To complete my Shanghai Michelin Guide Scrambled I made a reservation at Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire in Shanghai for a Sunday lunch. The restaurant was given a star in the 2019 editoon of the Shanghai Michelin Guide and is located in the exclusive Capella Hotel in the former French Concession.
According to his Wikipedia entry
Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion cuisine movement. Beginning his career in St. Etienne where he won three Michelin Stars, Gagnaire tore at the conventions of classic French cooking by introducing jarring juxtapositions of flavours, tastes, textures, and ingredients.
Spoiler alert: nothing of this was apparent in the restaurant I visited.
The visit
My first attempt to make a reservation was weird. I called and was told that it was possible to join for lunch. But when I replied that I would come at noon, at the opening time, I was told that they could only accommodate me at 12.30. To me that does not make any sense. If you have a table at 12.30, then it must available also at half an hour earlier (since it is the opening time…).
I completed my reservation by email.
When I arrived I discovered that the menu that I had consulted on the website was only available for dinner! There was a less interesting brunch menu available. Later I complained about this with the manager and I see that now they published on the Capella’s page for the restaurant all the various menus. You are welcome.
I settled for their brunch package that included two courses, mineral water, juices, tea or coffee, bread basket, and desserts from a mini buffet. Then, I also added some eggs from la carte.
The bread basket was promptly served with butter and some confectioneries. Nice, but nothing spectacular.
Then I got their signature beef tartare. It is tartare with some additional ingredients, such as cheese, tuna and duck sashimi. Iconoclast? I was expecting a lot, but please give the Le Bec tartare every day of the week over this.
Next I got a sea bream seared fillet with a delicious condiment. This was a very good dish, but nothing new.
The Egg Benedict were perfectly executed.
Finally, I sampled some cakes from the dessert buffet. Again, very good, but nothing that left me with the crave to go back.
The check
Final charge was 644.60 CNY (94 USD). The basic package was 488 CNY plus 10% service charge.
What to say? For a brunch in Shanghai, this is a pretty bad value for money. For that money you can dine in a luxury buffet on the Bund (hint… check the Cathay Room).
Did I find anything exceptional about this French restaurant? Not really, I can have a good sea bream fillet in so many other establishments. If I could sample the full menu, who knows, maybe I would have had a better experience.
Why a place like this gets a star and Villa Le Bec does not will remain a mystery to me. Unfortunately, the Shanghai inspectors seem to be prone to award stars by default to the branches of renowned international powerhouses.
Where in Shanghai:
480 Jianguo Xi Lu inside Capella Hotel
Address in Chinese: 建国西路480号(建业里)
Check the hotel website page for the restaurant.