More bull....

I guess the name 'Bull' is a  popular choice for restaurants in China. After eating at Noodle Bull at 1933 last week, I was not expecting to run into another restaurant called Bull so soon. This Sunday morning, I took a brisk walk over to the new IFC mall in the financial district of Pudong, just a few minutes down the road from the Park Hyatt.

I wasn't too keen on dim sum, so I skipped over Lei Garden, and decided to try Golden Bull, the new Vietnamese restaurant on the fourth floor. I ordered the usual fried spring rolls as an appetizer, and for the main, I picked the beef pho noodle in superior broth. At 100RMB, this was the most expensive pho I've ever had. The broth was excellent, the beef was of a very high grade and very tender. Overall, a very good meal, though a bit pricey for beef noodle.

Recently, Vietnamese restaurants have been sprouting all over the city, if this is a sign of things to come, then I guess I won't have to pay so much for a decent bowl of pho in Shanghai very soon.

Spicy Sichuan at the Long Bar

The Long Bar at the PuLi hotel in Jing'An is a well kept secret that few people who head to the Bund know about. On any given night, there'd be just a handful of patrons seated along the very long wooden counter (hence the name Long Bar), mingling over well-crafted cocktails and snacks. The Long Bar has a few unique signature drinks, and my favorite has to be the Spicy Sichuan. Chili, lime, tequila, peppers.....

Back to El Willy yet again

This is probably my third trip to El Willy, my favorite Spanish tapas restaurant in Shanghai, and quite possibly in this part of the world. I'm still amazed that there are such high caliber restaurants in a Chinese city, but I guess Shanghai is no ordinary Chinese city. It's quite possibly on the way to besting Hong Kong as the foodie capital of Asia.

Anyway, I was determined to try some new items on El Willy's menu tonight. Except for the foie gras. That, I cannot do without. There are few foie gras dishes that impresses me more than the one here. Seared slivers of foie gras on brioche, with raspberry basil compote and popcorn power on top. Yum.

I had the citrus cerviche, the 24-hr cooked pork beef and roasted pumpkin soup. Too much food as usual. I didn't get to order dessert again. There's always next time, I guess.

Noodle Bull at 1933

There's a former abattoir in Shanghai called 1933, recently renovated and transformed into a hip, ultra-modern entertainment complex filled with restaurants and curio shops. It's not everyone's cup of tea for a weekend destination in Shanghai, but if you're fascinated by the architectural wonders of a bygone era, this is a fascinating place to spend an afternoon exploring.

There's a Taiwanese noodle restaurant called Noodle Bull on the second floor of the labyrinthine complex. I was fascinated by the decor, a mix of gothic hip with Chinese decorative touches. Food was typical Taiwanese noodle shop variety, and was actually rather decent.

Madison, Shanghai

I headed out to the French Concession on a Sunday night in late January. Had a reservation at Madison, a new bistro by Austin Hu, a brash new chef cooking up a storm in Shanghai's culinary scene since late last year. Pity they didn't have the usual ala carte menu, it was prix fixe night, and beef Chateaubriand was the highlight on the menu.

In fact, it was a rather old fashioned supper menu, with shrimp cocktail, gratin, onion rings, caesar salad and old fashioned apple strudel. Simple, yet perfected executed. I would defnitely be back to try their ala carte menu some other time.

Mr&Mrs Bund for lunch

Ok, I have to admit, I can't seem to get enough of this restaurant along the Bund. Food is excellent and always innovative and not too experimental, service is very good by Shanghai standards, and to top it all off, the location is perfect for a meal out on the Bund.

Few restaurants draw me back to this part of town as often as Mr&Mrs Bund, save for M on the Bund and Jean Georges. Typically, out of habit, I would head to M on the Bund for my last supper (heheh) on my last day in town, but today I felt like trying the the lunch at Mr&Mrs Bund. I was pleased to discover that they had a reasonably priced lunch set menu, with a number of my favorite dishes on it too.

But today, I opted to try only new dishes, so I picked the grilled cold chicken breast starter, the black rod steamed in a bag and their signature dessert, Lemon and Lemon tart. The chicken starter was an unusually large serving, but tasted fantastic even when cold.

