I do not know all the story, but the restaurant Barolo has a real Italian chef in the kitchen and offers very interesting and authentic Italian dishes. Barolo is a town and wine from Piedmont, a Northern Italian region. It is remarkable and deserves a review since Ningbo does not stand out in terms of non-Chinese food. Here’s the write up of my two visits.
The visit(s)
The restaurant is located in a shopping and entertainment complex called The East Shore, not far away from downtown Ningbo.
One interesting thing about the restaurant is that they always have a lot of specials available (ask for the blackboard) on top of the regular menu. Also, they organize special events time to time. On my first visit they had porchetta and on my second visit they had a number of tuna dishes.
On both of my visits the bread (with some diced tomatoes) was supplemented by a croquette.
The porchetta dish was quite big, suitable for two people to share. It was very good.
Porchetta is a boneless pork roast part of the Italian tradition prepared with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs.
During the “porchetta night” I also had homemade gnocchi with veal ragout. It was a very delicate dish, from the specials.
The dessert was an homage to the Piedmont tradition, a gianduiotto mousse.
In my second visit I had a tuna tartare with buffalo cheese cream puffs. The cheese was a very good complement.
I tried their ravioli filled with cheese. Another very delicate dish beautifully presented.
The main dish was grilled tuna (rare inside, tataki style) with vegetables and a spinach sauce. Perfect dish, again very professionally presented.
To “cap” the meal I had a bonet, a cake that can be described as a cross-over between creme caramel, blancmange and chocolate pudding that has been prepared in Piedmont for centuries.
The check(s)
The first meal, with two courses and dessert, cost me 414 RMB (62 USD).
The second check was 670 RMB (100 USD) for appetizer, pasta, main and a dessert. The check above shows 720 RMB, but there was a mistake in the price of the main dish and I did not pay that.
Barolo is an excellent restaurant, its food and presentation is up to five-star standards. It could be a restaurant in Shanghai. Unfortunately quality costs and the price point is not cheap.
Where in Ningbo: No. 3-5, The East Shore, Yinzhou District In Chinese: 东岸里广场. Tel: 0574-87078717
Polux is a new project headed by Paul Pairet, the chef extraordinaire behind Ultraviolet and Mr & Ms Bund. It is named after the cat of an old French cartoon and is located in the pedestrian area of Xintiandi, Shanghai.
If you are not familiar with Shanghai, you need to know that Xintiandi is a shopping and entertainment district with reconstituted traditional mid-19th century shikumen houses on narrow alleys. It is a very popular area, but I never associated it with good food (you might disagree if you are a fan of Wolfang Puck).
The visit
I headed to Polux on a Sunday for brunch meeting a friend, just one week after their opening on 14 March 2019. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (all day dining) with different menus. Initially they were open 7 days a week, but at the time of this post they have instituted a day off on Mondays.
The staff had my reservation on the books and escorted me to a table. I liked the cloth towels, a small luxury these days.
By the way, even if the place was rapidly filling up, the staff noticed that the table was wobbling and they promptly offered me and my friend another table.
I recognized many faces among the staff from Mr and Ms Bund and Ultraviolet. These are incredibly professional people. (Including the marketing team: by the time of my visit Polux was correctly indicated on all social media, including Facebook and Google Maps; contrast this with the Bulgari Hotel for example…) By no accident, in their second week of operations, everything was running remarkably smoothly.
Bread was complimentary, as it should be in French eateries.
While I was waiting for my friend, I ordered their sardines, a simple dish, but it was nice that they included in the menu some small snacks.
I and my friend shared a steak haché with mash and eggs. A steak haché is basically a French hamburger. I found it very good, with the beef juice adding some flavor to the mix.
Then both I and my friend had the signature Polux burger coming with fries.
It was a relatively small burger (or I should say “compact”), with bacon and a good amount cheese melting around the patty. I think that some sauce was dripped on the buns as well. But there was a twist (in what I would call Pairet’s style): the lower bun was “excavated” to firmly accommodate the beef patty and some extra condiments (asparagus?). The overall flavor was on the spicy side.
