Shanghai

[Shanghai] Pass Residence – Pasta, Pizza & Natural Wine

This latest project by the OHA Group is one of those rare places where food, wine, and space are all entirely comfortable with one another. You can spend a whole evening wandering through Mr. Mimmo Zhou’s adventurous wine list, comprised exclusively of natural wines. The menu, on the other hand, holds our attention in an entirely different way. Mr. Blake Thornley seems to take his cues from the easygoing Italian osteria, whipping up honest, unfussy starters, gently smoky wood-fired pizzas, and some of the most engaging pastas I have encountered in Shanghai.

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Shanghai

[Shanghai] Table d’Hôte at Mr & Mrs Bund – Breaking Bread with Strangers

On paper, Table d’Hôte, Mr & Mrs Bund’s new “social table” concept, sounds a little like those supper clubs that have been picking up steam over the past few years. Yet our evening flowed on with less self-consciousness than supper clubs often carried. Everything felt so nonchalant and familiar that when our hosts, at one point, described it as “grandmother’s table,” it didn’t feel far off the mark — that is, if our grandmothers could manage the level of exquisite precision that Mr. Paul Pairet’s kitchen turns out on a daily basis.

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Shanghai

[Shanghai] Perch by The Nest – An Exquisite Evening in An Urban Oasis

Just as Shanghai is bemoaning the sudden departure of Botanik, The Nest group has taken over the newly vacated rooftop haven with a new concept, aptly named Perch by The Nest. Mr. Freddy Raoult has brought an entirely different sort of cooking to this familiar setting, showing off a creative streak previously unseen at the group’s other operations. A distinct contrast from Botanik’s knowledge-laden dining experience, an evening at Perch is, more than anything else, just a very good time.

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Shanghai

[Shanghai] Taian Table – An Insider’s Perspective

There is no other restaurant in the world that I know as intimately as Taian Table. From that first encounter in 2016, two months into the restaurant’s life, through dozens of visits stretching over the next three years, Taian Table steadily grew to be my favorite restaurant in Shanghai. And if the past, entirely unexpected 17 months of working with the team have changed my view in any way, it is only to offer new perspectives and insights into this restaurant that I have loved from the first.

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Shanghai

[Shanghai] Table Black – The Most Underrated Chef’s Table in Shanghai

Tasting menus can come across as forced and hollow when a chef doesn’t have much to say. At Table Black, Mr. Blake Thornley seems to have binders of stuff just waiting to be said, presented in eight exceedingly thoughtful, unapologetically adventurous courses. His menu dances between the whimsical and the comforting with a keen eye for the ebbs and flows of flavors, flirting fearlessly with sensory overload without toppling over.

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