Luxurious iced latte, desserts, and down-to-earth Japanese comfort foods that warm you up from the inside.

Dan Cafe is a 3-story structure. The 1st floor has no seating area and seems to be filled with coffee and coffee brewing apparatus. After climbing the dangerously steep stairs, you will arrive at the 2nd floor with half a dozen counter seats and a few 2-person tables that can be combined for bigger parties. The in-between floor and the 3rd floor have additional tables and tatami seating, but the space quickly fills up on a Saturday morning. We arrived before 11am to snatch the 2nd floor window seats because reservations are apparently not guaranteed.

The menus, both for drinks and food, are extensive with plenty of appealing choices. After perusing the menus for a good 20-minutes with plenty of flipping back and forth, we finally settled on the following dishes, starting with breakfast set 3 – Japanese style (60 RMB). The Japanese style egg was fluffy and moist, served with perfectly cooked organic rice.

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