We drank the namesake iced tea, that was not regular iced tea (again one of those twists that made Pairet’s cuisine a favorite of mine): it was a concoction with verbena, orange, lemon, apple, cucumber, and mint. The result was quite pleasant.
The check
Total check was 528 RMB (or 40 USD per person). Was it worth it? Wast it good? Will I go back?
To answer context is important. 40 USD for some regular cafe food may seem pricey, but this is Shanghai, where Western food, good one, is hard to come by at this price point. From this point of view, the final check was more than fair.
In an interview that I read (sorry, I cannot find the link) Pairet explained that they intended to offer good unpretentious everyday food, something that could be the second best for many diners. I think that they delivered what they promised and even more. Polux is good comfort food with a twist here and there (and to be fair, the brunch menu was quite extensive and I wish I had tried their cheek beefsteak, their croque, and some of the egg dishes).
Finally, you have to consider that you are in Xintiandi, an upscale district not famous for its gourmet food. Polux from this point of view is a game changer.
I totally see myself going back and digging into their menu. And that Shake Shack is just around the corner is another big plus.
Where in Shanghai: No. 5, Lane 181, Taicang Lu, by Huangpi Nan Lu In Chinese: 太仓路181弄5号, 近黄陂南路 Nearest metro: two blocks south of Huangpi South Road (line 1). Note: close to Xintiandi number 1 heritage house.
My visit was extemporaneous. I was in the area at the right time on a Saturday evening and I decided to give it a try even if I did not have a reservation. But this was not an issue and I was promptly seated. Most of the other diners were young – very young – Chinese couples.
I was served the bread and I ordered a couple of dishes. They also had an interesting tasting menu, but I was not that hungry. And the chair was also a bit uncomfortable for a long session.
The appetizer was memorable: crab meat with burrata cheese, asparagus, and a herb-flavored “granita”. This I guess is the kind of dish that wins you a star on the Michelin Guide. It was not only creative, but really delicious.
My main was a white fish, toothfish, with basil and other condiments, including a couple of ecargots. I was expecting more from this dish. Also the sauce, yuzu-based if I am not mistaken, was at times too strong.
T had a sidedish in the form of a French ratatouille: the portion was quite big and the dish well executed.
That’s it. I had a couple of complimentary sweets when I asked for the check.
The check
After adding tax, service charge and a 90 RMB bottle of water, the check was 699,60 RMB or 104 USD. Considering what I got, that’s a hefty sum of money. Let’s be honest, that’s terrible value for money.
If you go, I would probably recommend the tasting menu that after taxes and a drink will set you back for around 1100 RMB.
I think I am now done with this restaurant.
Where in Shanghai: 2/F, 1 Changde Lu, near Yan’an Xi Lu 常德路1号璞麗酒店二楼, 近延安西路
YongFoo Elite is a private club and restaurant hosted in a beautiful colonial villa in the Former French Concession in Shanghai. The villa once hosted the British Consulate before being taken over by Shanghai clothing designer Wang Xing Zheng and turned into a private club in 2004. The restaurant is now open also to non-members.
I booked a dinner at Yongfoo Elite because it was awarded 2 stars in the 2019 edition of the Shanghai Michelin Guide (and the previous two edition as well) and it was part of my Michelin scramble.
Spoiler alert: it was pretty lame. The Michelin Guide owns me a lot of explanations.
The visit
I went on a Sunday evening in March 2019. In the garden there was a concert going on (with some sophisticated sounds… stuff for members I guess). Because it was dark I was unable to take a decent picture of the colonial three-story building.
I made my reservation through Dining City website where they seem to make available 8 seats for online reservation. So nice of them! Very easy. Weirdly, however, their website seems defunct, so I could not study the menu before my visit.
A peek into the members area from my table.
