Occupying a spot on Anfu Lu, Hunter Gatherer is a brand new healthy living concept, incorporating a health food store, café and canteen, all with a fairly ambitious mission to bring natural food to the fore in Shanghai.
From the outside, you’d be forgiven for thinking the ground floor is merely a smallish food store, but venture upstairs and find a high-ceilinged open plan space wherein lies Hunter Gatherer’s café, kitchen and stocks of fresh and imported products to take home.
Hunter Gatherer's store front downstairs.
The ethos behind the place is to showcase fresh produce from China, farmed without pesticides and using natural techniques. To ensure this, much seasonal produce comes from their own farms, the model of which Anmao Sun, who founded Hunter Gatherer in partnership with sister Harn Sun, hopes will become an influential factor for others in China too.
“There is a lack of education on the overuse of chemical pesticides in China, largely because the agricultural system here is highly decentralized and farmers often don't understand that once a threshold is hit, any additional chemical pesticides will not yield more crops,” says Anmao. "They think, incorrectly, that the more they use, the higher the yield. We feel that better education on overuse of pesticides is the first step to healthier agricultural production, and hope the success of our alternative methods will show neighboring farmers that there is another way that can be equally successful."
Bringing their fresh produce straight from farm to kitchen at Hunter Gatherer, diners can pick up canteen-style lunch and dinner starting from RMB62, including one carbohydrate, one protein, two veggies and one topping. We tried five-grain rice with goji berries, beef brisket, roasted tomatoes and fennel, broccoli and pumpkin pancakes, and a topping of dried nori flakes, which was exceptionally filling and pretty damn good. We also tried a ‘Bell-A-Chia’ iced smoothie with pineapple and Chia seeds (RMB42).
Hunter Gatherer lunch set.
Another nice touch at Hunter Gatherer is their ‘Sauce Bar’ station, featuring tons of different house-made hot sauces and relishes that diners can help themselves to free-flow style. Our favorites were the eye-wateringly spicy hot sauce ‘fields of screams,' and a sweet ‘Carolina barbecue sauce’ to go with the beef brisket.
In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, you’ll find imported health products. Particular focus seems to have been paid to nut butters - at present Hunter Gatherer stocks over nine different varieties of peanut, almond and hazelnut butters, including white chocolate peanut, maple almond, hazelnut chocolate, AND - brace yourself- DIY almond and peanut butter machines.
DIY almond and peanut butter machines, and pick n mix stand.
In the future, the team tells us they’re dreaming big, with plans to expand the business to other branches in Shanghai and beyond. For now, however, we’re just waiting ‘til the day they start doing delivery.
Price: Sets from RMB62
Who’s going: Mixed bunch of trendy looking expats, Chinese hipsters and families.
Good for: Lunch, casual dinners, weekend hangout spot
Open hours: 10am–10pm
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