Light and Salt at Rock Bund (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Tucked away behind Peninsula Shanghai about a block off the Bund, Rock Bund is a charming street best known for its trendy cafes, up-scale restaurants and museum (Rock Bund Art Museum). Since I still had a couple of hours to kill before leaving for the airport, I decided to check this place out in greater lengths.



Even better, I thought I could squeeze in an early afternoon snack at Light & Salt, a modern European restaurant housed inside this beautifully restored building at Rock Bund that used to be the first YMCA in Shanghai.



The dining room is really well appointed with a nice casual vibe.



But the weather was perfect to dine outdoor at the terrace.



The restaurant is directly facing the Bund which is generally a good sign but unfortunately doesn't have enough for a clear view.



Apart from a pretty amazing lunch menu, Light & Salt also has a decadent dessert menu offering 7 to 8 homemade desserts that change regularly.



I went with the blueberry mascarpone cheese mille feuille (68 RMB), which I thought was an excellent choice.



This has a combination of pistachio tuile (top) and something that resembles the texture of filo pastries in the middle (and bottom). In between each layer was blueberry flavored mascarpone cheese and blueberries. Pretty interesting dessert. Despite being asked to wait for 15 to 20 minutes for this, I was quite happy with the results.



This is truly goodbye now. I better grab a taxi quick and head for the airport soon coz I'm running really late.





Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: 407 Shanxi Road North, Shanghai, China
Closest Metro Station: Nangjing East Road
Tel: +86 21 6361-1086
Website: www.light-n-salt.com

Shanghai China restaurant modern European Rock Bund casual first YMCA amazing dessert menu

Sir Elly's Restaurant at Peninsula Shanghai (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Sir Elly's was the last restaurant I visited before I said goodbye to Shanghai. As the fine dining restaurant of Peninsula Shanghai, my expectation was naturally pretty high on different facets of their game (service, decor and of course food).



But the first thing that got my adrenaline going here was the breathtaking view of the Bund. 



Like most waterfront restaurants in Shanghai, Sir Elly's doesn't have a bird's eye view of the Bund from up high but it's the peaceful and relaxing way to enjoy the view with ships passing by in slow motion that had me all excited and pumped up.



They offered me a French baguette and brioche while I was still going through their lunch menu. These were very very good and so were the butter (red one was tomato flavored I thought).



For what the restaurant has to offer, the lunch menu sure looks like a huge bargain. Diners are invited to create their own multi-course menu which started at 118 RMB for the first course with any additional course priced at 110 RMB each.



Starting things off for me was a pair of caramelized scallops sitting on top of some poached cabbages. The sweetness of the scallops were nicely paired with a combination of exotic flavors from the orange zest, orange juice and citrus foam.



Next up was Australian wagyu beef flank steak served with toasted polenta.



The strips of wagyu beef were pretty tender and the sauce made with olive and confit tomatoes was a nice touch.



I was really tempted to explore their tapas-style menu a little further but decided to back off since there're only another a couple of hours left before my flight takes off left.



Everything matches what I have expected from a Michelin starred restaurant although some minor details were missing. For example, a brief description on some of the ingredients used in each dish would have been nice.




Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: 13/F, The Peninsula Shanghai, No 32 The Bund, 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road, Shanghai, China
Closest Metro Station: Nangjing East Road
Tel: +86 21 2327-6756
Website: shanghai.peninsula.com/en/fine-dining/sir-ellys-restaurant



Shanghai China restaurant best bund view Michelin star top fine dining

Prée Ice Cream Lounge (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

For the first time since I arrived in Shanghai last week, I had a feeling that I didn't want to go home. But this is my last night in one of the most beautiful cities in China, I better make good use of the little time left.



Walking around the narrow streets of Xintiandi, I started to realize that something was missing from this trip - a scoop of ice-cream! So, we ran around looking for this ice-cream shop called Prée Ice Cream Lounge.



Prée Ice Cream Lounge is supposed to be famous for its artisanal ice-cream and they change their menu from time to time.



While their black truffle ice-cream attracts a lot of attention around here, I decided to pull my trigger on this royal rose lychee ice-cream (68 RMB) instead. It took a little more than 5 minutes for them to prepare this so I thought it's going to be something sophisticated but it turned out to be a very ordinary cup of lychee ice-cream. Disappointing...







