Whilst the big news of the past month has been the folks at Michelin dropping their shiny, new and controversial Michelin Guide Shanghai 2017, there's also been the Giant Bakery Explosion of Autumn 2016, with a whole slew of new bakery openings across the city.
Continuing the expansion of its empire, Farine has opened a new branch on the Bund while over in the Former French Concession, the team behind Lost Heaven and Silk Road have opened Lost Bakery on Julu Lu. It’s a large, airy space serving a range of French-style pastries and bread.
Around the corner and south on Xiangyang Nan Lu near Fuxing Zhong Lu, Al’s Diner has taken over the space that used to be House of Lasagna to launch American-style bakery Al’s Bakery. Think s’mores cupcakes, key lime pie, cinnamon sticky buns and monster slices of red velvet cake.
There are more French pastry vibes further south on Xiangyang at Jianguo Xi Lu where Bread Etc is turning out croissants and pain au chocolat as well as some truly top-tier breads, with loaves starting from the quite reasonable price of 35RMB.
In other expansion news, Liquid Laundry are opening a branch at Shanghai Centre, next door to Ubuka and are also launching a brand-new restaurant and lounge project called Cobra Lily in Xintiandi, which they've said will 'showcase modern Asian flavours paired with craft beer'. The team is hoping for a late October soft-launch. In more beer news, Japanese brewery Hitachino Nest has had a spot in the works in the Sinan Mansions neighbourhood for a number of weeks now, where we expect it’ll join Boxing Cat Brewery as a solid after-work option for a pint.
As the season plunges fully into autumn, everyone’s rolling out new menus. Glam at Five on the Bund is refreshing its cocktail menu with ten new stunners and blue frog has riffed off its well-loved burgers to create new waygu beef sliders alongside other novel offerings.
The very prominently placed high-end izakaya at Jingan Temple, Dozo, is relaunching itself after extensive renovations and remodeling. While still serving up lounge-style Japanese fare, they're pivoting towards a greater nightlife focus, with a schedule of DJs and bigger bar program.
In birthday party news, Shanghai Supperclub is celebrating its third anniversary on Saturday 15. The team will be bringing over NZ-based Pacific Island-champion celebrity chef Robert Oliver for a luxe Pac Island dinner. Dinner tickets, priced at 688RMB, will be limited so snap them up quick.
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