Summer is officially here, even if it’s perpetually raining on our al fresco happy hour parades. And with this sweaty season comes perhaps even more new openings in the food and drink world than usual, so grab your umbrellas and check out some of the action before heading to the pool.
One of seul&SEUL's 'Puzzle Afternoon Tea' sets
The Michelin chatter is all over Shanghai these days as more and more chefs from starred restaurants begin to break ground in our fair city. Incoming next month is seul&SEUL fine dining bistro from one of the chefs at Chef André Chiang's eponymous high-concept restaurant André in Singapore, which sits pretty at number one on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants and number 14 on World’s 50 Best. Like the menu at André, seul&SEUL is set to work around Chiang's 'octaphilosophy’: salt, texture, memory, pure, terroir, south, artisan and unique. It looks like it’s going to be fabulous – puzzle piece afternoon teas and Zen garden plates (see above), ‘No Menu’ dinners and an array of visually stunning dishes.
Additionally, culinary icon Pierre Gagnaire will be opening French brasserie Comptoir Pierre Gagnaire inside the also new Capella Shanghai urban villa resort in Xuhui. His new concept is ‘an echo to the 1930s’; a place that the chef wants to be ‘joyful, comfortable and easily accessible’ and by no means an ‘exclusive’ dining establishment. Gagnaire’s impressive 50 year career boasts 12 restaurants around the world with a collective 13 Michelin stars between them, so expect this to be nothing short of excellent.
What else? Gourmet sorbet and ice cream pop-up Lick it (from chef Jenő Rácz of Taian Table) has finished its 60-day stint on the corner of Shaanxi Nan Lu and Changle Lu. But don’t worry – the team is set to open another pop-up soon in Xintiandi with some new twists on their first spot. Stay tuned for more news on that.
Gelato master Salvatore Nasell manning the BUCO gelato window
While you’re waiting for Lick it’s return, head to Gemma for their brand new brand BUCO, a little window beside the restaurant serving up downright delicious gelato. Helmed by Italian gelato master Salvatore Nasell, BUCO has what’s probably the best gelato on offer in Shanghai – the team are importing only the best ingredients from Europe (pistachios, fruit purées, hazelnuts, chocolate and the like), and freezing them up on what they call ‘the Ferrari of gelato machines’, a Carpigiani, helping them assure the tastiest, creamiest, most awesome gelato and sorbets around. Don’t miss the pistachio or baccio (hazelnut and chocolate) flavours.
Moka Bros power bowl
Not far from this little gelato haven, well-loved Beijing healthy concept Moka Bros is working on its first Shanghai location on Xiangyang Bei Lu, near Changle Lu; set to open in Autumn 2017. The brand is hip, fresh and fun, filling up their walls with inspirational slogans like ‘You’re more fab than a unicorn’, ‘Forget skinny. Train to be badass’, Wake up, Kick Ass, Repeat’ and good stuff like that. You can expect wholesome, feel good dishes on the menu – wraps, sandwiches, smoothies, salads, rice and noodle ‘Power bowls’ and more, ranging from breakfast to snack time and dinner. We can only hope it's better than the last health food concept that came down from the capital (cough cough TRIBE).
Ahoy, drinkers
Over on the Bund, bartender Geo Valdivieso (used-to-be head bartender at UNÏCO) has taken over Captain’s Bar alongside partner Chef Jair Gudino Chavez (formerly of 1515 WEST Chophouse). The team is currently waist deep in the renovation process, turning the drinking den into what Valdivieso calls is a ‘real Latin-style bar’, set to reopen within a week or so. The team wants to do for Shanghai’s drinkers what Trump wants for America, minus the rich asshole part – they’re out to ‘make the Bund affordable again’. They’re keeping the bar’s chill vibes and reasonable cocktail prices, prepping it to be a place where people go to drink before they hit the swanky Bund-side clubs. Wins all around for everyone.
Sober Society
Also, did you hear the news that Speak Low, Sober Company and Union Trading Company all made the list of Asia's 50 Best Bars 2017? Two big thumbs up for those awesome watering holes and their badass bartenders.
Acqua's black halibut
Across the way at Grand Kempinski, the hotel’s Italian and Mediterranean eatery Acqua has welcomed new Chef de Cuisine Federico Mainardi. The young Italian chef takes ‘a flexible and innovative approach to Italian cooking while still maintaining the authentic heart of his motherland’s cuisine’ via special dishes like black halibut with black olive crust, sautéed spinach, confit tomato and parsley stock (pictured above); Sicilian cannoli stuffed with ricotta, chocolate and candied orange; and prawn tartar with cauliflower panna cotta and basil gel. Be sure to check out Acqua’s lunch special, where you can get a three or four course set meal for 168/198RMB respectively. And definitely flag down the fresh-baked focaccia cart when it comes around.
MAYA's tamarind-glazed halibut
Stylish Mexican eats establishment MAYA has also welcomed a new chef – Jonathan Ynsensé has just arrived from Puebla, Mexico with a bunch of great new menu items. Think buttery soft tuna tostaditas, Caribbean sea bass ceviche, tamarind-glazed halibut with quinoa, saucy cochinita and chicken mole tacos, portobello mushroom relleno, Mexican fusion hongshao rou and lots, lots more.
Bread etc. 2.0
Let’s just pack a few more things in here: POKEPOKE has new locations in the Shanghai Centre and on Shaanxi Bei Lu, with another incoming at BFC on Zhongshan Nan Lu. Bread etc. has a really lovely new place on Nanjing Xi Lu, too. Eddy Yang’s Tailor Bar 2.0 is set to open any day now, and Austin Hu’s Diner finally has set hours: 10am-10pm daily.
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