Let Us Tell You — These Are The Best F&B Openings This Fall

For many, the end of summer in Shanghai can be quietly devastating.

Gone are pool days, as many public pools close for the season or reinstate their members-only policies, and it is no longer possible to stride outside for an ice cream or semi-outdoor spots like Tianzifang in just a t-shirt and shorts.

On the bright side, however, fall always sees a proliferation of new eating and drinking destinations. One imagines a cohort of restaurateurs gleefully rubbing their hands together as they conspire to fatten up their customers in time for the cold...

We dove in and out of many new openings over Golden Week; these are the ones we can’t wait to revisit:

AT A GLANCE:

📍N2.504 Panyu Road, Changning

⏰ Mon & Thu - Sun, 8 AM - 8 PM

☎️ 151-2102-1755 

Every neighbourhood needs a bakery, but does every neighbourhood deserve a bakery?

Emboldened by the anonymity the internet affords, customers are quick to launch their complaints on restaurant review platforms, yet strangely stingy with their praise. Funnily enough, many criticisms have little to do with food quality, but mainly serve as misdirected forms of frustration when things sell out.

Embittered by their disappointment, this particular breed of customer pens one-star reviews, temporarily restoring justice to their narrow worlds while permanently blighting a business’s budding reputation, pointing at a sin worse than pettiness: plain ignorance.

Photos via Madre

“I’m sorry, our products often sell out earlier than expected, and we are very sad to see that you haven’t bought your favorite flavour yet,” reads a (translated) public statement new bakery Madre posted on their WeChat on September 27th, a short week or so after flinging their doors open and facing a camera-toting hoard hungry for bread and ‘content.’

“We are doing our best to bake to maintain high quality [...] The mother yeast is a slow mover, and the average fermentation time is 2 to 4 times that of industrial yeast.”

As you might have guessed by now, Madre’s moniker, Italian for ‘mother,’ isn’t about matriarchal ties, not this time. Instead, it alludes to ‘mother dough,’ a stiff starter or ferment that is the main building block of many artisanal baked goods. 

(Top) Madre’s exterior via Dianping and (bottom) thesis-building materials taking the shape of baked goods

Parked on Panyu Road in Changning, where the plane trees are particularly lovely, the “bar Italiano con forno” powered by the same people behind Da Vittorio Shanghai serves coffee, tea, beer, wine and almost 40 types of baked goods and sweets.

Here’s what stood out to our greedy party of two:

Savouries: In order of ascending thickness and fluffiness: the pizzette di sfoglia, the cutest ‘one-bite’ dime-sized and -shaped pizza that Italians associate with birthdays or parties; the pissaladière (33 RMB), an umami bomb flanked by sweetness (caramelised onions) and savouriness (anchovies and olives); the pizza in teglia with prosciutto and mushrooms, pan pizza with pillowy mushrooms and a blanket of ham (36 RMB); and the rosemary foccacia (28 RMB) which will leave your fingers ‘moisturised’ with quality olive oil.

Sweets: The Maritozzo (26 RMB), arguably Italy’s most romantic pastry, gifted by men to their soon-to-be wives; the cannolo alla crema (24 RMB), not to be confused with crunchy Sicilian-style cannolis; and the conchiglia di riso (24 RMB), a curious pastry pocket containing rice — gotta love that carb on carb action.

📍575 Yuyuan Road, Jing’an

⏰ Tue - Sun, 11:20 AM - 7:30 PM

The Litsea Oil Pork Jowl sandwich on cocoa sourdough. GIF by Sammi Sowerby

On the third morning of the Golden Week holidays, two Time Out writers found themselves scarfing down sandwiches on a sun-dappled side street off Yuyuan Lu.

Trust Eug, our resident ‘breadophile’ (check out this previous piece she did on bakery trends) to lead us to one of the most sublime open-face sandwiches I’ve had in Shanghai...