The black cod was excellent as usual, and was always my favorite comfort food here. The dessert was quite interesting, consisting of a large lemon served on a plate with a biscuit. As I broke the skin of the lemon, I found lemon cream, orange slices and sorbet inside, quite the visual treat. The waiter informed me that the candied lemon rind was edible too.

Overall, I was pleased with my lunch experience, and this will definitely be on my list of top lunch venues if I can find the time while in Shanghai.

Restaurant Martin in Shanghai

I had the day off, and decided to try something new for lunch. While digging through the local restaurant review sites, I found Restaurant Martin, the Shanghai location for three-star Michelin chef Martin Berasategui's award winning restaurant, a contemporary of Ferran Adrian. I was puzzled why none of my friends or colleagues ever mentioned this restaurant to me. Certainly a restaurant with such a reputation should have been in the news more often, or perhaps mentioned in the same breath as M on the Bund. Perhaps the food wasn't up to par, or the service was atrocious, well, there was only one way to find out.

Restaurant Martin was located in a very charming and majestic heritage mansion built in the 1920s inside Xujiahui Park. This alone should have made this a very popular establishment with the fine dining crowd. I stepped into the foyer of the restaurant slightly after noon, and was shown to my table on the upper level, inside a charming dining room with four tables. There was already a table of four Japanese women lunching as I entered.

I ordered the seasonal set lunch, which comprised of three courses and a dessert. I had high hopes for the first course, which was chilled peach gazpacho, because summer time has always been the best for the sweetest peaches. The gazpacho was served with oilve oil drizzled on top and tasted awesome, slightly chilled with a strong peach flavor that balanced well with the olive oil and tomato puree. The texture was so smooth it was like eating spoonfuls of my flavored yoghurt.

The second course was poached egg with hollandaise sauce over caviar and seasoned with truffle oil. This dish tasted light, the caviar was a very good choice, as was the touch of truffle oil. Overall, a medley of flavors that won me over right away.

My main course consisted of pan fried monkfish with steamed vegetables. It had been a long time since I had my last monkfish meal, so this was another dish I was very much looking forward to. When cooked right, monkfish can taste very much like lobster meat, and Restaurant Martin's version was cooked just right.

For dessert, I had the star anise flavored ice cream over carrot creme brulee, drizzled with olive oil. This was truly a very unique dessert, the flavors were extraordinary, simple yet delicious. I wished the portion was a bit more generous.

My overall dining experience at Restaurant Martin was amazing. Not cheap, by Shanghai standards, but considering the quality of food and excellent service, it was well worth it. Sunday brunch might be the perfect time to come back, for good food and long walks in Xujiahui Park.

Back to T8

On my way back from the Shanghai Expo, I decided to swing by Xintiandi to check out the scene. Unfortunately, I didn't see any restaurants that interested me after walking both the south and north blocks, which invariably meant I had only one decent choice for dinner that night. So I headed over to T8.

It has been at least a couple of years since I dined there, so I was expecting a lot of new items on the menu. The restaurant was very crowded when I walked in, but fortunately, they always had some seats available by the counter. 

Truffle was featured on the menu, so I picked an entree and a main for my meal. The bread was served in their signature cup holder, with butter and a dipping sauce. I was glad that some things haven't changed at T8. My entree was corn soup with ravioli and truffles over a cream sauce. A little heavy on the calories, but the soup was wonderful and the truffle flavor lifted the soup above the ordinary. 

My main course was roasted chicken wrapped in bacon, and stuffed with truffles, served over cauliflower puree and pickled cabbage. The chicken was very tender and flavors of the bacon, cabbage and the truffles blended together very well.

It was good to know that T8 has managed to maintain its high standards after the last few years, and has stayed true to its creative culinary edge. But with the new restaurants sprouting all around Shanghai over the past year, it looks like the competition is heating up with the likes of Mr&Mrs Bund and Restaurant Martin following closely behind. For me, T8 will always remain a favorite, and possibly the only reason I would return to Xintiandi.

