[Shanghai] Black Bird

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[Shanghai] Black Bird

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Black Bird

Add: 3/F, 1 South Wulumuqi Road, near Dongping Road / 乌鲁木齐南路1号3楼，近东平路
Tel: N/A
Hours: 11am-2am
Price: [plates] 36-190 RMB [coffee] 18-52 RMB [cocktails] 79-92 RMB
Visited: Jan 2016

I’ve been seeing too many beautiful photos of Black Bird on the internet to ignore it. Located on the corner of Wulumuqi Road and Dongping Road, this cafe / restaurant / bar has all the right elements – floor-to-ceiling windows that let in plenty of natural light, gorgeous interior design, comfortable seating, friendly and efficient service, and – very importantly – good food. Brought to you by the same owner of Bar No. 3, this place does lunch, brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and cocktails…no excuse to not come here!

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Heading the kitchen are two Italian chefs, I heard they came from The Press on Hankou Road (a stylish Italian restaurant that I heard great things about but haven’t been yet). The cuisine here is casual Italian – stuffed portobello mushrooms, baked grapes and brie cheese, potato gnocchi, and the likes. More details below.

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[Shanghai] Tori-ichi 酉一

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[Shanghai] Tori-ichi 酉一

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Tori-ichi 酉一

Add: 509 Guyang Road, near Yaohong Road / 古羊路509号，近姚虹路
Tel: 5477 3661
Hours: 5:30-12pm (closed on Sunday)
Price: 120-150 RMB/person
Visited: Jan 2016

Tori-ichi 酉一 is a popular izakaya in Gubei area with quality food, reasonable price, and efficient service. A good choice for a rowdy gathering among friends if you happen to be in the area.

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Sake sake.

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Chicken liver braised in ginger (25 RMB).

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Grilled knee gristle (10 RMB/skewer) and chicken tail (12 RMB/skewer).

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[Shanghai] AUNN Cafe

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[Shanghai] AUNN Cafe

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AUNN Cafe

Add: 1728 West Nanjing Road, near Huashan Road / 南京西路1728号，近华山路
Tel: N/A
Hours: 8:30am-10pm
Price: [coffee] 30 RMB+
Visited: Oct 2015

AUNN, short for “all you need now”, is an ultra spacious cafe recently-opened on West Nanjing Road, just off the busy intersection where Jing’an Temple is located. It’s run by an ex-Seesaw Cafe and, in addition to good coffee, features sleek 3D-printed RvR Chairs, Melting Pot Tables made from recycled materials, and Fresnel Lights built using transparent plastic of old CD, all from Dirk vander Kooij. Not too bad at all.

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[Shanghai] Thought for Food

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[Shanghai] Thought for Food

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Thought for Food

Add: 357 Jianguo Xi Lu, near Taiyuan Lu / 建国西路357号, 近太原路
Tel: 3338 4666
Hours: [daily] 7am-10pm [Sunday brunch] 11am-3pm
Price: [lunch] 88-128 RMB [dinner] 400+ RMB with alcoholic beverage
Website: www.livingoctave.com
Visited: Dec 2015

Please note that this was an invited tasting.

One of the coolest spots I’ve discovered since moving back to Shanghai is The Living Room by Octave, a wellbeing center offering integrated and customized programs delivered by professionals in fitness training, nutrition, psychotherapy, physiotherapy, yoga, meditation, as well as life coaching and traditional Chinese healing. Before I tried any of these programs, however, I first went to their restaurant (I suppose you are not surprised), which is whimsically named Thought for Food. On the evening of my visit, dinner was orchestrated by the restaurant’s consulting chef Anthony Tam, previously at Nobu and Hakkasan London, now running his own place in Phuket.

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The design of the space is modern and sleek. I especially love how the kitchen directly faces the street, and all the actions are in plain view through the floor-to-ceiling window.

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This is the dining area, with a lovely-looking courtyard which I would love to revisit during the day.

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For us, dinner was hosted at Thought for Food’s private event area, a secluded and intimate space of wood and exposed bricks, made even cozier with candles and a live fireplace.

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[Shanghai] The Press / Flask

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[Shanghai] The Press / Flask

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Flask

Add: 432 Shanxi Nan Lu, near Fuxing Zhong Lu / 陕西南路432号, 近复兴中路
Tel: 3368 6108
Hours: [The Press] 11am-2am [Flask] 7pm-2am
Price: 35-70 RMB/sandwich, 90 RMB/cocktail
Visited: Nov 2015

You have seen The Press / Flask on my blog when I first visited in February. This wildly successful speakeasy bar has since updated its cocktail list, and also launched a delicious-looking grilled cheese sandwich menu. Time to revisit!

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You know the drill – pass through that vintage Coca Cola vending machine on the left, and you will arrive at the hidden bar behind. Flask is one of the hottest speakeasy bars in Shanghai at the moment – I arrived around 7pm for photos of the empty place, and by the time I left around 8pm, it was packed – even on a Tuesday night.

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As it was dinner time, I started with the grilled cheese sandwiches. First up was the Flask Melt (60 RMB), a three cheese melt with Bourbon honey glazed bacon on white toast. I liked how they brushed the toasts with garlic butter for that extra layer of aroma, but the sandwich is missing a wow factor…perhaps that could be solved by bringing out more of the Bourbon flavor.

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[Shanghai] Beef & Liberty

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[Shanghai] Beef & Liberty

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Beef & Liberty

Add: Shanghai Center, 1376 West Nanjing Road / 南京西路1376号上海商城
Tel: 6289 5733
Hours: 11am-11pm
Website: www.beef-liberty.com
Price: [burgers] 75-95 RMB [sides] 25-35 RMB
Visited: Nov 2015

Happy to have discovered Beef & Liberty, an ideal place to satiate my burger cravings. They use beef from Tasmania reared on a natural diet of grass (never given hormones or antibiotics), grinded daily at the restaurant. So far I’ve tried four of their burgers – Chilli, Bacon Cheese, BBQ Pulled Pork, and Falafel – all good, though the Bacon Cheese and BBQ Pulled Pork definitely were my preferred. Details below.

