The place
On a quiet stretch in the former French Concession, naked BITE is a beautifully designed, spacious, and trendy-feeling new restaurant and bar.
But this isn’t the first ‘naked’ place in China – this former French Concession eatery is owned by Naked Retreats, the highly successful eco villa resort company out in Moganshan.
The food
We got off to an inauspicious start with a juice blend of grapefruit, and apparently watermelon, grape and mint for a whopping RMB55 (below).
Yeah. That doesn’t look like a USD10 glass of juice to us, either.
Another look at the menu revealed a humble kir royale (crème de cassis and sparkling wine) for RMB120. That’s USD19! And there’s not even proper Champagne in it!
However, the wine list is well-curated and extensive in both region and variety. Prices start at RMB320/bottle, and incline sharply from there (six available by the glass, from RMB60).
The food sounded tasty on the menu, but largely failed when it got to the table. We were lured in by spicy tofu salad, with shredded kale, red quinoa, pickled broccoli, beetroot, carrot, basil and Sriracha with carrot chili dressing (below, RMB55).
The tofu was straight up bad. Bitter, faintly stinky and not remotely spicy. The broccoli was raw, not pickled; the Sriracha and basil ostensibly missing.
The ‘taste of Asia’ salad (below, RMB62) fared slightly better, with a topping of rice noodles in a creamy, black sesame dressing and a few segments of orange and cashew nuts. Overall, the salads are an exhaustingly lettuce-based affair.
Further disappointments were in store with the entrées and sandwiches: pan-seared prawns with minced pork in sweet ‘n’ sour sauce (below, RMB85) was the same level of flavor as your bog-standard Chinese eatery, but a fraction of the size and twice the cost.
The RMB88 beef striploin sandwich (below) was dry and absolutely miniscule.
(If you want to spend almost RMB100 on a beef sandwich, go to Brad Turley’s Market 101 for an enormous, vastly superior wagyu and avocado number.)
To finish, we chose mango and passionfruit cake with coco gelato (what actually came was a lump of gluey, frozen raspberry jam that leaked liquid out onto the plate) for RMB45 (below).
What is this, a slice of cake for ants?! It felt like somebody had gone to deliberate efforts to slice it as thinly as they possibly could. Turned out they did us a favor – the cake was drier than a popcorn fart and excessively sweet.
Fruit salad with sorbet (below, RMB18) was so sweet we stopped eating after two mouthfuls, and the fruit so unripe it was still hard.
Food verdict: 0/3
The vibe
The food might need improvement, but the vibe is spot on. Laid back, relaxing, and with a downright delightful outdoor patio. naked BITE’s ergonomic atmosphere has the same eco-chic presence that makes Naked Retreats so popular. The kind of place you’d bring friends and family to alike to while away the weekend.
Similarly, the staff on our visit were helpful, polite, informative and attentive.
Vibe verdict: 1/1
Value for money
Prices are too steep for what’s delivered, and you'd be better off saving up your money for a trip to one of Naked Retreat's Moganshan villas.
However, if reliable service and a comfortable atmosphere are your priority, naked BITE is a pleasant experience. For foodies and/or the thrifty, wait until the food is revised and better value.
Value for money: 0/1
TOTAL VERDICT: 1/5
Price: RMB200+ per person
Who’s going: Mix of locals and expats
Good for: Healthy eating
> To see a listing of naked BITE, click here.
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