“The bread tastes like Coco Pops,” said Eug and I nodded (mouth occupied). Pairing chocolatey cereal with pork marinated in Megachef Fish Sauce though? Nothing made sense on paper yet everything made sense on the palate...

That was the Litsea Pork Jowl sandwich (68 RMB), though we also discovered a whole host of ingredients — tiger prawns, pickled bird pear, sprouts, herb wasabi sour cream and vegan caesar sauce — in the Bird Pear sandwich (68 RMB) that transcend theory and pass practical application. By the by, we looked it up and a bird pear is, as we suspected, a type of a bird-shaped pear.

Bringing fermented foods to the fore, Kojic (a play on koji, Japan’s favourite fungus aka Aspergillus oryzae) only offers five sandwiches and five kinds of kombucha. Not a single coffee beverage in sight, although there is coffee kombucha (50 RMB) — talk about daring to be different in this coffee-crazed city.

I daresay we got the two most interesting sandwiches, but am already itching to learn how king oyster mushrooms, koji, Guizhou tofu, and turnip root chevril are applied in the other sammies.

Located just across the street from wanghong bakery Basdban, Kojic with its three seats is not designed for lingering, hence our impromptu picnic outside a lanehouse. It is run by the same ‘flour whisperers’ at L’Atelier Over Bakery, which is known for its incredibly tough-to-book bread omakase.

Shanghai has been going through a sandwich phase that we hope never passes, especially if they’re going to keep getting this good.

📍Xintiandi Style II, L108, 245 Madang Road, Huangpu

⏰ Wed - Sun, 6 PM until late

☎️ 173-2118-6268

Frédéric Jaros, chef-proprietor of Ting, presenting his dishes with panache. GIF by Sammi Sowerby

About a month ago, Verie Bakehouse extended an invite to Time Out and I developed a little crush... Blonde, complex and layered, the Pain Suisse is more my speed compared to its plainer yet more popular cousin, the croissant. 

And so when Ting, a fine dining extension of Verie Bakehouse, swiftly opened next, I readied myself for more eye-opening experiences from Frédéric Jaros, former pastry chef of Da Vittorio Shanghai.

A curious concept but an original one, Ting’s “pastry-inspired cuisine” permits the sweets pundit to 1) return to his savoury roots, 2) maximise his strongest skill sets, and 3) carve out a completely new niche, thereby merging past, present and future.

Customised croissant-inspired stools by Matzform for Ting. Photo by Sammi Sowerby

For those who delight in details, the restaurant is riddled with symbolism. 

Ting’s very name (pinyin for the Chinese character 厅resembles Jaros’ initials ‘FJ.’ And the lush interior design by hcreates includes countless references to sweets, from a custom ‘chocolate block’ door handle to cushy croissant chairs. Très charmant.

Furthermore, Ting’s preliminary menu aptly returns to the ‘source,’ that is, childhood and its unfettered joys and messes, and kicks off with a sugar-blown ‘apple’ — you don’t have to be the biblical sort to appreciate its role in the concept of original sin... but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

First of ten courses: Gift for Teacher. GIF by Sammi Sowerby

Full of whimsy, Ting’s degustation will shake you up in the same way that Hansel and Gretel must have felt (prior to potentially getting gobbled down by the carnivorous witch) upon discovering a whole house made of candy in the depths of the forest.

Expect encounters with scallops crudo plated to resemble a fallen ice cream scoop (Oops I Dropped My Ice Cream); candy-shaped or ‘caramelle’ butternut squash pasta served in crystal jars (I Stole Grandma’s Candy); a chocolate salad (I Picked Up Herbs) topped with toupées of tomato foam; and more mind-boggling creations that aren’t just going for shock factor, but genuinely groan-out-loud delicious.

I Baked a Cookie and I Caught A Fish

Of all my takeaways from Ting, the biggest one touches on the commonality of childhood experiences. Whether it’s one’s first fishing expedition with the old man or making a mess in the kitchen while baking cookies, certain core memories transcend cultures — nevermind the fact that chef was brought up in a quaint town in Quebec, Canada, but you and I elsewhere.

