3 New Restaurants: Chihuahua, Hundo, Mavis

From the tail-end of last year, here are three new openings you might have missed. Chihuahua for casual Mexican food and cocktails, Hundo for yakitori and yakiniku, and bistro and wine bar Mavis.

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Mexican

Chihuahua

Chihuahua is a casual Mexican taco-fonda in Jing'an. It’s cheap and cheerful, an alternative for Mexican food (especially the tacos) if you’re in this part of town.

Nachos, burritos, quesadillas and tacos washed down with margaritas? Yes, please. They also have a couple vegetarian options.

Pork Carnitas (¥55) – Juicy pulled pork carnitas with green salsa, refried beans, rice, onion, coriander on fresh pressed corn tortilla.

Al Pastor (¥55) – Pork neck fried on the plancha until it’s good and crispy, layered up with avocado and jalapeno sauce, pico de gallo, pineapple and coriander.

Chicken Chipotle (¥55) – You’ll find sizeable, fully loaded burritos here. Chicken chipotle with refried beans, rice, mozzarella, guacamole, chipotle mayo, sour cream, pico de gallo, coriander on a flour tortilla.

Quesadillas from ¥45

Margaritas frozen or on the rocks are ¥45, but are ¥30 during happy hour, Tuesday to Thursday from 5-8pm. They even have a Michelada (¥45) with clamato juice for happy hour! Other cocktails start from ¥45, beers from ¥35. 

Michelada

Plus, there’s a free-flow brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm, ¥179 for two hours of Corona, Tsingtao, frozen margaritas or ¥198 for that plus house pour spirits.

Definitely going back.

Chihuahua

Address: 2/F, 1788 Xinzha Lu, near Jiaozhou Lu 新闸路1788号2楼, 近胶州路

Tel: [phone]
Hours: Tue-Sat 11am-midnight, Sun 11am-7pm, closed Monday

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Japanese

Hundo

Hundo is a Japanese restaurant that serves yakiniku, yakitori, tempura and sushi, housed on the second floor of the villa on Donghu Lu, sharing the building with Blaz and Cellar To Table. Hundo is the bigger, shinier sister restaurant of High Yaki, one of my favorite restaurants in Shanghai.

The menu is HUGE. Different to High Yaki, Hundo has tempura, sushi and a large selection hot dishes like charcoal-grilled seafood and deep-fried skewers.

The perks of Hundo is that it can accommodate large groups, and it has private rooms. The bar counter is nearly double the size, but unlike High Yaki, your yakiniku is not grilled in front of you, but in the open kitchen.

Sashimi starts at ¥35/three pieces, from saury to salmon and ebi to tuna belly.

Kushiage (deep-fried skewers) are great drinking snacks and appetizers. You'll find the likes of these skewered cheese balls wrapped with Iberico ham (¥32) or short rib with foie gras (¥28).

There's also a dozen yakitori to choose from, including this chicken meatball skewer (¥20).

Mayura M9 Wagyu Sandwich (¥158 for two pieces).

The Cuttlefish Tempura (¥28) is excellent. However, the selection of tempura is a little limited. If you want to order one, it’s the cuttlefish.

Beef tartare, sea urchin, salmon roe (¥118)

Like High Yaki, there’s the main event: Yakiniku, beef. Dry Aged RV Full Blood Wagyu M9 Tomahawk (¥1,700/kg) – For when…y’know, you want to make a splash.

There are more moderate options like the Dry Aged Ribeye 200g+ (¥385).

For drinks, have your pick of beer (from ¥40), highballs (from ¥45), umeshu (¥590/bottle), shocho (¥450/bottle), sake (¥990/bottle), bubbly, wine, and spirits.

Hundo is good, but I prefer the intimate atmosphere of High Yaki. But should I find myself with a larger group or want to be in the area of Donghu Lu, Hundo is right there.

Hundo

Address: 2/F, 20 Donghu Lu, near Huaihai Zhong Lu 东湖路20号2楼, 近淮海中路

Tel: [phone]

Hours: Mon-Sun 6pm-midnight

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Wine Bistro

Mavis

Mavis is a natural wine bar and bistro in Jing'an. It's operated by the same people behind Uncle No Name Cafe. The food is French, and the menu is scrawled on a chalkboard, displayed on the wall for all to see. The items change and rotate, too.

It's one of many notable natural wine bars that opened in 2020. When Shanghai loves a trend, people really go all out for it. And it's working well for Mavis, and the likes of SOiF, Ottimo and Pass Residence. Wine = sophistication, right?

The food is decent. There are some things I liked, and some times that I really think could be improved. I'm also going to gripe about paying for table bread at a French bistro—I do not like it, but I understand that there's a cost to produce good bread, too. The ambiance is nice enough and wines by the bottle are roughly market standard. That's big enough a draw for the neighborhood.

Sourdough (¥30), Gougeres (¥68), excellent quality bread.

The Pate (¥128) is enjoyable.

Burrata with Mushrooms (¥98) - It's easy to like—creamy cheese and tart, marinated mushrooms. But personally, I tend not to order burrata at restaurants. It comes across as a lazy dish: open bag of burrata, add salad, mark up price. But hey, if you want to order it, it's tasty.

Monk Fish with snap peas and seaweed butter (¥138) - This is an older dish and is not currently on the menu, which changes depending on the chef's fancy. This was pretty good. The simple sauce of seaweed butter lets the fish, which was perfectly cooked, shine through.

Beef Tartare (¥108) - A petit portion, and maybe slightly over seasoned. 

Roast Chicken (¥398) - Ok. This is exorbitantly priced. Chicken is the cheap as chips meat option. It better be a damn good bird that's been massaged and serenaded before being slain and roasted to charge this much. It was not memorable, and I do not recommend ordering it.

Desserts also rotate, starting from ¥78. 

Eaton Mess (¥78) - A tribute to the proprietor's heritage. It's pretty good, and would recommend it.

Mavis, I really wanted to like you. The ambience is great—high ceilings, chic, and comfortable. But the pricey chicken, which isn't a jumbo-sized one either, and selection of dishes when I visited, was a little uninspiring. What I can say is that the management really cares about hospitality, and maybe changes will happen soon. Would revisit in six months.

Mavis

Address: 966-968 Wuding Lu, near Jiaozhou Lu 武定路966-968号, 近胶州路

Tel: [phone]

Hours: Tue-Sun, 5:30pm-11pm, closed Monday

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