[Shanghai] T8 Restaurant & Bar

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[Shanghai] T8 Restaurant & Bar

T8 Restaurant & Bar

Add: Xintiandi North Block, Lane 181 Taicang Lu / 太仓路181号，新天地北里
Tel: 6355 8999
Hours: [lunch] 11:30am-2:30pm [afternoon tea] 2:30-5:30pm [dinner] 6:30-11:30pm
Website: www.t8shanghai.com
Price: [dinner] 500+ RMB/person [brunch] 258-498 RMB/person
Visited: Sep 2010

Restaurant Week Stop #2: T8 Restaurant and Bar, Asian-inspired fusion cuisine tucked away in one of the back alleys in Xintiandi.

t8-exterior 2

Like the utensils, dislike the bread.

As part of the Restaurant Week, T8 put together the following menu (lunch 118 RMB/person), starting with poached local baby lobster, Spanish ham, asparagus, burnt onion mayonnaise, radish, crispy rice paper. Alright.

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[Shanghai] Melange Oasis

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[Shanghai] Melange Oasis

Melange Oasis Add: No. 37, Lane 550 Shanxi Nan Lu, near Shaoxing Lu / 陕西南路550弄37号, 近绍兴路 Tel: 64337727 Hours: 9am-8pm Price: 25~55 RMB Website: www.melange-oasis.com Visited: Sep 2010 Discreetly tucked away in an easily missed lane, Melange Oasis is an eco-conscious cafe with compressed bamboo interior and solar heating panels. The coffee served here is organic and fair-trade,…Continue Reading “[Shanghai] Melange Oasis” →

[Shanghai] Café Dan

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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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[Shanghai] The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

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[Shanghai] The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo

Add: 2967 Lujiazui Xi Lu, near Fenghe Lu / 陸家嘴西路2967號, 近豐禾路
Tel: 5054 1265
Hours: 11am-2:30pm, 6-10pm
Price: [lunch] 128~188 RMB/person + 15% [dinner] 300~400 RMB/person + 15%
Website: www.ystable.com/Branch_2.html
Visited on: Aug 2010

Pudong’s riverbank is lined with a good number of restaurants and bars, but The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo seems to be one of the very few that offer decent food to match the views. We came here for lunch and found it to be a delightful oasis on a hot summer day. The lunch set menu is a good deal – an appetizer, a pizza/pasta, and dessert for 128 RMB, or opt for meat/seafood instead of the pizza/pasta for 148 RMB, or both the main course and the pizza/pasta for 188 RMB. Drinks extra.

Nice patio area with trickling water.

Salvatore Cuomo started his brand in Japan and is apparently quite a celebrity in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nagoya. The Kitchen is his first attempt in China, and judging from the bustling lunch hour traffic, Salvatore seems to be doing quite well here too. You can also find his concept and style at Issimo, a wildly popular Italian restaurant located on the 2nd floor of JIA boutique hotel.

For appetizers, we ordered the Atlantic salmon carpaccio with rocket leaves and Mediterranean dressing, and the traditional Neapolitan eggplant lasagna. The Salmon carpaccio was fresh and plump, excellent with the accompanying mango-hinted Mediterranean dressing. The eggplant lasagna was nicely done, flavors all there, a bit oily but the arugula helped to cut back the greasiness. (FYI, the two other appetizer choices are: coppa ham served with vegetable pickles, and seasonal salad with olives and artichokes.)

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[Shanghai] Le Bistro du Dr. Wine

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[Shanghai] Le Bistro du Dr. Wine

Le Bistro du Dr. Wine

Add: 177 Fumin Lu , near Julu Lu 富民路177號, 近巨鹿路
Tel: 5403-5717
Hours: 5:00pm~2:00am
Price: [wine] 38-55 RMB/glass, 118 RMB and up/bottle [food] 48-88 RMB/pizza
Visited on: Aug 2010

In Shanghai, wine bars have been sprouting up like bamboo shoots after a Spring drizzle, and Dr. Wine is one of the newer addition to the scene. The decor is simple – leather couches, soft wood, warm bricks. The owners supposedly recycled materials from the original lane house to create a retro look for the wine bar. With a nice-looking wine list and classic wine bar menu items like charcuterie and sandwiches, Dr. Wine is ready to please.