Club Vietnam at the FCC

I came across a restaurant called Club Vietnam at the FCC while searching the internet for good Vietnamese food in Shanghai. Having been to the FCC in Siem Reap a few months ago, I thought this might be an affiliation. I only found out much later that FCC meant "Foreign Culture Club", the brainchild of a Hong Kong restaurateur. But this didn't stop me from giving Club Vietnam a try, after reading about the fine reviews from local publications.

Club Vietnam is located in an enclave of old Shanghainese houses off Julu Road. The FCC building itself houses several F&B establishments, one of which was Club Vietnam. The other, a private dining restaurant called Manchuria, was on the other side of the building together with the Wine Cellar. Club Vietnam is a white affair, white marble tables paired with white chairs and plain white walls. Not much in terms of decor, but at least it offers a modern minimalist albeit slightly boring dining environment. The menu was rather extensive, and I took a while to settle on the appetizer sampler, and the deep fried snapper with tamarind sauce. I also ordered a glass of their house sangria.

The first course arrived, and I was presented with a spread of three classic Vietnamese appetizers - grilled Vietnamese prawn cakes with homemade dipping sauce, skewered prawns and garlic, and fried spring rolls. I loved all three appetizers, they were very authentic.

My snapper arrived on a large plate smothered in tamarind sauce. The flavor was unbelievably good, so good, that I had to order a bowl of white rice to accompany it.  It actually reminded me of a similar dish I had in Chiang Mai.

Overall, the meal was excellent, and ranks up there with some of the better ones I've eaten in recent years. I never thought I'd find good Vietnamese food in Shanghai, but I guess if there's a market for excellent and authentic Thai cuisine like Simply Thai, then I guess there's a niche for a restaurant like Club Vietnam to thrive.

Back to my old habits again

It's been at least three years since I had a good meal at Shintori, and I thought tonight might be the perfect time to take a nostalgic stroll down that bamboo path leading up to the glass cube entrance. It all started during a conversation in the office about new places to eat in Shanghai. My colleagues were eager to try something different and away from the Bund, so we took a cab downtown to explore some of the more local areas of the city. 

Our first stop was along Donghu Road, where El Willy and Sichuan Citizen were located. As usual, El Willy was impossible to get in without a reservation, and tonight there wasn't even standing room at the bar. I didn't want to eat Sichuan for dinner two nights in a row, so we walked down the road looking for other alternatives. At some point, I started checking Google Maps and realized that we were just a block away from Julu Road, where Shintori, People 7 and Mesa were located. I brought up the idea of eating modern Japanese, and both my colleagues were keen to try. And so within minutes, we found ourselves standing outside the doorway leading into Shintori.

Some people would describe walking into Shintori for the first time an ethereal moment where you feel transported to a different world the moment you take your first step through the entrance. Both my colleagues were awed by the serenity that greeted us as we walked through the non-descript doorway along Julu Road with the tiny number '803' on a metal plaque. Most people would have missed it, but those "in-the-know" get a kick out of taking their friends there and seeing the look of amazement on their faces as the sliding doors around the glass cube open up, revealing the foyer and main dining hall just beyond the door.

Shintori had not changed one bit these past few years. It was still bustling and we were only able to get counter seats. The menu looked a little different, but most of the dishes were familiar. I pointed out a few signature dishes for my colleagues to try, but decided to go with the kaiseki set instead. At RMB280, it seemed like a very good deal, with 6 courses covering the usual kaiseki dishes of an appetizer, sashimi, tempura, grilled meat, soup, rice and dessert. 

What really impressed me was the freshness of the ingredients, and the perfectly blended flavors. The only slight disappointment was the dessert, which was too ordinary, given that Shintori has always been known for their modern Japanese interpretations. Maybe I was just expecting to get a slice of the green tea tiramisu that my colleague was eating.

I'm glad to know that in this city of everchanging dining experiences, some good things haven't changed yet. I love Shintori the way I love a good secret vacation hideaway, so I'm only sharing this with a few people, especially when I want a quiet dinner out in the city by myself.