Shanghai Restaurant Review: Chez Jojo

By Cristina Ng, October 29, 2018

The Place

Old Shanghai hands will remember when 1 Yueyang Lu housed a French bar and restaurant called Latitude/Longitude. After renting the space to Greek Taverna for seven years, owner Maggie Shen has taken it back and restored its French soul.

Chez Jojo draws inspiration from rural drinking establishments called guinguette. In fact, the restaurant’s name is an homage to the original Chez Jojo in the Loire Valley. These lively spots are known as great places to enjoy an unpretentious meal with plenty of affordable wine and we could all certainly use more spots like that.

The Food

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Image by Cristina Ng/That's

Classic hor d’oeuvres start the meal on a lovely note. An order of six Escargots (RMB68) are prepared with plenty of butter, parsley and garlic for a timelessly delicious sauce. Don’t worry, they will give you extra bread to soak it all up.

Image by Cristina Ng/That's

While we savored the Duo of Foie Gras (RM138) with relish, choosing one style (terrine or pan-fried) is more than enough of the luxuriously fatty liver. We are partial to the Terrine (RMB88/60g) accented with a touch of fig preserves.

Image by Cristina Ng/That's

Hand-Cut Steak Tartare comes in starter- (RMB78/100g) or main-sized (RMB128/200g) portions. High quality beef is chopped finely and accented nicely by capers, onion, mustard, cornichons and egg yolk, but screams for more salt.

Image by Cristina Ng/That's

Both the Braised Rabbit Leg (RMB98) in a lusciously creamy mustard sauce and the Pan-Fried Seabass with Ratatouille and Pastis Sauce (RMB108) are well-executed and great value. The rabbit had some pesky shards of bone, but succulent, tender meat was otherwise perfect.

While it is hard to fault apples cooked in a sweet, buttery caramel sauce, we prefer Tarte Tatin (RMB48) with a harder glaze and firmer crust.

Food Verdict: 2/3

The Vibe

The cheesy blue and white monstrosity of Greek Taverna is now replaced by a rustic French countryside look. (Think Belle’s village before she went into the castle with the Beast.) If that provincial life consists of foie gras, escargot and Pinot Noir filled nights, we are down with that. Now, if only they’d bring in that accordion player they’ve been promising.