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First, the drinks. Lemonade (30 RMB) for something light, milkshakes (55 RMB) and spiked shakes (75 RMB), for something heavy.

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First burger, Chili (89 RMB): beef, jalapeno slices, caramelized onion, cheddar cheese, butter lettuce, harissa yogurt. The beef patty is grilled to a lovely pink and juicy medium, sandwiched between toasted golden buns – very nice.

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[Shanghai] Paloma Cafe 白鳥咖啡

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[Shanghai] Paloma Cafe 白鳥咖啡

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Paloma Cafe 白鳥咖啡

Add: 198 Second Ruijin Road, near West Jianguo Road / 瑞金二路198弄-1, 近建国西路
Tel: 5466 6612
Hours: [Wed-Mon] 9:30am-9pm [Tue] 12-5pm
Price: [coffee] 22-45 RMB [cakes] 35-40 RMB [set] 55 RMB
Visited: Nov 2015

The rain persists in Shanghai, and on this particular morning I sought refuge at Paloma Cafe, a quaint little place perched on the 2nd floor of the busy Ruijin Road / Jianguo Road intersection. The cafe owner wasn’t there on the morning of my visit, though I heard from the staff that he/she is Shanghainese by origin and has spent some time in Japan. I was the only customer on this quiet morning, and happily enjoyed my coffee and cake while listening to the sound of raindrops falling outside.

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A cup of coffee and a piece of house-made cake goes for 55 RMB, a pretty good deal I’d say. My latte was nice, just don’t forget to request for a heavier dose of espresso shot since the coffee here tends to be more on the light side due to popular request. The Earl Grey rolled cake quite lovely as well, though the tea bits in the whipped cream bothered me a little bit. Loved the little bird motif on the plate.

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[Shanghai] UNDEF/NE

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[Shanghai] UNDEF/NE

UNDEF/NE

Add: 105, Building 6, 50 Moganshan Road / 莫干山路50号6号楼105室
Tel: 2277 6299
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 10am-6pm [Sat-Sun] 10am-8pm
Price: [coffee] 25-35 RMB
Visited: Nov 2015

Trekked all the way up north to check out UNDEF/NE at the M50 art zone. Opened at the end of 2014, UNDEF/NE is a warehouse-turned-cafe / art gallery / event space by Shanghainese couple Jason and Nemo, who studied in England and worked respectively in finance and media before launching this project. I was just there for a cup of coffee and fell quite in love with this space, which feels spacious thanks to the high ceiling and open plan design, but also has its fair share of intimate nooks.

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The source of coffee beans at UNDEF/NE changes from time to time, and currently it is a boutique coffee roaster called Little Bean based out in Pudong. The coffee barista who served us used to work at Essence Cafe (质馆咖啡), and we were happy with our two cups of latte (30 RMB).

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[Shanghai] October on Instagram

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[Shanghai] October on Instagram

I’m used to recording bits of my life on Instagram, but knowing that this is blocked in Shanghai, I’m selecting 25 snaps from each month and sharing them here on the blog. I’ve also included location details at the end of this post, do go check them out if you like what you see. October was an important month it for me as I moved from Paris to Shanghai during this time, and thanks to family and friends, transition to this new life has been smoother than I had expected. Here are some snapshots…

1. Visiting the newly-opened Chang Zuo for a cup of hand drip coffee.

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2. Like the minimalistic design here.

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3. Upstairs is the showroom for independent designers.

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4. Followed the hype to Mellower Coffee for a cup of “my sweet rain”. Why yes, that is a piece of cotton candy cloud raining sugar into my coffee.

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[Shanghai 上海] Rumors Coffee 魯馬滋咖啡

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[Shanghai 上海] Rumors Coffee 魯馬滋咖啡

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Rumors Coffee

Add: 1, Alley 372, Xingguo Road
Tel: 6249 7510
Hours: [Sun-Thu] 11am-7:30pm [Fri-Sat] 11am-10pm
Price: 55-100 RMB/coffee
Visited: Nov 2015

I’ve known about Rumors Coffee since they opened on Hunan Road five years ago, and though I never ventured inside, I’ve always been intrigued by this tiny Japanese cafe that serves only hand dripped coffee. They opened a second location on Xingguo Road just over a year ago, and upon my return from Paris, I finally paid this place a visit…and what a charmer it is!

其實早在五年前，魯馬滋在湖南路上開了第一家店時我就注意到它了。雖然沒進去過，卻一直對這家小小的日式手沖咖啡店感到莫名的興趣。一年多前他們在興國路開了二店，而我趁著從巴黎搬回上海這個機會，拜托朋友介紹了我認識咖啡店的老板中山先生和中山太太。一去，就完全喜歡上這個地方了。

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Before opening this shop, Keiichi Nakayama had a corporate job in Tokyo and travelled to Shanghai from time to time for work. Liking what he saw, he decided to move here with his Shanghainese wife, and together the two of them started their first cafe in 2011 to bring good hand dripped coffee to this city.

開咖啡店之前，中山先生在東京做著一般上班族的工作，偶爾會來上海出差。因爲喜歡咖啡，因爲喜歡上海，他和中山太太決定搬來這裏，兩個人一起開了專做手沖咖啡的魯馬滋。順帶一提，中山太太是上海人，說話非常溫柔，有機會找她聊聊天，心情會很好哦。

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