More than a bar strip
By Andrea O'Neil and Yang Di |
October 28, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME Shanghai expats find it hard to tear themselves from the cute boutiques and nightspots of the former French concession, but it's well worth it to stray from the beaten track. New Factories, a creative arts area along Yuyao Road, is packed with popular local bars, the most well-known being Muse, but non-clubbers will find plenty to do here too. Cafes brush shoulders with an authentic Shanghainese restaurant and art gallery on this compact street. Shop till you drop then refuel and dance till dawn on Yuyao Road.
Down-Home Kitchen
This restaurant specializes in Shanghai dishes. You can taste imported wine and authentic Shanghainese cuisine with peaceful melodies from 1930s Shanghai. All of the furniture are real antiques from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, creating a vintage vibe around the two-floor place. The restaurant's executive chef says that they only use the highest quality ingredients to give customers the finest dishes. The chef's recommendations include pigtail with sweet brown sauce (39 yuan), salty chicken with old kitchen recipe (39 yuan), braised pork with abalone sauce (88 yuan) and grilled lamb chop (18 yuan/each). They also serve seasonal desserts like sweet oat and green bean soup (17 yuan).
Opening hours: 11am-2pm; 5-9:30pm
Address: 48 Yuyao Road
Tel: 5213-5277
Levant Art
This gallery, tucked away on the fourth floor of a building inside New Factories, specializes in sculpture. Since its founding in 2006 Levant has staged half a dozen ceramic and glass sculpture exhibitions and has initiated several cultural exchange program. In 2009, Levant hosted the opening of the Shanghai International Ceramics Fair, an exhibition of Chinese ceramic work. This year Levant Art has devoted itself to living aesthetics and to guiding people toward a marriage of art, design and traditional handicrafts. Right now you can catch an exhibition entitled "+0" by artist Pan Kai. With metal-based works entitled "Galactic Center," "Thought Experiment" and "Vortex." Pan tries to make sense of the chaotic universe and asks "where do we come from?" "Are we part of some mysterious large energy chain?" The exhibition runs until November 15.
Opening hours: 10am-6pm (Monday to Saturday) Address: 4/F, 28B Yuyao RdTel: 5213-5366
Shanghai WinClub
Shanghai WinClub aims to be more than a club - it wants to be seen as a lifestyle destination, where people can come to chat, close business deals and have fun. "There're so many clubs in Shanghai and we just want to introduce some different style," club advisor Sam Iwata says. "We don't want to be a clubbing club, we want to be something in between a club and a lounge." Iwata is half Chinese, half Japanese, and says it is common in Japan for business deals to be worked out in the lounge area of a club. "In Japan it's part of the lifestyle." WinClub opened in August and its two floors can fit 1,200 punters, or 1,000 comfortably. A bottle of whiskey will set you back 800 yuan here (US$125). It is a stylish spot, done up in Asian-European style with red lamps, red couches and wood-paneled bookshelves. While at present the mainly Shanghainese clientele demand mainstream music, Iwata hopes to introduce alternative entertainment soon, like a hip-hop night and movie screenings.
Opening hours: 10pm-4am
Address: 66 Yuyao Rd
Tel: 3255-6792
Choc Republic
Entering Choc Republic is a little like stepping inside a chocolate box, and a little like visiting Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The decor is all chocolate-brown and cream, with cute-as-a-button drawings of cakes and chocolates covering the walls. A churning vat of liquid chocolate greets you just inside the door, with a pipe much too small for Augustus Gloop to fit inside snaking across the ceiling from the vat to the serving counter. This pipe might be purely cosmetic, but there's no cutting corners on this cafe's all-chocolate menu. Choc Republic's motto is "Spoil Yourself," and there's no shortage of ways to do that here. Chocoholics can choose from 56 chocolate treats, from a cookies and cream "choctail" (52 yuan, US$8.20), or a chocolate pizza complete with marshmallows, nuts and melted chocolate (88 yuan), to Choc Republic's signature fruit or marshmallow chocolate fondues (around 100 yuan, serves two). The cafe has been open for two months but has already been proven a success by its Chinese owner in Sydney, Australia. The chocolate is also foreign, the milk chocolate imported from Switzerland and the dark chocolate from France. Customers can also buy boxed chocolates.
