[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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[Shanghai] Manne et Sante’

Manne et Sante’

Add: 96 Shaoxing Lu, near Shanxi Nan Lu / 绍兴路96号, 近陕西南路
Tel: 5465 6297
Hours: 8am~10pm
Price: ~40 RMB/coffee, 40~60 RMB/dessert
Visited: Aug 2010

The first floor bakery of Manne et Sante’ looks decent enough, but I would’ve never ventured upstairs to the second floor cafe if not led by a friend. The small doorway, the shabby and twisting staircase, the dark interior…there is nothing delightful about the route leading up. Once I pushed open the wooden door to the second floor, however, the sweet aroma of fresh pastry and coffee convinced me immediately that this is a good place to be.

The cafe owner is an acquaintance of my friend, and he came out to personally brew coffee for us. The guy at the next table is obviously jealous that we got special treatment.

Mille Feuille, a three-tier puff pastry tower with cream, fresh grapes, and blueberries sandwiched in between.

Tiramisu.

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