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New Bar: Constellaton 7 Also Serves Food!

2017-07-13 ShanghaiWOWeng

Are there too many whiskey bars in Shanghai? It’s a moot point, but in the immortal words of the legendary Jim Morrison:

 

“For if we don't find

The next whisky bar

I tell you we must die!”

 

In that case let’s pop into Constellation 7, the latest offering from the well-known whiskey and cocktail bars throughout Shanghai. It’s set in the new HKRI Taikoo Hui mall just off West Nanjing Road shopping area.

 

Being set in an area that houses Tesla, Dyson and the Nike Kicks stores as well as other top forward thinking brands it is already positioned for the higher end of the market. When we popped by and spoke to Sam Xue he gave us the lowdown on their new direction with this bar.

 


Sam explained that Constellation 7 is placing a bigger emphasis on food. In fact as far as we’re aware this is the first Constellation bar to sell food at all. A cursory glance at the menu and we noticed a kind of Shanghai fusion vibe going on and we were right.

 

The head chef previously worked at T8 in Xintiandi and Da Marco and has used that experience to fuse his old style memories of Shanghai food with the new bustling modern Shanghai metropolis we now live in.

 

Seeing as the concept was about food we tried four dishes:

 

Poke Bowl (RMB70)


This is a decent size poke bowl compared to some places in town that specialize in this Hawaiian specialty. It has a local spin by adding green beans and Chinese seaweed.



Angel Hair with chive oil (RMB70)


This dish is a great spin on the traditional Shanghai street food called noodles with chive oil (葱油拌面). Thin spaghetti, such as Capellini, is cooked with Italian flavors on a piece of suji (similar to tofu) to create a distinctive Chinese style.

 


You Dunzi (RMB38)


This dish is on the happy hour menu as a snack. It’s based on the traditional Shanghai street food usually eaten after school. This is a modern twist on the old Shanghainese recipe of deep fried shredded daikon (a big white radish).

 

We once heard someone say this is like a Chinese hamburger, helpfully explained as grab and go food rather than, well a beef burger. Fast food in other words, likely to help the early onset of Type 2 diabetes and an increase in the visceral fat around your belly, but oh so delicious and tempting every time.



Pan-fried cod fish (RMB228)


This dish is a straight up seafood main course. It looks good, smells beautiful and tastes great, maybe the modern twist is leaving out the bones in the fish… It’s cooked with clams and mussels in a white wine reduction.

 


The drinks menu has an extensive list of Japanese whiskeys (as to be expected), in fact they have a huge selection of whiskey from around the world, but then again this is a whiskey bar.

 

They have two draft beers: Hoegaarden and Leffe both served in 330ml at RMB40 and RMB50 respectively. Happy hour is daily at 4pm to 7pm and it’s buy one get one free at RMB70 and RMB80 respectively. There are also selected happy hour cocktails at RMB80.

 

The head barman is Michael Wang, previously from Constellation 3. He selected three drinks for us to try:

 

ConTea (RMB55)


This is kind of like a long Island Ice Tea made with rum, Cointreau, lemon juice, passion fruit syrup, and Earl Grey tea. It’s very refreshing and perfect for a hot day.

 


Manhattan (RMB90)


This is the classic cocktail made with Bourbon, sweet vermouth, and angostura bitters garnished with a black cherry. Can’t go wrong.

 


City Coral (RMB80)


This is a twist on the traditional G&T made with gin, melon liquor, blue curacao, grapefruit juice, and tonic water. A different look with the same assured flavor.



Overall Constellation 7 is a great spot to hit if you’re in the area shopping or are with family visiting and want a nice Eastern/Western mix. Having food in an area where people will be shopping is a smart idea.

 

The décor is stylish and upmarket and there’s a few covered tables outside. There is even a private room for big parties or a function. The décor also fits the fusion style, with a humorous painting of Superman blindfolded playing a game of catch done in traditional style Chinese art. There are also line drawings of Shanghainese elders cooking you dunzi on the street.

 


The crowd is young local socialites to businessmen having after work drinks. As we left a few tables had reserved signs put on them, so it seems that they are already pulling in a decent crowd only after being open for a month.

 

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