988 RMB for 10 courses and 588 RMB for a six-drinks pairing might seem steep unless seen from a different perspective: ingredients, time, salaries and rent had to be factored into the restaurant’s costing, but a gustatory replay of cherished childhood memories? Now, that’s priceless.

📍359 Kangding Road, 2/F, Jing’an

⏰ Daily, 7 PM - 2 AM

Roxie’s reincarnation has literally gone through a facelift in that its façade is now a smouldering red and opens up on to a tattoo and piercing parlour — but it is still very much the space that regulars know and love.

Even the iconic spinning pole that has supported the weight of countless customers is there, though tattoos and cocktails (hence ta-ko) are now the bar’s centrepiece.

 (Top) The Mary Not Bloody and (bottom) Smoked Cosmo at Tākō. Photos by Mattias Isaksson

“One reason we’re (offering tattoos and piercing services) is to provide the artists with a playground. I think this is even more important now that lots of Shanghai’s underground stuff is no more...”

TingTing, Tākō’s co-founder and head bartender, vehemently believes that it is important to, “let the artists make art — and we’ll take care of the promotional side of things.”

An artist herself, TingTing taps into different tools of the trade: instead of ink and needles, she wields stirrers, shakers and strainers, and has whipped up 10 ‘kocktails’ for Tākō (75 RMB each) that riff on classics. 

Sidestepping the traditionally ‘sludgy’ texture of the Bloody Mary cocktail in favour of clarity and cleanness, the Mary Not Bloody uses five different tomatoes and is rimmed with a Greek spice mix — pick this if you have a predilection for savoury cocktails.

Other ‘same same but different cocktails’ include the Humble Artist Whisky Sour with delicious nutty afternotes from almond; the OCD Mojito with48-hour mint-washed rum; and the Smoked Cosmo with more character than the classic cranberry-laced member of the Gimlet family — delicious doses of liquid courage before you give the bar’s spinning pole a go.

📍457 North Shaanxi Road, Building 4, Unit 101, Jing’an

⏰ TBA

☎️ 130-1945-2161

No longer nomadic, everyone’s favourite Chicago-style pizzeria Zup was ‘couch surfing’ at friends’ (pop-ups at Rozebiff, Union Trading Company, et cetera) after leaving Fumin Road, but is currently settling into its new digs on Shaanxi (North) Road.

Zup 2.0 with art by Addi Hou and neon light designed by Ellen Anan. Photo via Zup

But hold on to your horses before scooting over right this minute: the pizza joint has yet to officially announce its public opening — just know that it will only be a matter of days...

Zup 2.0 basically feels like one long bar with an open view of the kitchen goings-on, and is positioning itself as a friendly neighbourhood spot that seamlessly segues into a hub for hungover late-night eats.

“We open for lunch and run until... we don’t know yet. Late,” said co-founder Wayne Hou while dipping in and out of the dough room where their 72-hour cold fermentation happens.

Tuesday’s soft opening was a chance for friends and family to reunite with familiar favourites like the Hou-lee Trinity (red sauce, vodka sauce, pesto), the White Gold (mashed potato, scallions, garlic cream) and the Walter White (ricotta, garlic, lemon) thin-crust pizzas, while also getting acquainted with Zup’s new Sicilian-style pepperoni pizza with hot honey.

Other co-founder Lee Tseng gave us another tip:

“We want to do many guest shifts in the near future; it doesn’t have to be Western even; we also want to highlight regional Chinese cuisines...”

...and we’re beside ourselves with excitement for this.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Alleyway Eats:

5 Hidden Gems in Tianzifang

Memories of Shanghai:

7 Foolproof Souvenirs from the City

Time Out Shanghai English collaborations

✳️ WeChat: ilikeloofahs