Lonfood sits across from the 115-story Ping’an Center’s Western maw, which in coming months will surely shower the trendy restaurant with the white-collar workers it’s designed for.
The menu is focused on health-conscious diners that have money – not time – to spare. Pizza crusts are kept thin, salads labeled ‘low carb’ and most dishes cost over RMB50.
Despite the rent in such a prime location, Lonfood hasn’t given in to the temptation to cut costs by keeping portions sizes down. Instead, most dishes make a solid meal on their own. The RMB56 Hawaii poke bowl, which balances sushi rice with salty seaweed, also contains a mix of vegetables and chunks of salmon large enough to be mistaken for watermelon.
The smorrebrod open sandwich (RMB48), on the other hand, may require a side. The dish includes two slices of German-style wheat bread with four possible topping selections, including a delectable combo of mashed beetroot and smoked salmon. The Parma ham with cherry tomato topping has a dash of sweet-tart balsamic vinegar, making a pleasant harmony of flavors. But it’s also a lot to put on a thin slice of bread — we can tell you firsthand that there’s a serious risk of losing a topping.
As for the fried mozzarella cheese sticks (RMB42), we’ll just go ahead and say it: they’re bad. Despite a fluorescent orange color, they are disappointingly plain, with the provided homemade sauce not doing much for the 12 finger-sized bites.
Also scoring low on the flavor meter is the slightly sweet red velvet latte (RMB34 warm/RMB36 cold). It uses beetroot to get a pinkish tint, but is otherwise unremarkable.
We are told that all ingredients are bought fresh from local farms, but visually they appear comparable to what’s on offer in, say, the nearby chain restaurant Gaga.
Perhaps most attractive is the sleek restaurant design, which uses a partial glass ceiling to bathe the cozy second floor in sunlight.
On our visit, the food is prepared quickly and capably, but Lonfood’s real test will come in the near future as offices fill up in the neighboring financial center, providing Lonfood with as many customers as it can handle.
Price: RMB100
Who’s going: designers, office workers
Good for: cozy second floor seating, quick lunch or dinner, chunks of salmon
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