Food For Thought

Each month, our dining columnist gives you all the news that’s fit to dish. Find out the newest hotspots and the latest closings, as well as the tastiest events in town for June.

Restaurant Magazine has spoken, and the 100 Best Restaurants in the world again include two of Shanghai’s. Ultraviolet crept up two spots this year to 58th, while Mr & Mrs Bund fell out of the top 50, but still held on at 76th.  Congrats to Chef Paul Pairet and the whole VOL team.

Speaking of VOL, they’ve officially left their comfortable perch on the Bund and moved inland with The Cut. A steak frites concept, it opened quietly at the beginning of May in IAPM mall, just down from Chef Craig Willis’ Bang (see review on p 30).

Most news coming out of Three on the Bund is about CHI-Q, the new Korean barbecue and kimchi joint from Jean Georges that opened in late May. Check back next month for the review where we see what Chef Bichna Yu - former sous chef of small plate restaurant Danji in NYC – has prepared for the first Korean joint to open on the Bund. But don’t let CHI-Q’s arrival overshadow the new seasonal menu at JG’s flagship restaurant in Shanghai.

Shanghai favourite, Chef Lam Ming Kin, left last year for Taiwan and was replaced by Chef Paul Eschbach, a JG alum who got his start at the celeb chef’s defunct 66, the Chinese-inspired restaurant in Tribeca. Eschbach has worked his way up through the ranks and employs the French-Asian flavours the sparkly-eyed prolific chef is famous for into the new seasonal menu. Try the unadulterated crisp notes of the kingfish sashimi dressed in shiitake Carpaccio with avocado, radish and ginger or the golden sea bass sautéed with crunchy lily bulbs and verdant baby asparagus.

Light & Salt (6/F, 133 Yuanmingyuan Lu, near Beijing Dong Lu. Tel: 6361 1068. Web: www.light-n-salt.com) is now serving Sunday brunch with main courses including lobster eggs benedict and chargrilled wagyu beef tenderloin for RMB 299. Also on offer is set lunch, available every day but Sundays with two courses for RMB 118 and three for just RMB 148. Go on a sunny afternoon and request a table on their terrace. If you’re looking for a cheaper mid-day meal, Oh My Kebab! (50 Yongkang Lu, near Jiashan Lu. Tel: 6431 2653) also opened for lunch, which means you can grab a pita, wrap or kebab plate for less than RMB 50, if you don’t add on a beer. But let’s be honest… 

Some of Shanghai’s favourite restaurants are adding more locations in the far reaches of the city. Pistolera and Boxing Cat Brewery are both opening Hongqiao locations, while Urban Thai is heading the opposite direction across the river to Pudong. Keep an eye out if you’re in the neighbourhood.

From the Turkish minds that brought you an entire lamb rib cage at Garlic and some of the best eggplant in town at Pasha, comes Black Pepper at the new Taixing Lu complex. They’re asking diners to put their faith in the hands of the kitchen, serving up an omakase meal of almost 20 courses – from cold starters to grilled platters to Turkish coffee – and after tasting most of the menu at their other restaurants, we trust them implicitly to give us nothing but the best of the Anatolian Peninsula. And they’re planning to charge just RMB 240 (without drinks) for the pleasure.

Another Eduardo Vargas restaurant has bit the dust. Like ChiCha before it, Ceviche will no longer be serving Peruvian style dishes, but if South American food is what you crave, try El Bodegon (4/F, 83 Changshu Lu, near Julu Lu. Tel: 3160 3850). Open for a couple months, the Latin American-inspired restaurant does a mean pisco sour and their lomo saltado is now the best in the city by default. Come on Tuesdays, and you’ll get free flow pisco from 6-10pm for just RMB 100.

Also on this month’s list of shuttered spots is Oyster House, but the bivalve bar underwent a facelift and a name change that we hope rejuvenates this fun little spot. Now known as Mojo’s (441 Yuyuan Lu, near Wulumuqi Lu. Tel: 6233 9651), the cuisine is Creole/Cajun tapas, but they still have oysters on the menu and a wine + cocktail list that will leave you as saucy as a voodoo princess.

Centrally located noodle lovers can rejoice as one of the best restaurants at which to slurp in Shanghai has opened its third location, and this time it’s not in the city’s nether regions. Zhu Que Men (391 Dagu Lu, near Chengdu Bei Lu. Tel: 6880 1717) serves Shaanxi style strands, including the famous biang biang mian, not to mention a mean roujiamo. It’s been worth many a trip to Putuo, but we’re happy to have it closer to home.

And a big happy birthday to Napa Wine Bar & Kitchen  (2F, 22 Zhongshan Dong Er Lu, near Xin Yong’an Lu. Tel: 6318 0057). They turned seven last month – which is like 100 in Shanghai F&B years. Here’s to many more bottles of wine!