I was escorted to my table on the second floor. The vintage furniture is very conformable, basically I had a sofa all for myself. There were many pieces of art scattered around the villa.
I ordered one of their set menus (there were two available, mine was the cheaper; a third menu could be pre-ordered, but I was not aware of it).
The appetizer was supposed to be a combination of three types of marinated meat, smoked egg with vegetarian ham, and a potato salad Russian style, plus a seasonal green salad. The meat was pork and duck (not sure if there was a third one), the potato salad did not have anything “Russian” in my opinion. The vegetarian ham may have been interesting but it was just tasteless. And the green salad was just that… a few random leaves of salad with an undistinguished dressing. This appetizer platter was just underwhelming and set the tone for the rest of the dinner.
The appetizer was supplemented by a couple of forgettable snacks, beans and tofu strips.
The second dish was the third in the set menu (second and third dish were swapped) and was a small portion of river shrimps. At least they were pre-cleaned (this was a suggestion of the kind waiter as the dish on the set menu included the shrimps with their shell on…). Quite useless dish, understandable just as an homage to the local tradition.
Then I got the braised sea cucumber with scallion. The cucumber had a good consistency and the sauce was not too invasive. This dish was ok, even if I do not understand the Chinese fascination for sea cucumbers that seem to be quite bland to me.
Then it was the time for what was supposed to be the highlight of the dinner, smoked codfish with Qi Men black tea. Sorry, nothing special about this dish. Give me the smoked cod from Mott 32 anytime.
Next was a soup: bean curb strings in a clam-based stock. Unexpectedly, this soup was quite good. Very nice taste.
Also the next dish was unexpectedly quite tasty, or at least the organic water bamboo was. In the menu it was indicated that there was shrimp roe in the dish… I could not detect it.
Finally, I received the dessert: a sweet soup and two Chinese pastries with green bean and dates.
The check
The 660 RMB price of the set menu was not net and after a hefty service charge I paid 782 RMB (116 USD).
Was it worth it? Absolutely no. This was the first disappointment that I got following the Shanghai Michelin Guide. This was a very regular Chinese meal, there is no way that a 2 star rating can be justified. I had comparable Chinese dinners in very regular restaurants. Some of the dishes, like the appetizer, were a joke. It was also unacceptable for a Michelin grade restaurant to deviate from the set menu order (and I think they changed the ingredients a couple of times too) with no warning. Ok, they had more expensive set menus, but any set menu should be up to standard.
The only thing that I save is the service and the venue. Yes, the venue is nice, it has a vintage vibe going on. And the waitresses were very friendly and approachable.
Also famed diner Andy Thaler visited the restaurant and was very displeased. He also had some weird misunderstanding with the staff that prevented him from taking pictures. At least they did not interfere with my photos (discretely taken with my phone and without any flash).
If you wish to hang out in a colonial era villa, visit Villa Le Bec.
Suggestion for the Michelin Guide: I know that dealing with cognitive dissonance is difficult, but reduce this restaurant to a table or get rid of it, no more stars if you have any respect for your readers.
Where in Shanghai: 200 Yongfu Lu 永福路200号 Nearest metro station: Shanghai Library (line 10).
DaDong (the nickname for Zhenxiang Dong) is a celebrity chef in China and, to me, he is the Chinese Robuchon. like his French counterpart, he has opened scores of restaurants bearing his name, in China and, more recently, in New York.
He is regarded as an innovator in Chinese cuisine, both from a technical point of view and in terms of philosophy. His signature dish is the Peking Duck: he innovated the preparation techniques (for example using a spherical oven) with unique results. The Peking duck was what I was after when I booked a lunch at one of the Da Dong’s restaurants in Shanghai (one of the two that got a star in the Michelin Guide 2019, the one in Jingan district).
The visit
I arrived a bit early and the table was not ready yet. On a Saturday for lunch the restaurant was packed. At 1pm, the time of my original booking, the table was ready. So far so good.
