Here are all the new restaurant and bar openings we featured in our September 2016 issue.
Restaurants
Asian Plus
You can get most things in Shanghai, but with the exception of a handful of places, authentic Southeast Asian food isn’t one of them. Sitting pretty within the newly launched hipster food court – The Market on Aomen Lu – is Asian Plus, a hidden gem serving some really legit casual Southeast Asian eats...
Price: RMB30-80 per person
Who's going: Expats and locals
Good for: Casual lunch, Southeast Asian food
Asian Plus, The Market, 280 Aomen Lu, by Changhua Lu.
Shake
From the same guys that brought the city Heyday jazz lounge, Shake is a live music venue, restaurant and bar that strikes a considerably more upbeat tone than it's sultry older sister. Modeled after a "hip 60s Mad Men style supper club," Shake is part of a new generation of F&B concepts that redefines the traditional nightlife model to suit local tastes.
Price: RMB150-300 per person (including alcohol)
Who's going: locals and expats, lots of ladies on Wednesdays
Good for: casual dining, small groups, cocktails, dates, live music
Shake, 46 Maoming Nan Lu, 3/F, by Jinxian Lu.
Professor Lee
Named after Korean pottery professor Lee In Jin of Hongik University for reasons that elude us, the insides are classy and smart, dotted with artfully rugged earthenware pottery and menus tied with yarn. But don't go thinking it's going to be expensive...
Price: RMB150-200 per person
Who's going: young locals
Good for: casual dining, Korean food
Professor Lee, 4/F, Room 406, K11 Art Mall, 300 Huaihai Zhong Lu, by Huangpi Nan Lu.
Saveur
When you think of Plaza 66, names that immediately come to mind are like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel. But recently, another French export has set up shop inside the luxury shopping complex – Chef Michael Wendling. Unlike his renowned full-scale restaurants Cuivre and T for Thai, Saveur is a much smaller deli on the third floor of the mall that serves sandwiches, salads and pastries and seats only about 20 people inside the shop.
Price: RMB58-198
Who’s going: local and expat office workers
Good for: sandwiches, quick lunches, snacks, salads, patisserie
Saveur, 306B, Plaza 66, 1266 Nanjing Xi Lu, by Shaanxi Bei Lu.
Sabor
Diego Guerrero, a Spanish chef whose restaurant Dstage in Madrid currently holds one Michelin Star, was described by the New York Times as "provocative but never gimmicky, and consistently delectable." If only his Shanghai output, Sabor, were the same...
Price: RMB300-500 per person (excluding drinks)
Who's going: locals, a smattering of well-heeled expats
Good for: Bund-side dining
Sabor, 33 Sichuan Zhong Lu, by Yan'an Dong Lu.
Wawamama
Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to taste all sorts of exotic cuisines that have entered the city, but never Ecuadorian until we visited Wawamama, a unique little restaurant on Nanjing Xi Lu. It sits in a two-story glass-walled house that has gone through the hands of various owners and now under the control of Ecuadorian chef Miguel Monar.
Price: RMB200-300 per person
Who’s going: locals and Ecuadorian expats
Good for: fining dining, special occasions
Wawamama, 1486 Nanjing Xi Lu, by Tongren Lu.
Bars
Shrine
Shrine, a new speakeasy by local superstar mixologist Daniel An, is a place that we were fully expecting to hate. We've kind of had it with the whole themed bar thing, and the sound of a Catholic confessional room speakeasy had all the appeal of a naked walk of atonement along the Bund. Oh we of little faith...
Price: RMB78-300 per person
Who's going: locals and expats
Good for: craft cocktails, dates, small groups
Shrine, 462 Changle Lu, United Valley, by Shaanxi Nan Lu.
The Bunker
Themed bars: we've come to accept that they're par for the course in Asia's bar scene. The latest one to hit the block is The Bunker, a new military camp-themed hidey-hole behind The Barn by Green&Safe in Xintiandi. From the same people who brought the city trendy drinking spots like Flask and Botanist, The Bunker makes 'progressive drinks' its modus operandi, and shaking them is Taiwanese mixologist Denny Chen.
Price: RMB80-250 per person
Who's going: young locals, Taiwanese expats
Good for: cocktails, dates, small groups, hangouts
The Bunker, 2/F, No.22, Xintiandi (North Block), 181 Taicang Lu, by Xingye Lu.
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