Here are all the new restaurant and bar openings we featured in our July 2017 issue.
Restaurants
Ban Ban by Sproutworks
With its healthy vegetable + protein-based meals, Sproutworks is a name well-known to just about everyone in Shanghai both vegetarian and not. Offerings at their new concept, Ban Ban, are similar, only in bowl format designed to be mixed together. Hence the name 'ban ban' (半半) – Chinese for 'mix that shit up.' Capiche?
Verdict: 4/5
Price: RMB65
Good for: healthy eats that don't taste punishing
Who's going: locals and expats
Read the full review here. See listing here.
Oh.My.Burger!
Throw a stone in Shanghai and the chances are you'll hit at least three places that can sell you a burger. Heck, even Jean-Georges sells lobster burgers on their bar menu. No prizes for guessing what the specialty is at liberally punctuated OH.MY.BURGER!, but unlike your standard hamburger-vending operation, offerings here have a uniquely Asian twist. They are determined not to be like other burgers, and to this end have introduced a first for Shanghai: the ramen burger.
Verdict: 2.5/5
Price:RMB65+
Who's going: locals and young expats
Good for: quick eats, lunch, novelty burgers
Read the full review here. See listing here.
Diner
It's a fine line to tread, taking the quintessential emblem of working man's food and 'elevating' it without looking like a condescending patrician knob. At Austin Hu's Diner (he of now-closed Madison and its subsequent spin-off delicatessen Madison Kitchen) it has been done with surprising tact, keeping greats like meatloaf, spam, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and smashed burgers, front and center.
Verdict: 4.5/5
Price: RMB62-150 per person
Who's going: hip young locals and their expat counterparts
Good for: judgement-free indulgence
Read the full review here. See listing here.
Okaeri
It's cliché to say that Shanghai is full of surprises, but the quiet hum of Jiashan Market at night is one of them. During these balmy summer evenings, groups of young locals – ostensibly mosquito-immune – dine on the terraces of a handful of quaint restaurants within this old Shanghai enclave. Sadly the flesh of your correspondents is a favorite on the menu for Shanghai's notoriously voracious mosquitos, so we venture for an inside table at Okaeri, a popular new restaurant tucked down an alley near Jiashan Market stalwart Cafe Sambal, serving flavors of Taiwan in the format of a contemporary Japanese izakaya joint. The result is comfort food with whisky-based cocktails and beer.
Verdict: 4/5
Price: RMB130-250 per person, including drinks
Who's going: young locals
Good for: Taiwan eats, casual dining, dates
Read the full review here. See listing here.
Bars
All
A nightclub that had come to define alternative music in a city that is not always known for kindness toward off-beat culture, The Shelter’s iconic name came to hold an unusually pervasive literal and virtual meeting by the eve of its closure in 2016. While the literal bomb shelter setting was a happy arrangement for club goers and noise-sensitive neighbors, the winds changed and the venue was unable to renew its license. Luckily, co-founder Gaz Williams has returned with ALL, a new concept that promises to nurture the same subculture of music as its predecessor.
Read the full review here. See listing here.
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