If you want to splurge at Dr. Wine, you can. Vincent Landais (one of the owners) is a sommelier who has worked for Daniel Boulud in New York and Alain Ducasse in Paris. He makes sure that you can get a 1982 Chateau Lafite at Dr. Wine as long as you are willing to pay 45,000 RMB for the bottle. Or, for those of us with a thinner wallet, there are bottles starting from 118 RMB.

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[Shanghai] Azul

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[Shanghai] Azul

Azul

Add: Ferguson Lane 8/F, 378 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu / 武康路378號8樓, 近湖南路
Tel: 5405 2252
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 12pm-12am [Sat-Sun] 11am-4pm, 6-11pm
Price: [brunch] 130~160 RMB [dinner] 200~300 RMB/person
Visited: Aug 2010

UPDATE: Azul has moved to a new location (address updated above).

Azul Tapas Lounge is a modern Peruvian eatery by Eduardo Vargas, a brunch favorite among expats. The restaurant offers generous portions of brunch items ranging from salmon crepes to Spanish chicken to omelets to steaks. For us, the 130 RMB two-course sets were more than enough, but if you are extra hungry, opt for the three-course set at 160 RMB.

Brunch at Azul comes with a complementary drink (sangria, smoothie, juice, etc.) AND coffee/tea. Unfortunately the watery smoothies here are nothing compared to what Melange Oasis serves.

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[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里

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[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里

Shintori 新都里 Add: 803 Julu Rd, near Fumin Lu / 巨鹿路803號, 近富民路 Tel: 54045252 Hours: [Mon-Fri] 5:30-10:30pm, [Sat-Sun] 11:30am-2pm, 5-10:30pm Price: 300 RMB/person Website: www.shintori.com.tw Visited on: Aug 2010 Easily missed by passerby, Shintori is a Japanese fusion restaurant hidden behind an unmarked doorway on Julu Lu. Follow the bamboo-lined path and you will arrive at a…Continue Reading “[Shanghai] Shintori 新都里” →

[Shanghai] Manne et Sante’

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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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[Shanghai] Sushi Oyama 大山鮨

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[Shanghai] Sushi Oyama 大山鮨

Sushi Oyama 大山鮨

Add: 2/F, 20 Donghu Lu, near Huaihai Lu / 東湖路20號2樓, 近淮海路
Tel: 5404 7705
Hours: 5:30pm – 10:30pm (closed Sunday)
Price: 800 RMB/set menu, drinks extra
Visited: Aug 2010

The opening of Sushi Oyama, a 14-seat Japanese restaurant upstairs of the popular el Willy, was an exciting affair. As far as I know, it is the first omakase sushi restaurant in Shanghai, where you are at the mercy of the chef to serve you whatever he’s got based on market ingredients. Sushi Oyama works with seafood directly imported from Japan, and the menu changes nightly. You don’t have to worry about what to order because you don’t. Just sit back, relax, and let Oyama-san do his magic.

We started off with sake and were presented with a selection of cups to choose from – a small detail that made the meal feel more personalized. Oyama also offers shochu, plum wine, beer, and wines from Torres and el Willy downstairs.

Tonight’s Menu

1. First shot – clear broth of clams
2. Sashimi plate – sweet shrimp, Hokkaido scallop, medium-fatty tuna, yellowtail, and ???.
3. Vinegared seaweed with yam

4. Sushi: medium fatty tuna, mackerel, sea urchin, grunt with scorched skin
5. Cod fish with pomelo black pepper puree
6. Salad

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