Opening hours: 2pm-midnightAddress: 88 Yuyao RdTel: 3255-6883
Down-Home Kitchen
This restaurant specializes in Shanghai dishes. You can taste imported wine and authentic Shanghainese cuisine with peaceful melodies from 1930s Shanghai. All of the furniture are real antiques from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, creating a vintage vibe around the two-floor place. The restaurant's executive chef says that they only use the highest quality ingredients to give customers the finest dishes. The chef's recommendations include pigtail with sweet brown sauce (39 yuan), salty chicken with old kitchen recipe (39 yuan), braised pork with abalone sauce (88 yuan) and grilled lamb chop (18 yuan/each). They also serve seasonal desserts like sweet oat and green bean soup (17 yuan).
Opening hours: 11am-2pm; 5-9:30pm
Address: 48 Yuyao Road
Tel: 5213-5277
Levant Art
This gallery, tucked away on the fourth floor of a building inside New Factories, specializes in sculpture. Since its founding in 2006 Levant has staged half a dozen ceramic and glass sculpture exhibitions and has initiated several cultural exchange program. In 2009, Levant hosted the opening of the Shanghai International Ceramics Fair, an exhibition of Chinese ceramic work. This year Levant Art has devoted itself to living aesthetics and to guiding people toward a marriage of art, design and traditional handicrafts. Right now you can catch an exhibition entitled "+0" by artist Pan Kai. With metal-based works entitled "Galactic Center," "Thought Experiment" and "Vortex." Pan tries to make sense of the chaotic universe and asks "where do we come from?" "Are we part of some mysterious large energy chain?" The exhibition runs until November 15.
Opening hours: 10am-6pm (Monday to Saturday) Address: 4/F, 28B Yuyao RdTel: 5213-5366
Shanghai WinClub
Shanghai WinClub aims to be more than a club - it wants to be seen as a lifestyle destination, where people can come to chat, close business deals and have fun. "There're so many clubs in Shanghai and we just want to introduce some different style," club advisor Sam Iwata says. "We don't want to be a clubbing club, we want to be something in between a club and a lounge." Iwata is half Chinese, half Japanese, and says it is common in Japan for business deals to be worked out in the lounge area of a club. "In Japan it's part of the lifestyle." WinClub opened in August and its two floors can fit 1,200 punters, or 1,000 comfortably. A bottle of whiskey will set you back 800 yuan here (US$125). It is a stylish spot, done up in Asian-European style with red lamps, red couches and wood-paneled bookshelves. While at present the mainly Shanghainese clientele demand mainstream music, Iwata hopes to introduce alternative entertainment soon, like a hip-hop night and movie screenings.
Opening hours: 10pm-4am
Address: 66 Yuyao Rd
Tel: 3255-6792
Choc Republic
Entering Choc Republic is a little like stepping inside a chocolate box, and a little like visiting Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The decor is all chocolate-brown and cream, with cute-as-a-button drawings of cakes and chocolates covering the walls. A churning vat of liquid chocolate greets you just inside the door, with a pipe much too small for Augustus Gloop to fit inside snaking across the ceiling from the vat to the serving counter. This pipe might be purely cosmetic, but there's no cutting corners on this cafe's all-chocolate menu. Choc Republic's motto is "Spoil Yourself," and there's no shortage of ways to do that here. Chocoholics can choose from 56 chocolate treats, from a cookies and cream "choctail" (52 yuan, US$8.20), or a chocolate pizza complete with marshmallows, nuts and melted chocolate (88 yuan), to Choc Republic's signature fruit or marshmallow chocolate fondues (around 100 yuan, serves two). The cafe has been open for two months but has already been proven a success by its Chinese owner in Sydney, Australia. The chocolate is also foreign, the milk chocolate imported from Switzerland and the dark chocolate from France. Customers can also buy boxed chocolates.
Opening hours: 2pm-midnightAddress: 88 Yuyao RdTel: 3255-6883
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