I should add that some websites say that the restaurant is located on the 5th floor of Reel Mall. But that’s incorrect! It is actually the 5th floor of Park Place, the office tower adjacent to the mall. To get to the right spot, pictured above, you have to go around the mall and turn right into Changde Road (ignore the address on Nanjing West Road). Then look for the elevators serving the first five floors on the right of the turnstiles.
They had some tables for solo diners like me or small groups next to the windows with a nice view of Changde Road. That was a plus!
I was handed the menus (including one for drinks and one for seasonal dishes) that looked like an encyclopedia. All dishes were beautifully illustrated and translated into English. Ordering was easy. But they should also provide bookmarks.
The menu is not only about ducks. There are so many interesting dishes, including seafood. The chef seems to have a soft spot for sea cucumbers and the menu also includes crabs, bird’s nest dishes, wagyu beef, and some rarities like coral trout or sun-flower chicken rice.
The dining room was large and a bit nosy with some modern touches in the decorations.
I ordered a couple of appetizers. The first was tofu with spring onions. It was such a delicate dish and nicely presented too.
Then I had a selection of Beijing crispy crepes. The crepes formed a multi-colored bouquet with fruit toppings: mango, watermelon, dragon fruit, winter melon, and, I believe, olives. The crepes were “floating” on a base of mayonnaise that I found unnecessary (but I can see that in China is used everywhere).
Then the duck arrived and, as per tradition, it was carved in front of me. Specifically, I had ordered the suckling duck, a bit smaller than the regular one (but same price). It was just enough for me. Da Dong’s duck is called “subuni” that means crispy and not greasy.
The result of the carving was a beautifully arranged “pile” of meat (looking like a tortoise) with the precious skin on top. The head, sliced in two, and the two legs were placed on a separate plate. The picture also shows the traditional condiments including spring onion, garlic, cucumber, sugar and the sweet bean sauce. I was instructed to dip the meat in the sugar and then in the sauce. Actually, the meat was so good and tender that I did not find much use of the sauce.
I also had some caviar as a condiment (it was not expensive). I appreciated that it was served with a mother of pearl spoon as it should (in theory, metal cutlery may mess with the organic properties of the caviar).
I was also provided with a good quantity of steamed pancakes to use to wrap the meat and the condiments.
Finally the waiter helped to fill a sesame bun (still hot) with meat and condiments. I wish I had more of these buns. Next time I shall ask.
Here’s the filled bun and pancake and a piece of skin with caviar ready to be eaten.
This was not my first Peking duck. What surprised me was the flavor and the softness of the skin that would literally melt in my mouth. For this reason (call me a barbarian if you are an expert in Chinese cuisine), I did not feel the need to play too much with the condiments and I would just eat and enjoy some meat complemented in the same bite by a piece of skin adding flavor to the mix.
After a while I was also brought a soup made with the duck bones. The flavor was not too strong and it was a nice add-on.
To drink I just had a pot of Jasmine tea (one of the most regular teas on the menu).
At the end I was offered, free of charge, a fruit platter, with some first-class grapes and some slices of watermelon.
The check
Total check was 540 RMB (80 USD) for a fabulous lunch. Given the standard, I cannot complain about what I paid. Actually, it did not feel expensive. The duck was 298 RMB and I noticed around town that this is actually an average price, with many restaurants charging 10, 20, 30% more. Price-wise, one of the things I liked is that they had a lot of beautifully prepared dishes that would cost only a few dollars (like my tofu). I really like a restaurant that does not try to overcharge side dishes and gives value to its customers. In the menu you can literally find anything from 2 to 200 USD and also the dishes on the lower-end of the economic spectrum are given a lot of care in the preparation and presentation. That’s something to praise.
I can see why Da Dong is a darling of the Michelin Guide. The dishes are not only good, prepared with care, but are also masterfully presented and infused with creativity. By no mistake DaDong is regarded as an innovator who created his own brand of Chinese cuisine: Yijing or “transcendental”.
