The place
Franck, Rachel's, Farine, and now Le Rooftop, veteran French restaurateur Franck Pecol's Wukang Lu empire continues to grow with the addition of Grains, a new cafe and ice creamery.
Tastefully designed, the spacious and airy feelings of the interiors belie its compactness.
The food
Coffee is Grains' primary objective in the main café. This isn't another version of Farine, which has a copious selection of cakes, patisserie, sandwiches and so on, it's more concise.
We found the coffee to be very good, particularly if you like it strong as the French are known for. Grains isn't messing around with frothy, milky hoo-ha nonsense.
The coffee 'cortado' (espresso 'cut' with a shot of warm milk added after the espresso) was earthy and robust, without a hint of burnt-ness nor acidity. The iced coffee was also excellent, at once creamy but with a real coffee flavor.
The scone with jam and cream was not great however. Whipped cream rather than clotted, scone too crumbly. Save your stomach space for what's next...
In addition to the main coffee shop, Grains also has an ice creamery housed in an adjacent window, accessible via the street level.
Currently open on weekends only, this ice cream is reason enough to visit Grains. Exquisitely delicious, made in small batches and not overly expensive. It's easily good enough to unseat Gracie's, Shanghai's current reigning purveyor of artisanal ice cream.
There's just three flavors at the moment, but we hear there'll be more in the coming few months once an incoming gelato machine has been installed.
Peaches and cream, RMB30, rich, beyond creamy, and with whole chunks of lightly caramelized peaches inside. Also imbued with a beautiful vanilla flavor, the ground pods of which were still visible.
Dark chocolate and almonds (RMB30), also ridiculously delicious and arguably the best chocolate ice cream in Shanghai.
We particularly liked that there's an option of adding whipped cream to the ice cream for RMB5, highly recommended for the dark chocolate flavor.
Another thing that's giving Grains its edge is the fact they're making the cones fresh, with a press waffle maker. Not only does the aroma of fresh waffles baking smell AMAZING, but it also ensures the flavor and texture are fresh, crunchy and utterly delightful.
Scone aside, everything we ate at Grains was sumptuous and worthy of the term, 'artisanal.'
Food verdict: 2.5/3
The vibe
There's not much in the way of inside seating, and what seating is available is benches and stools. No squishy armchairs or coffee tables for you to whip your MacBook out and start designing event flyers on.
That's fine by us, there are literally hundreds of other cafés in Shanghai for you to do that in. Come here for coffee, ice cream and then be on your way.
Service could be a little more welcoming and friendly however, but still, nothing below the industry standard in Shanghai.
Vibe verdict: 0.5/1
Value for money
Nothing at this place is over-priced, and by our experiences, you're paying for quality and Grains' experiential location in the former French Concession.
Ice cream stands out as the best value thing. For RMB30, you'll get something that's as delicious, if not more so, than most other desserts in Shanghai.
Value for money: 1/1
TOTAL VERDICT: 4/5
Price: RMB30-80 RMB
Who's going: young French expats and locals
Good for: coffee, ice cream, hang outs
See a listing for Grains
Read more Shanghai Cafe Reviews
0 User Comments