The Merchants Description

Protein-centric The Merchants is all about going back to the foundational base of cooking – curing, smoking, fermenting, roasting over open flames and using only natural, ethically-sourced products. The group found their way to Shanghai via Beijing this past September, a longstanding institution in China’s capital that began as a wine merchant nearly ten years ago – hence the name. After the company’s success, it branched out into the restaurant space near The Forbidden City, with co-partner and chef Paulo de Souza providing tasty morsels, ideal for wine pairing connoisseurs. 

But it’s a lot more than fire-licked meats, dry-aged fowl, and house-smoked seafood – there’s a café and bakery section plus a full restaurant for 60 on the main floor (split into two) and a cocktail, wine and Spanish sherry bar upstairs, all rolled up into one restored building that used to be the writing headquarters of the Shanghai Film Studio on tree- and historic villa-lined Yongfu Lu.