Food Rating: 4/10
Price: ¥¥¥¥
Address: No 15, 181 Taicang Lu (near Madang Lu), Shanghai, China
太仓路181弄15号, 近马当路
Closest Metro Station: Huangpi South Road

Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We knew it's just a matter of time before Pierre Gagnaire, the world renowned French chef with a total of 17 Michelin stars, made its debut in Shanghai. The question was where. That million dollar question finally had an answer this fall when Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire officially opened doors at the brand new Capella Hotel. 



This is quite a special hotel in its own rights. Right in the heart of the former French concession with a villa-only setup. Talk about privacy, you will definitely find it right here at Capella.



Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire including a restaurant, bar and bakery is located in a separate building from the hotel. Both have been renovated from historical Shikumen structures.



I was quite tempted to enjoy a few drinks at the bar before dinner but it was getting a little late.



Pierre Gagnaire fans who expect this to be a fine dining experience will be disappointed. As the name "Le Comptoir" already suggests, it's more of a modern French bistro with a relaxing mood.



The 5-course tasting menu (1088 RMB) looks like the perfect way to experience Pierre Gagnaire's modern French cuisine but it's a shame that I had a little too much to eat since I arrived in Shanghai. So, I decided to explore the a la carte menu instead.



The bread was excellent (Given the nice Le Boulangerie et Patisserie downstairs, I'm not a bit surprised) and so was the seaweed butter. Lovely start.



Pan fried Gambero rosso prawns, sweet potato purée and pear (280 RMB) - The red prawns were cooked just right. Perfect bouncy texture with lovely flavors coming from the amontillado and black pimento jam. The sweet potato, celery and pear did well to offset the richness of the marinated prawns.



Snails with black olives, spinach purée, crispy quinoa wafer (128 RMB) - Interesting idea serving snails with black olives. Even more interesting (more like bizarre) was the pool of spinach purée on the bottom, bringing out the "earthy" flavors of the snails even more.



I did enjoy this dish a lot but I don't think it's for everybody (Most people might prefer garlic butter instead of the spinach and black olives). 



Fricassée of farmed poultry Arbre Sec corn, celery, barley shaped pasta (208 RMB) - I had Robuchon's chicken fricassée on a number of occasions already and was curious how chef Gagnaire interprets this dish with his cooking style. 

It was indeed pretty delicious. The chicken had very nice texture with irresistibly rich flavor so I thought for sure it was French chicken but to my pleasant surprise, I was told it's local corn-fed free range chicken! The only blemish was the fact that a few pieces on the bottom were a little under-cooked.



It was served with a small bowl of barley shaped pasta, green beans, celery and broccoli on the side.



I didn't have room for dessert so I ended the night early. 

Getting my reservation done wasn't easy at all as the restaurant did not offer online booking and my email to the hotel never got replied. At the end, I had to ask my hotel concierge to do it (which was another painful experience, more on that later). But all in all, I was glad I went through all those trouble and finally secured a table before leaving Shanghai the next afternoon. It's a shame I didn't get to check out their dessert menu (which I have heard a lot of good things about) but I will jot it down and make sure I come back on my next visit to Shanghai.




Food Rating: 6.7/10
Price: ¥¥¥¥
Address: 2/F Capella Hotel Shanghai, 480 West Jina Guo Road, Shanghai, China
建國西路480號嘉佩樂酒店2樓
Closest Metro Station: N/A
Tel: +86 21 5466-9928


Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire Top French casual fine-dining restaurant Shanghai Capella Jian Ye Li French concession

Chikalicious Dessert Bar (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I kept telling my friends how excited I was to be moving to Xintiandi for the second half of my Shanghai trip. Not only is the area best known for its bars and restaurants, it's also a haven for dessert lovers.

After checking into my hotel in Xintiandi, I quickly hopped over to The House (新天地新里) where I found some of the most amazing desserts in the area.



My first stop was Chikalicious Dessert Bar, a dessert bar I was pretty familiar with since my days in Bangkok.



Chikalicious Dessert Bar only offers a single 3-course prix fixe dessert menu (188 rmb) consisting of an amuse bouche, a choice between 5 decadent desserts and petite fours. All of the dessert choices come with a recommended wine pairing.



My sweet journey started off with a simple amuse bouche.



Cassis sorbet served on a bed of brown sugar foam with lemon crumbs sprinkled on top. I like the balance of acidity and sweetness there.



I had their signature Fromage Blanc Island cheesecake last time so I was determined to try something different this time.



I'm a sucker when it comes to Thai milk tea so why not the "chai Thai" tiramisu?



Mascarpone cheese with caramelized peanut butter cream and a little bit of sponge cake in the middle, and then finished with a scoop of Thai milk tea ice-cream. I don't know if I would call this a tiramisu. I just didn't see the resemblance (although I admit it was fairly tasty).



