Staying put in Shanghai for Golden Week? Here's what's going on
Photograph: courtesy Space Panda
Golden Week has arrived! And that means we've got a full week (from today Friday 1 to Thursday 7) out of the office to be free in Shanghai with what looks to be glorious weather. While many may be jetting off to sightsee in different places around the country (1.6 million according to Shine), plenty of us will also be staying put in the big city for the break. If you're wondering what to do with all the spare time, see below. From your usual booze-filled brunches and all-night parties to the latest must-see art exhibitions, here's how to make the most of Golden Week this year.
Tap hyperlinks for more event details. Flyers courtesy venues and promoters. Click to enlarge.
When in doubt, brunch every day of the week
What else could we have started with? There's plenty around town, but for inspiration: You can grab brunch on the terrace at Highline – for ten days straight, if you're that sort – where 188RMB will get you two-hour free flow wines and cocktails. Plus, the team have just introduced a new menu with things like pork belly honey rolls and pumpkin custard French toast, and you can continue the festitives into the evening as well, when live DJs come into play. There's also similar ten-day brunch antics happening down the road at Tomatito, free-flow being 148RMB for two hours of cava, red or white wine.
Head to Tacolicious for Mexican-inspired brunch over the seven days with tacos and margaritas – in the middle of all that they are also celebrating National Taco Day with an all-day happy hour (Monday 4). A stone's throw away in Shankang Li, Azul is serving up dishes like Sichuan-cured salmon and a big Latin breakfast with 200g of beef, grilled cheese and refried beans for ten days. Finally, always reliable and always great-value, The Rooster's 180RMB deal features too many drinks to choose from and a main dish to line your stomach.
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Beyond brunch
Photograph: Romain Thomen, courtesy RŌZO 芦苇
If you're someone whose Shanghai checklist involves mostly ticking off new restaurant openings (fair enough, we live in the best food city in the world), there's two for you on Wuding Lu: Sakaba Malabar, a slick revamp of an old Spanish mainstay, and RŌZO 芦苇, a wine bar with a brilliant menu of bites from Peruvian chef Carlos Sotomayor.
For those whose ideal way to spend the time off is hopping from place to place taking advantage of dangerous drink deals, Liquid Laundry’s Golden Week Happy Hour extends to all day from Friday 1-Thursday 7, where Sunwoo Super Fresh (Korean-style lager), Black Fairy oatmeal stout and Jackpot 777 IPA are just 35RMB. Plus, Zapfler's annual Oktoberfest is slated to take place from Friday 1-Sunday 10 where you can try a limited-edition of Oktoberfest beer, Helles for 68RMB between 6pm and 9pm. The Bull and Claw’s Sundowners is giving a free roll (seafood, steak or veggie) with every drink you order on Wednesday through Friday from 5-7pm. Last but not least, the high-roller route: M on the Bund is doing a fancy afternoon tea for 'grown-ups' with caviar and premium cocktails (and a pretty ridiculous view of The Oriental Pearl Tower and co).
Get your fill of hairy crab
Photograph: courtesy The Hut
Hairy crab season has kicked off, with plenty of places slinging the seasonal speciality. Shanghainese mainstay Old Jesse on Tianping Lu is never a bad shout during hairy crab season with plenty of dishes highlighting the crustacean or go high-end at Huiyang restaurant The Hut with its 11-course crab banquet (1,580RMB per person, minimum four people with bookings essential) that present contemporary takes on the feature ingredient. If you're looking for a more comprehensive intro to what the fuss is all about, Untour Food Tours is also running hairy crab tours throughout the season (though the tours this holiday are all sold out).
Sweat it out at Shanghai's bounciest clubs
A lot is going on in the nightlife world during Golden Week, so take advantage of the nightly parties and the thought of not having to worry about carrying a hangover into the working week.
From today (Friday 1) through 'til the end of the holiday, there’s tons of after-dark activities to keep night owls busy: Alter. is finishing up its rooftop season with a terrace party at Fosun Art Foundation featuring Cice, Nat Alexander and the Alter. Soundsystem, that continues on at Heim. Space Panda is throwing a five-day Candy Land party from Saturday 2-Wednesday 6 in five different venues (VUE, UP, Abyss and more) with giant candy installations, chocolate fountains and plenty of live music. For more parties, check the GW lineups of popular haunts around town including POTENT, ALL, Elevator, The Pearl, Dusk Till Dawn, Roxie, HUNT and more.
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Listen to lots of live music
There's lots of live music to lend your ears to over Golden Week. Starting from today with The World Music Asia Festival, sporting a typically varied lineup of talented musicians – think contemporary guzheng duo Yu Miao and Wang Meng and psych-rock outfit Utopian Daymare. Shanghai’s new livehouse/club/art space SYSTEM is entering its soft opening stage featuring Stolen, Suiki, Carsick Cars, Dream, Can, Duck Fight Goose (click here for the full agenda and to buy tickets). Other gigs worth a gander include Taiwanese bands Sandwich Fail and Bob is Tired at Yuyintang Park, Runnin' Late pres. Loose Booty, Deku and Lotus Root at C's, Eating Music presenting Faithfull, Voision Xi, Sdewdent and ollo-MAM at Elevator and MIST Heavy Fest at Modernsky LAB.
The people who oversaw Le Baron have a new club GRNDCNTRL, which just opened officially in Xintiandi this week. To kick off things, they'll be hosting a bunch of local hip-hop acts including Nick Shy today (Friday 1). See the full schedule here.
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Spend a day gallery-hopping
Shanghai is never short of cracking exhibitions and an extended break as long as this one is the perfect time to take in all the shows you've been meaning to see. Aurora Museum brings three Chinese traditional ink-painting maestros under the same roof by showcasing 60 authentic paintings from Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong and Zhang Daqian. Head to the 2010 Shanghai Expo China Pavilion-turned-China Art Museum to check out 200 black-and-white portraits of Chinese farmers taken by Pang Xiaowei. In need of laugh? Catch Patricia Waller’s solo exhibition that combines yarn art with dark humour. If you got the day, the Power Station of Art is hosting a rather large exhibition of Liang Shaoji whose life-long fascination with silk farming and the silkworm has turned into an array of artworks.
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Not enough? Here are even more things to do
Give cute pups a home or just play with them at Furry Friends Adoption Day tomorrow (Saturday 2) at Paulaner Raffles City Changning. Fashionistas and zero waste enthusiasts can browse through second-hand clothing swap event Savvy Exchanger which will take place at Laowai Jie (731 Hongxu Lu) from Monday 4-Wednesday 6. There’ll be a market, live music, DJs, workshops, tattoo parlours and more. Fancy a chillax night with your little furry companion? Abbey Road is hosting an end-of-summer fundraising screening of Grease at its terrace on Wednesday 6 and it's dog-friendly too.
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