AN exploration of Jianguo Road M.begins with Finest Yunnan Coffee, and New York Style Steak and Burger. With such fragrant food and drink, your mind finds it difficult to turn away. Yet Jianguo Road M. has much more to offer. With looming trees, serene Shanghai neighborhoods, and delicate boutiques on both sides, it is perfect for a relaxing stroll. Randomly hidden in residential houses, street hawkers surprise you with abundant ranges of products. Compared with these authentic local outlets, which are transformed from old residential areas, "The Bridge 8," at the end of Jianguo Road M., symbolizes modern Shanghai's vividness and creativity.

Previously Shanghai Mobile factory, it has been transformed into a mixed-use complex, including design gallery, offices for creative professional designers, and stores selling novel products. The two large "The Bridge 8" buildings are connected by a dramatic bridge, a symbol of connecting creative consultancy teams worldwide. Open doors and glass windows of street stands offer us glimpses of creative products within. This area's nurturing environment also attracts some of the best restaurants. They can soothe your tiredness and fulfill your appetite for delicious food and drink.

Kakadu

With aboriginal art hanging on the walls, Kakadu is a dedicated Australian restaurant tucked in Bridge 8, close to Chongqing Road. It captures the essence of modern Australian cuisine and introduces Aussie eating to Shanghai, with a menu featuring unique food items such as emu, kangaroo and crocodile as well as barramundi. The menu reads like an outback safari checklist with "strange" Aussie bites that are definitely not part of Shanghai residents' everyday meals. But they are worth a try for their exotic taste and flavors. Owner Eddie Cheung recommends appetizers emu carpaccio (68 yuan/US$9.96) and crocodile spring rolls (73 yuan). Emu carpaccio is served with pickled beetroot, rocket lettuce, horse radish and mustard aioli, and the croc with fennel, shitake mushrooms, ginger, cilantro, red onion and a wild rosella dressing. For mains, his favorites are grilled New Zealand lamb chops (168 yuan), Aussie steak (170-200 yuan) and grilled barramundi (128 yuan). The drink list contains an extensive range of quality Australian and New Zealand wines, one of China's biggest selections according to Cheung. Unique ingredients such as riberry and lemon myrtle are also used to infuse liquers and give a unique taste. Riberry gin tonic and lemon myrtle vodka (both priced at 55 yuan) are highly recommended cocktails.


Opening hours: 10am-late night

Address: Shop 1104A, Bridge 8, 8 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 5468-0118


A Lifestyle Gallery

Filled with more than 20 international interior designers' novel masterpieces, A Lifestyle Gallery is popular among decorators and creativity lovers. The business in an open, high-roof building provides customers with anything that can be placed or used at home, from mere 5 yuan environmentally friendly note pads, to a calligraphy chair priced at 10,000 yuan. The gallery displays a perfect mixture of simplicity and complexity the moment you step inside. Look at wooden closets without any enhancements, representing "simple is elegant," or cast a glance at novel business card cases, dotted with bright colors and flower patterns. All designers try to harmonize their inventions to match with daily life, which makes creativity a kind of lifestyle.

Opening hours: 11am-6:30pm

Address: Atrium, Block 5, "Bridge 8", 8-10 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 6445-1902


Point to Life

Point to Life feels like a treasure cave when you walk in. Stunned as you will be by bookcases filled with imported books mainly focusing on art, architecture and design, you may immediately want to stop there. But to walk around the store is worthwhile, for Point to Life has much more to offer. Bags, coffee sets, short and long glasses produced by creative designers aim to offer exquisitely stylish, well designed daily necessities. The Shinzi Katoh products, a brand name created by Japanese designer Zakka, provide a balance between trend and practicality. In one corner is a stand of the ubiquitous Moleskine "legendary notebook", pioneered in use by great artists and thinkers like Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. The distinctive Moleskine suits busy working people and is offered in a range of formats for note-taking, scribbling and diarising.

Opening hours: 10am-9:30pm

Address: Shop 9101, G/F, Block 9 "The Bridge 8," 25 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 6137-9388


New Store

Occupying no more than 5 square meters, New Store boasts an abundant collection of animated cartoon toys, including Transformer and Spider Man from America, Doraemon and Sakura Momoko from Japan and Haibao from Shanghai, to list only a few. All can be found here in different sizes and with a variety of gestures, ranging from merely nail-sized Haibao on key rings to more than 30-centimeter-high Doraemon decorative items. Besides enjoying discounts on several collections, usually sold at non-negotiable full prices elsewhere, you can also purchase single toys out of a full collection, like Barbie and Toy Story. "White Models", on which you can randomly paint any color, are especially popular among working people. Office-oriented items with cartoon character motifs are selling strongly, including name card cases and memo boards, allowing you to bring something light-hearted into work.

Opening hour: 10am-9:30pm

Address; Rm 5, East Department, 26 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 1381-8729-011


Old Shanghai Western Amorous Feelings

Previously named "Art Gathers Pavilion" in Shenzhen, Old Shanghai Western Amorous Feelings opened on Jianguo Road M. only six months ago. Occupying about 30 square meters, the shop stocks more than a hundred original furniture items from Shanghai's celebrated golden era of the 1930s and 1940s. It sells a rich variety of items, ranging from oriental pieces, like accordions and radios, to occidental facilities, like closets and desks. The combination of Chinese decorative items and Western furniture provides us an insight into Shanghai's cultural wealth and the reason why it is so highly valued. The store goes some of the way to meet the increasing need for these pieces and also offers a furniture restoration service.

Opening hours: 10am-7pm

Address: 111 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 1391-8914-339


Finest Yunnan Coffee

Known for its freshness, Finest Yunnan Coffee, among the many coffee shops in Tianzifang lanes, is especially popular among expats. All coffee sold here is imported from Yunnan Q's Coffee Manor where the beans are nurtured organically and ensuring that it might just be the purest form of locally-grown coffee available in Shanghai. The business offers customers a great variety of products, including the brand's Gold, Silver, Blend, and Selection flavors as well as Yunnan's black tea and Japanese green tea. Finest Yunnan Coffee functions as an ideal place for afternoon tea. Pricey black coffee accompanied by cheese cake, or cappuccino with warm-chocolate cake are highly recommended. They also sell traditional jewelry from Yunnan, allowing you to appreciate coffee and delicate Yunnan handicrafts to your wallet's content.

Opening hours: 10am-9pm

Address: No. 15, Lane 155, Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 1580-0597-011


New York Style Steak & Burger

Opened only a week ago, this three-floor New York-style eatery is possibly one of the best joints in town for gourmet burgers and steaks. General Manager Bree Harrison says the concept is to provide good value New York-style food with "big portions and good prices." To that end, though, the menu is refreshingly sparse and simple. In a city that has a seemingly endless choice of burgers, this eatery offers fantastic combos and adds further credence to the notion that a distinct, authentic New York City-style burger is available in Shanghai. All six types of burgers are 225 grams of 100 percent beef and are served with a choice between homemade mashed potatoes or fries. The Blue (55 yuan) is served with melted blue cheese, caramelized onion and candied apple and the Devil's Burger (48 yuan) includes bacon, melted cheese, onion rings, lettuce and tomato with homemade spicy lime mayonnaise. All steaks are imported certified prime Angus beef and come with an option of maitre d' butter or classic steak sauce and a vegetable of the day.

Opening hours: 5pm-10pm

Address: No. 22, 155 Jianguo Rd M.

Tel: 6473-6070