Here are all the new restaurant, cafe and bar openings we featured in our November 2017 issue:
New Restaurants and Cafe
Beans to Dance
At Beans to Dance, coffee making gets contemplative. The cafe specializes in drip brews, the slow, methodical process bringing out a medley of flavors. Unconventionally, bitterness isn’t one of them. Founder Cao Huolong claims he’s trying to open the taste buds of local caffeine addicts to lighter, more nuanced flavors. As a result, a cup made from off-menu Pacamara beans (RMB50) is mild with a full-bodied acidity. A brew made with Yirgacheffe G1 (RMB40) comes out stronger, its sourness more biting, but is still comparatively mellow.
Price: RMB30
Who’s going: coffee geeks, people living nearby
Good for: trying new coffees, catching up on work
Nearest metro: Houhai (Exit G), 15 minutes
Read our full review here. See listing for Beans to Dance.
Les 5 Chef's Miznon
Founders Harold Dax and Claudio Giannantonio insist their gourmet street food is simply the dishes of their nearby German bakery, slow-cooked and tucked into airy pita pockets. The menu of gourmet meats — duck confit, beef tenderloin, foie gras, long-marinated chicken, and succulent lamb — also has a strong vegetarian game, all in soft house-made pita filled with a meal’s worth of treats. With most priced RMB48-RMB78, it’s great value for the money. Just watch out for the chili oil heat in the meats or sauces: it bites, but maybe that’s what you are looking for.
Price: RMB100
Who’s going: Shekou residents, pita bread fans
Good for: people watching, sticking it to a celeb chef, or a quick meal en route to temple
Nearest metro: Dongjiaotou (Exit A), 8 minutes
Read our full review here. See listing for Les 5 Chef's Miznon.
Trap
DJ equipment sits on a table in the center of the small space, and behind that, a wall sports graffiti by 4pm, a local group that has been decorating Shenzhen underpasses. The beef and cheese sandwich (RMB28) arrives, looking every bit like something you would be served at the back of Jesus’s Food and Wine – which is to say buttery, large and home style. Trap strikes us as the type of messy nook that real artistry sometimes springs from, something sorely lacking in Shenzhen – or it could just be an odd place to get a sandwich.
Price: RMB80
Who’s going: tech workers and rap fans
Good for: simple food, walls you can write on
Nearest metro: Hi-tech Park (exit B), 13 minutes
Read our full review here. See listing for Trap.
New Bars
Crazy Darts
There’s a certain style of dingy, dark dart bars that nest along the Shenzhen side of the Hong Kong border – the type of place where canned beers come served in a metal bucket by a woman who will try to chat you up in Cantonese. Crazy Darts is not that. Service is prompt, friendly and operates mostly by hand gestures, as not much can be heard over the scream of recent club hits – that is, until a musician takes to the modest stage. We didn’t have our hopes set very high for the drinks – the place striking us more as a green tea and whiskey venue – but the ‘maraget’ (read margarita, RMB68) was competently made, if light on the triple sec.
Price: RMB70
Who’s going: groups interested in their cellphones, casual dart players
Good for: a conversation-lite start to the night
Nearest metro: Chegongmiao (Exit B), 10 minutes
Read our full review here. See listing for Crazy Darts.
Men's Club
Hark back to the good old days with a bar F. Scott Fitzgerald might have approved of – if not for the enthusiastic Art Deco theme, then at least for the whiskey. We start with Men’s Club’s most girly cocktail: pastel pink and garnished with rosebuds, the cognac-based Angel Rose (RMB108) tastes like a spiked strawberry milkshake. The similarly pretty chrysanthemum negroni (RMB108) is an interesting spin, with floral notes that are bitter rather than sweet, while the flashy Earl Grey cocktail (RMB108) livens things up with dry ice, spice-infused liquors and a 10-year-old scotch.
Price: RMB100-130
Who’s going: serious drinkers, whiskey lovers
Good for: strong cocktails, treating yourself
Nearest metro: Shopping Park (Exit D), 6 minutes
Read our full review here. See listing for Men's Club.
Read more Shenzhen restaurant reviews and bar reviews.
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