THE SCENE
DINING OUT
Second Helpings: Springtime Brunching Nyima Pratten
We might have already mentioned this a few times, but spring is officially here! We decided to revisit two of our favourite brunch destinations, and check out their new season’s menus. These two brunching stalwarts are neighbours in the Rockbund complex. Both are equally unique, yet each offer a very different feel and fare. We will leave the ever-important Sunday brunch reservation in your capable hands...
Light & Salt What: A dining room, bookshop, bar and creative space all rolled into one Where: 6/F, 133 Yuanmingyuan Lu, near Beijing Dong Lu. Tel: 6361 1086. Web: www.light-n-salt.com Why: Because we fall in love with the roasted cod fish each and every season
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ight & Salt's new a la carte brunch menu brings together all of the most important elements of brunch – eggs, carbohydrates, meat and sweet treats. However, it also goes much further with delicate gastronomic delights such as ginger cured salmon sashimi (RMB 68), which was incredibly light and refreshing on the palate, or decadent big plates such as twice cooked pork ribs (RMB 168), served with apple chutney and homemade kimchi salad. Eggs have a dedicated section on the a la carte menu, as they should do for an occasion such as this. We plumped for the eggs benedict (RMB 88) and our perfectly wobbly eggs were served on a crumbly corn muffin, grilled asparagus and topped with XO hollandaise sauce – the big daddy of fusion brunch dishes. The showstopper for us, however (being diehard Light & Salt cod fish fans - in all its many varieties throughout the season), was the roasted cod with miso rice (RMB 188). We don’t know how it's roasted to perfection every time, but keep on doing what you're doing. The pièce de résistance of the brunch was the fried cronut (RMB 58) with peanut butter and fresh berries. The dish
exemplifies the beauty of crossing the best parts of a croissant and a donut to make this tasty and sinful hybrid. A must-try. Light & Salt will once again open up their terrace this spring, so make sure you make a reservation outside to enjoy views over Rockbund and out towards Lujiazui.
8 ½ Otto E Mezzo Bombana What: A sophisticated, elegant and contemporary Italian restaurant Where: 6-7/F, 169 Yuanmingyuan Lu, near Beijing Dong Lu. Tel: 6087 2890. Web: www.ottoemezzobombana.com Why: To sample one of the regional brunch menus, which will change every two months
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½ Otto E Mezzo Bombana takes its guests on a tour of regional Italian cuisine every Sunday brunch. The restaurant started strong in the northern regions of the country during the cooler weather, and will be making its way slowly down to Sicily in time for the hot Shanghai summer.
This month, it’s the turn of the Lombardy Regional Brunch. With Milan as its capital, Lombardy is one of the most important areas in central Italy. The main characteristics of the area’s traditional dishes are long cooking processes and ingredients such as rice, polenta, fresh stuffed pasta and the use of butter and lard rather than olive oil; hearty and heavy fare indeed. The four course set menu is priced at RMB 458 + 10% including coffee and tea with a kid’s menu available at RMB 138 + 10% (kids under six eat for free). The 8 ½ team of sommeliers and bartenders can also recommend excellent wine pairings for each course, as well as cocktails at a promotional price. Therefore putting the option of a boozy brunch firmly on the table.
In the sophisticated surroundings of the upmarket restaurant, with attentive waitstaff catering to your every whim, it is easy to get caught up in the dramatic nature of proceedings. We were started on a classic selection of antipasti, which included home-cured duck breast prosciutto with field salad, balsamico glazed eel with pickled vegetables and traditional “sciats" cheese fritters. Next up was a Mantova style homemade ravioli, made from egg pasta and filled with a rich and slightly sweet mixture of pumpkin, mascarpone, butter, sage and parmesan cheese. For our meat course, we were treated to a Milanese style breaded veal tenderloin, accompanied by an aromatic cheese fondue and seasonal salad. For dessert, we were offered a trio of cakes – sbrisolona cake with moscato sabayon, almond and honey torrone cremonese parfait and traditional panettone with crème anglaise. Brunch here for homestyle Italian cooking in a beautiful environment with a chic interior, refined ambiance and views over the Bund and towards Lujiazui. Splurge out one weekend and experience the very best in locally themed Italian food. The restaurant will also be opening its vast seventh floor terrace in the coming months, so make sure to visit then.