I did not expect much from this restaurant and, maybe for this reason, by the end of my lunch, I was completely won over and I plan to go back.
Where in Shanghai: 5F, Park Place, 1601 Nanjing Xi Lu (West Road) In Chinese: 南京西路1601号 (but read the visit description for indications how to get to the restaurant). Nearest metro: Jingan temple (both line 2 and 7, take exit 4, but then walk to Park Place building on Changde road (do not enter the mall), next to the Puli hotel.
Co.Cheese Melt Bar is literally a hole in the wall place in Jingan. Their grilled cheese sandwiches remain unsurpassed in Shanghai.
The visit
Inside they only have bar chairs.
Really difficult to choose a sandwich on their list (around 30 options, including creative concoction such as Mac & Cheese and Kimchi) and they even offer the possibility to make your own sandwich.
In the picture above their Canadian Bacon sandwich (n. 28 from the menu) with bacon, secret sauce, and cheddar. Pictured a regular sized sandwich. They also have an option for large.
They have a large selection of drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. In the picture a grapefruit juice.
They also have some other food items on the menu. Once I had their cheese board. Their Philly steak seems very attractive.
The check
Regular sandwiches are 50 RMB (7.5 USD). This check was 75 RMB (11 USD) including the drink (I believe that during the week for lunch they have a deal with a drink included with the sandwich).
Where in Shanghai: 32 Yuyuan Dong Lu Address in Chinese: 愚园东路32号
The location visited for the review was closed at the end of September 2020. They operate another location at 509 Nanchang Lu, near Shaanxi Nan Lu (behind IAPM mall) – in Chinese: 南昌路509号, 近陕西南路.
This post will collect bars, cafes, lounges in Shanghai located on high floors and offering great views of the city. If acrophobia is a thing for your, stop reading now! The rooftop bars on the Bund do not qualify as they are not really located on a high floor. These are venues good for drinks and snacks, but some share the space with full fledged restaurants. They are listed on this page by floor number and they were tested mostly during afternoons, so this is not a night-life guide.
91th floor: 100 Century Avenue Restaurant
One of the restaurants of the Park Hyatt in Pudong, the 100 Century Avenue Restaurant is also available for guest for drinks and desserts. To my knowledge this is the highest dining venue in Shanghai (waiting for something new in the adjacent Shanghai Tower) as it is located on the 91th floor of the Shanghai World Finance Center (aka “the bottle opener”).
The view is truly spectacular. You can clearly see the Jin Mao Tower and, behind, the Oriental Pearl Tower. Across the river, the view captures both the Bund (to the left) and Hankou (to the right).
In one of my visits I tried their sundaes that were just mediocre.
They do better with their cakes. The chocolate mousse is memorable.
And they even have a namesake chocolate cake (not tried).
On weekends they even have a dessert buffet (with a very limited choice though). The cost is around 200 RMB per person.
Make sure to ask for the cake menu (they always fail to present it even if you specify that you are there for drinks and cakes). Service is underwhelming in this place.
A dessert will cost you around 100 RMB (15 USD) after tax and service charge. The desserts to share are better than the sundaes, so try to bring a friend along.
The top floor of the Bulgari Hotel hosts Il Ristorante (The restaurant), Il Bar (The Bar), both operated by Niko Romito’s staff, and La Terrazza (The terrace). The latter has nice views of the Bund and offers high-teas (probably the most expensive in Shanghai at over 2000 RMB per person) and casual drinks and snacks. Unfortunately Niko Romito’s desserts are not served in this venue.
It is a narrow space, with some sofas and a touch of green. On a weekend visit, it was full of selfie-obsessed guests.
The view is interesting as the hotel is located in a position to dominate the Northern Bund.
I was with two friends and we had an hot chocolate (very Italian), a mocktail (very good), and a huge pot of tea (even if for one person only).
