People ask me for Shanghai recommendations constantly, so I'm going to start writing them down as I go. Every place below are places I went this month. One hotel, four meals, one special coffeeshop.
Vice, Yongjia Lu
I went for Chinese Valentine's Day and it was a great meal. The lamb was the best thing on the table by a distance. The daikon fondant was good too, which I wasn't expecting from daikon. The wine was nice and they'd left a rose on the table.
The room was very aesthetic. Dimmed lights, comfortable seating, quiet but watchful service. The chef is Carlos Sotomayor, who is held in high regard in Shanghai f&b circles. He has a reputation here and from the food, you can see why.
Book ahead if you're going on any kind of occasion.
📍 128 Yongjia Lu, Xuhui
👉 For hotels in the French Concession https://www.trip.com/t/sJUbYfi2OW2
Long Time Ago lamb skewers
The lamb comes down from the Hulunbuir grasslands in Inner Mongolia and it tastes like it. Sweeter and cleaner than the standard cumin-loaded street skewers. It was beautiful.
Two warnings. It's hugely popular with the Korean community here, and the wait for a table can hit six hours. Put your name down early and go do something else for the afternoon.
141 Shaanxi South Road, 3rd Floor, Xuhui (opposite IAPM Mall)
Wu You Xian
One Michelin star, crab xiaolongbao, and amazingly there was no wait at all when I went.
Good value, good service, and the staff show you how to eat the dumplings properly which is handy if you’re a visiting first-timer to xiaolongbao. If you've been avoiding starred restaurants in Shanghai because you assume they’re pretentious or unaffordable, think again.
Room 1-103, 7 South Maoming Road, Huangpu, Shanghai
Ho Hung Kee, Taikoo Hui
The Shanghai branch of the Hong Kong original, which has been going since 1946. It holds a Bib Gourmand here, Michelin's marker for great food at reasonable prices. It’s proper Cantonese cooking, and it's sat in the middle of Taikoo Hui (next to the big Louis Vuitton ship), so it's an easy stop if you're already on Nanjing West Road.
📍 F3, HKRI Taikoo Hui, 789 Nanjing West Road, Jing'an
M3, Yongkang Road
They serve one coffee with 3 different options. It’s a dirty coffee that comes in a iced cup (which you can take home). The espresso smacks the cold cream and leaves you wanting another cup. There are three flavours, go for vanilla.
Expect about 45 minutes on a weekend. Go on a weekday morning and you'll walk straight up. Yongkang Road is worth an hour of wandering anyway (or pair it with lunch or dinner at Vice, just a minute’s walk away).
📍 Yongkang Road, former French Concession
MGM Shanghai West Bund
A 5* luxury art hotel on the riverside at West Bund, and it's beautiful. I stayed in a king suite with the water below and the skyline off in the distance. High up, so the noise of the city drops away and it turns into a view.
The bar is properly vibrant rather than the usual dead hotel situation. The spa and pool both look out at the skyline. The location is good (but not great) as well, close to the museums and the riverfront walk, and far enough from the Bund to avoid the crowds there.
📍 688 Yunjin Road, Xuhui
👉 https://www.trip.com/t/hDq8dte2OW2
If you're planning a trip
Shanghai works best if you book one good hotel and walk from there. Everything above sits within a short ride/subway/cycle of everything else.
For any trains, flights or hotels in China I always use Trip, everything on their platform is suitable for foreigners and it makes travelling around super easy.
https://www.trip.com/t/NW6qSeW2OW2
More next month.