Petite fours were a trio of canapés, coconut marshmallow, chocolate with strawberry filling and almond cookie which were a little uninspiring. 



I thought 188 rmb was a hefty price to pay for a simple amuse bouche and an interesting dessert (the petite fours was more of a throw-in) in Shanghai but I was glad to check this place off my list.





Food Rating: 5/10
Price: ¥¥¥¥
Address: Shop 205a, Xintiandi, No.5, 123 Xingye Lu by Madang Lu, Shanghai, China
兴业路123弄5号新天地新里106单元及205a, 近马当路
Closest Metro Station: Huangpi South Road / Xintiandi
Tel: +86 21 6333-9233

Esee Café at Lane Crawford (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I was supposed to go to Time Square (Lane Crawford) for an early afternoon tea at Angelina but a little café named Esee Café on the ground floor caught the corner of my eyes.



So instead of having a Parisien hot chocolate, I ended up getting a sip of coffee and more.



Meet Mr. Golden (42 RMB).



Mr. Golden, a dumpling-shaped mango caramel mousse cake, reminded me a little of Thomas Trillion's vanilla banana mousse cake called "Twist".



This was a very delicate piece of pastry with mango cream, silky smooth caramel mousse and candied mango compote.



I certainly didn't expect this kind of quality from a little coffee shop. Pretty nice.







Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: Level 1 Shanghai Times Square (Lane Crawford), 99 Huai Hai Zhong Road, Shanghai, China
Closest Metro Station: Dashijie / Huangpi South Road
Tel: +86 21 6135-8611

Xin Rong Ji 新榮記 (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

When I was doing my planning for this Shanghai trip, I have specifically reserved today's lunch slot for Shanghainese food so of course, I was left a little stunned (confused, whatever you want to call it) when I learned that Xin Rong Ji (新榮記) is in fact a Cantonese style restaurant. Multiple sources on the internet have indicated that the restaurant serves Shanghainese food but I found out quickly that crab roe xiao long bao was the only thing Shanghainese it serves on their lunch menu.



I didn't make an advance booking so I had to wait almost half an hour for my table too.



By the time I was escorted into the restaurant, the crowd has already thinned out considerably (the locals really eat early...).



Pork and crab roe dumpling (蟹粉小籠包) - I thought I got this one out of the way quick since I promised myself some Shanghainese food. 



I accidentally messed up the thin wrapper so I ended up leaving a pool of broth behind but overall, the dumpling was pretty decent.



Baked duck foie gras buns with black truffle (黑松露鵝肝飽) - Two premium ingredients, duck foie gras and black truffle, made up this signature dim sum and it was pretty nice. The baked buns were spongy with a nice crispy crust and they have this custard-like foie gras right in the middle. Having two pieces of this really stretched my limit (for cholesterol).



Baked wagyu beef buns (招牌和牛飽) - This was another signature dish that's supposed to be a "can't miss" item on the menu.



Underneath the flaky crust was something like a mille feuille of onion with thin slices of wagyu beef in between. I thought I was smart enough to have waited 6-8 minutes before laying my first bite on it (coz it looked sizzling hot when it arrived) but I still got burnt on my lips when the sizzling hot beef broth sprayed out. Like the previous foie gras bun, this was pretty tasty but it was really a bit heavy (and cheesy) to take on a pair of these on my own.



Wild mushroom dumplings with truffles (松露野菌餃) - More truffles, this time they had them sprinkled all over the wild mushrooms. Pretty nice.



Pan fried bean curd roll with shrimps (鮮蝦腐皮卷) - The bean curd roll was not bad but it was one dim sum I could live without.



Lean pork with century egg congee (皮蛋瘦肉粥) - Finally some congee to help my digestive system and I definitely needed that after the duck foie gras buns and wagyu beef tarts. This tasted a little heavy (especially for a congee). Perhaps a little heavy handed with the seasoning (chicken stock? MSG)?



My third Michelin starred restaurant on this trip turned out to be pretty good value for money as the bill came in a little under 200RMB including tax. But if I knew it's a Cantonese restaurant, would I be here in the first place? Probably not coz I didn't fly all the way here for Cantonese cuisine!




Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: No 503, 5/F Shanghai Plaza, 138 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai, China
淮海中路138号上海广场5楼503商铺 (近普安路)
Closest Metro Station: Dashijie / Huangpi South Road
Tel: +86 21 5386-5757



Shanghai China Cantonese Chinese restaurant Michelin star top fine dining