Prices were not prohibitive. We ended up spending 256 RMB in three (37 USD).
Inside, Il Bar deserves a mention for its impressive oval counter.
Address in Shanghai: 47/F, 33 Henan Bei Lu / 河南北路33号上海宝格丽酒店47层.
47th floor: Sky Dome Bar
This is the rooftop lounge of the Raddison Blu hotel in the New World complex near People’s Square.
The view is interesting, you can see Pudong at a distance and some other architectonic landmarks like Shanghai Museum, People’s Park and K11 Mall. Unfortunately the view is obstructed by the dome structure (that is remarkable per se, though). You can freely walk around the bar with probably a 270 degrees view.
They have an extensive drink menu, a few non-alcoholic choices (I settled for a tomato juice in my visit), and a few snacks. Nuts were complimentary.
With a juice, the price of admission was pretty reasonable, 58 RMB (8.65 USD). Service was ok. The place however was a bit worn-down and seemed in need of a renovation.
The view is better from the restaurant on the 45th floor, Epicure on 45.
Address in Shanghai: 88 Nanjing Xi Lu / 南京西路88号.
33th floor: Sky Bar
The Sky Bar is the cocktail lounge of the Okura Garden Hotel in the former French Concession. The floor is shared with two overpriced restaurants.
The view is remarkable as you can see a mix of old and new buildings.
I had a tea set. My choice of tea was longjing. The quantity of food was excellent, but the quality forgettable. Service was a bit cursory,
The afternoon tea set for one person was 149.30 RMB (22.20 USD) after tax and service charge.
Pro tip: take the panoramic elevator to get directly to the 33th floor and to enjoy the panorama as you go up. (The two pictures above are taken from the elevator; you can see the other side of Maoming Road).
Bukchon Son Mandu is a popular shop selling several types of Korean dumplings, called mandu. The Korean dumplings were once part of the Korean royal cuisine and are now a fixture in street food.
The visit
I went to the store in Insadong during my trip to Seoul in October 2018.
There is usually a little bit of queue since the seats available are very limited, but I was lucky to find a spot upon my arrival.
As you can see from the picture, all you get to sit is a stool. It is a very casual place.
I ordered the combination platter that included 3 types.
The ball mandu should be a gullin mandu (굴린만두) and contained vegetables and pork. Very easy to eat! Then there was a steamed mandu (찐만두, jjinmandu), on the right, filled with with pork and kimchi. Finally, the set had a deep fried mandu filled with pork and other condiments taken from a dish called japchae. This last dumpling was a twigim mandu (튀김만두 ).
I wish I could say that these dumplings were crazily good as so many online do, but I found them pretty bland. Yet, I would not discourage anyone from trying them!
The check
The combination dumpling platter cost 9,000 WON (or 8 USD). From what I read online, the price had recently been raised at the time of my visit (previously, for several years, the same dish was 8,000 WON).
There was also a bigger combination platter definitely meant to be shared that included a shrimp dumpling that I did not try. If you are in Insadong or you come across another of these stores, it is a nice way to taste this kind of Korean food.
Where in Seoul: 42-5, Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu In Korean: (우) 03146종로구 인사동길 42-5 Tip: it is a couple of blocks North of exit 2 of Anguk Station. Follow the signs for the Constitutional Court, pass it leaving it behind to your left, and turn right at the next major intersection. There are other outlets around town.
“A Vietnamese snack consisting of a baguette (traditionally baked with both rice and wheat flour) filled with a variety of ingredients, typically including meat, pickled vegetables, and chilli.”
This is the definition of banh mi from the Oxford English Dictionary that in 2011 included the word in the English canon. A powerful indication of the popularity of this Vietnamese sandwich.
In Vietnam, you can find it everywhere and won’t cost you more than 1 USD. In Ho Chi Minh City there is a restaurant now serving a 100 USD banh mi: it is Anan Saigon, the braichild of chef Peter Cuong Franklin.
