New Shanghai Bars and Restaurants: December 2016

By That's Shanghai, December 15, 2016

Here are all the new restaurant and bar openings we featured in our December 2016 issue.

Restaurants

Daimon Bistro

Say what you want about his ornate personal brand, which often teeters dangerously close to eclipsing his food, 'Demon Chef' Alvin Leung deserves credit for two things. Firstly, for bothering to give real Chinese food the fine dining treatment at Bo Shanghai (not to say they get it right with every dish, but it's a step in the right direction.) Secondly, for daring to update Cantonese dim sum, without doing away with the time-honored techniques used to make them.

Price: RMB250-300 per person (excl. alcohol)
Who's going: trendy young locals
Good for: small groups, dates, modern Cantonese food

Read the full review for Daimon Bistro. See a listing for Daimon Bistro.

Ramen David

The latest Japanese export to plant a foot in Shanghai, Ramen David is one of the most promising new noodle imports we've found, tucked just behind Nanjing Xi Lu on Fengxian Lu. But just who is the eponymous David, some brave gaijin who decided to tackle ramen making? Nay, it is David Ito (デビット伊東), a Japanese 80s-era pop star and TV actor who turned to ramen after an injury cut short his career in the entertainment industry.

Price: from RMB42 per person
Who's going: young locals and Japanese expats
Good for: ramen, cheap eats, solo diners, dates, Japanese food
Read the full review for Ramen David. See a listing for Ramen David.

Bars

Funkadeli

With an army of die-hard fans, we knew it wouldn’t be long before Funkadeli bounced back from losing their Yongkang Lu branch earlier in 2016. Equal parts restaurant and bar, it’s clear that Funkadeli 2.0 has graduated from its early days as a delicatessen with a knack for making an addictively good spritz. The inside feels like a smart European bistro, tied together with a long bar stacked to the rafters with Campari.

Price: RMB50-150 per person
Who’s going: mainly expats, young locals
Good for: cocktails, happy hours, casual drinking, Italian food, lunch

Read the full review for Funkadeli. See a listing for Funkadeli.

ASL

It’s not often a decent new club pings onto our radar, and with a name like Age, Sex, Location (ASL for short), we didn’t immediately have high hopes for this new party den in Jing’an. We do like to be proved wrong, however, and as it turns out, a night on the tiles at ASL is often as fun as its rivals on Donghu Lu.

No club in Shanghai is without an abundance of bottle-serviced tables, often at the expense of a decent dance floor and bar, and while ASL is no exception, its relatively small proportions mean the club manages to conjure an intimate vibe.

Price: RMB70 for drinks, tables from RMB4,000
Who’s going: young locals, a few expats
Good for: partying, groups, birthdays, EDM

Read the full review here. See listing for ASL.