The most ridiculously luxurious dining experiences in Shanghai
For most everyday wage-slave types, food is food – as in, feed me but don’t poison me. But moving up the foodie food chain, meals involve swanky set menus, hidden locations and required deposits served with a side of exclusivity and a soupçon of culinary theatrics.
Ultraviolet
Paul Pairet’s single-room sensory affair books up three months in advance, seating only ten guests per night. This achingly avant-garde, meticulously crafted, three Michelin-starred dining experience guides guests through a 22-course journey in which everything is served at its absolute best moment, though innovative cuisine is only one aspect. UV incorporates immersive visuals, scents and sounds alongside service so plush that the team even knows whether you’re right- or left-handed. At 6,000RMB per person for the top-tier menu, a trip here might take months of saving, but it’s an unparalleled experience worth every jiao.
Address details are super secret (shh); guests meet at Mr & Mrs Bund (info@uvbypp.cc). Set menus range from 4,000-6,000RMB per person.
Taian Table
Veteran chef Stefan Stiller’s intimate venue offers guests a front row ticket to their meal’s unfolding. Diners sit at granite countertops around three sides of a pristine open kitchen. Personal attention from the chefs follows each course’s arrival. With a 14-course tasting menu of flawless fare priced at 1,388RMB, Taian Table is certainly a luxe treat.
Zhenming Lu, near Xinzha Lu (taian-table.cn; exact location provided after reservation). 1,3888RMB for a 14-course tasting menu.
Cupola
Want your ass to touch the same seats as Tom Cruise and Beyoncé? Book yourself a swanky night at The Cupola, which might very well be the most exclusive private dining venue in Shanghai. Once a bell tower, this lavish space boasts 360-degree views of The Bund and the Lujiazui skyline from both the ‘lower’ Cupola (with seating for two to eight) and the ‘upper’ Cupola (a very intimate space just for two). Dine on a specially designed menu from Jean-Georges or POP whilst a private butler tends to your every need, including but not limited to private limo service and speciality cocktails. Bey would not say what she paid. Maverick said something about thetans.
Seventh Floor, Three on the Bund, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu (6321 0909).
Bo Shanghai
This small speakeasy-style restaurant, hidden inside Daimon Gastrolounge at Five on the Bund, offers an extravagant ten-course tasting menu of innovative, modern takes on China’s eight great regional culinary traditions, each married with techniques and ingredients of another international cuisine. Helmed by ‘Demon Chef’ Alvin Leung of Hong Kong's three-Michelin-starred 'X-treme Chinese' restaurant Bo Innovation, you're paying for both name and ingenuity. At 1,680RMB per person plus ten percent service charge, it’s certainly not cheap, but this isn’t your usual excursion into Chinese fine dining – it’s an all-out, no-regrets menu of some the most interesting food in the city.
Sixth Floor, Five on the Bund, 20 Guangdong Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu (5383 3656). 1,680RMB for ten-course tasting menu plus ten percent service charge.