The visit
To get to Anan you will need to walk through a traditional Saigon’s market, Cho Cu Old Market, where a little bit of everything, from t-shirts to imported biscuits, is for sale. It is not a large market, but a mostly authentic one. It is worth a quick tour.
In the middle of the market you will notice the Anan sign on a traditional narrow building. This is where the eatery is located with the main dining room downstairs.
They also have some tables on the terrace upstairs.
Finally they have an area for cocktails on the roof top. The banh mi show took place on the ground floor.
I had made a reservation via email and pre-ordered the special banh mi. No deposit was required.
They were pretty quick in delivering the gargantuan sandwich that came cut in four parts with truffle fries, truffle oil mayonnaise, and a portion of caviar. Also a glass of prosecco was included, but I opted for a bottle of water that was not charged.
So, what is special about this banh mi? According to an interview to Franklin published on the website Munchies, this is how they go about:
We start out with a mayonnaise that has truffle inside of it and spread a layer on both sides of the bread and plop it on the grill… Then, we add a layer of pâté. We’re using pâté made by a French charcuterie guy based in Da Lat… We use a cut [of pork belly] that has a good amount of fat-to-meat ratio… It’s almost a whole pork chop inside [that has been slowly cooked and finally char grilled]… For this sandwich, we do about four pieces [of fois gras]. Each one is about 40 grams… We sauté it so when the fat comes out as it’s cooked… we’ll then use it to make the sauce. We season it and drip it on all of the sandwich afterwards.
Definitely, it not your regular banh mi where the ingredients are sliced inside the baguette in a few seconds…
Apart from the pork, the fois gras, etc, the Anan’s banh mi also has its share of vegetables.
How is it? Eating it was a nice sensation as each bite revealed a crunchy texture, both from the bread and from the pork. It held itself pretty well bite after bite. I finished it alone. But this should really be shared among a group of 2-4 people.
The caviar was a nice touch especially because it is a local brand: Caviar de Duc. The story of this caviar is quite remarkable as nobody believed that sturgeons could be farmed in the warm waters of Vietnam. It is also an affordable caviar. 10 grams should be around 15 USD.
The check
The final check was, as expected, exactly 100 USD at the exchange rate of 23,000 VND for 1 USD.
What to say? This was clearly a splurge. In a way I do not think it is a good illustration of Anan Saigon’s menu that actually seems to offer a lot of reasonably priced and interesting dishes which I shall try next time I am in town.
Is this decadence or a metaphor of modern Vietnam? Probably just a good marketing gimmick for the restaurant (that also has a 100 USD pho, the Vietnamese noodles).
I would recommend it only if you are in a group of four people and very hungry. Or if you are a food blogger/vlogger.
Where in Saigon: 89 Tôn Thất Đạm Website: http://anansaigon.com/ Tip: make a reservation.
Famous Morton’s Steakhouse from Chicago has restaurants in China. I had lunch in the one located on the fourth floor of IFC Mall in Shanghai on my way to Pudong at the end of the summer 2018.
The visit
The storefront is kind of unassuming.
The small storefront hides a huge restaurant with numerous private rooms.
I had their lunch menu that included an appetizer and a steak. I chose the lobster bisque. A bit small, but the soup concealed a nicely sized piece of lobster.
The steak tasted pretty regular to me. Around 300 grams rib-eye. I guess that in the lunch deal they threw in the lower quality meat (this should be from Australia, while higher quality cuts are from the US).
The check
The steak, mashed potatoes, the bisque and a grapefruit cost me 410.30 RMB (61 USD). For a simple lunch that felt pricey. But Morton at IFC is positioned as a fine dining venue and unfortunately steaks are very pricey in Asia and even more so in China. My tip? Go to Taiwan.
Where in Shanghai: 4F/IFC Mall, 8 Century Avenue In Chinese: 世纪大道8号国金中心商场4楼 Nearest metro station: Lujiazui (one exit is connected directly to a lower level of the IFC mall).