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April15
Alternative Eats: Xinwei Cook Nyima Pratten
We delve deep into Shanghai’s food underbelly to give you an alternative view of the city’s dining scene.
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k, we are just going to come right out and say it. Xinwei Cook is a food revolution for city dwellers in Shanghai (and beyond). It is perfect for the times when you are hosting a dinner party and want something that looks and tastes spectacular, but is pretty darn simple to make. The real beauty of the whole concept, however, is that you simply need to look online and order your dinner from a range of international cuisines in the morning, and get it delivered straight to your door that very evening (if you live within the Shanghai inner ring road) or a time of your choosing. What’s more, each box comes complete with every single pre-measured ingredient you are going to need in the cooking process, even down to the salt and pepper. It is also really convenient for people who live on their own and don’t want to do a big grocery shop every time they wish to eat a single, home-cooked meal. To successfully make the most out of the dishes, all you really need is a few saucepans and a stove. Although some of the recipes seem like they might be complicated (cooking scallops and octopus for the first time was pretty nervewracking), the easy to follow, English instructions
were very straightforward and included pictures relating to every step of the way. The boxes look pretty compact when they arrive, but actually there are a lot of ingredients vacuum packed inside, and each portion can easily fill one person. We selected the octopus salad (RMB 28), a family cod set for three people, which also included French onion bacon potatoes and a green salad with chicken and Parmasan (RMB 128) and scallop bacon rolls with arugula salad and balsamic dressing (RMB 68). The seafood was fresh and we had no qualms about cooking the octopus and scallops due to the clear instructions, however, we did cut out some of the butter, included for frying, as it seemed a little excessive. But hey, it’s better to have too much rather than too little, right? We will definitely be sampling more dishes from Xinwei Cook in the future. In fact, we have already noticed a few new additions to their menu in the space of only a few weeks.
Night Talk: The Nest Nyima Pratten
What: A cocktail lounge with a full kitchen. Please welcome... the gastrolounge Where: 6/F, 130 Beijing Dong Lu, near Yuanmingyuan Lu. Tel: 6308 7669 Why: Because Muse Group have collaborated with Bacardi to create a truly unique offering on the Shanghai scene
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he concept for The Nest was built around vodka – French luxury vodka, Grey Goose, to be precise – and this inspiration is reiterated in everything from the interior design (there are bushels of wheat on display) to the Russian and Scandinavian style menu. Unpretentious yet classy, this bar attracts a mix of local and expat clientele to lounge on the stylish sofas, sit at the comfortable dinner tables or congregate around the bar. Now that the nice weather is here to stay, the terrace, which wraps around the side of the venue, will be opened up to guests and we are told that there will be barbeques during the summer months. The open kitchen and Raw Bar, where ice-cold martinis will be served and paired with cured and smoked seafood, takes the gastrolounge model to the next level in terms of their food offering, by flaunting their creations to a captive audience.
The ambiance of the bar changes throughout the evening from happy hour, dinner, after-dinner cocktails to late-night drinks and snacks. The unique light instillation over the bar, which resembles the skeleton of an extinct creature, changes colour in time to the rhythm of the music as well as the mood of the evening, and draws attention to the centre of the venue, which conveniently happens to be the bar. The music is never obnoxiously loud, and you are able to have intimate conversations with little effort. On our visited, we sipped handcrafted martinis and selected from the menu by French head-chef, Freddy Raoult, who has a decade of experience working in Helsinki. Perfectly matching
the brand’s passion for a range of foods that pair with vodka, Chef Raoult draws on inspiration from Noma’s philosophy, and has lovingly sourced, sometimes at great pains, the best quality and freshest ingredients available from the sea, beach, forests, sky and fields. Chef Raoult has been known to travel to Japan to secure the best salmon, and currently there is no chicken on the menu as he has not found a bird that is up to his high standards. Our favourite items were the west coast tuna tartar (RMB 108), fresh from Japan and served with ginger, chilli and lime; Greenland on toast (RMB 68), which consisted of artic shrimp, dressed in a creamy dill and mayo sauce and placed on top of rye bread; and crusted sea bass (RMB 198), baked whole in a crust of salt, rosemary and orange zest – just be sure not to eat the outside! If you’re an oyster fan, make sure to visit on a Sunday or a Monday when guests can enjoy the special price of RMB 98 for a dozen fin de claire, unparalleled value for a Bund-side restaurant. We will be back for some more affordable luxury on the Bund. April15 TalkMagazine
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