Year of the Rabbit Recap: New Shanghai F&B – Part 3

By Sophie Steiner, February 5, 2024

And so we bid adieu to the Year of the Rabbit – a wild ride of high highs and low lows. Yet, the show must go on, and that means enjoying it in the way we know best – through good food and plenty of drink.

Here's our A to Z recap of some of the major restaurants and bars that swung their doors wide open and bunny-hopped through into the Year of the Dragon.

See Part I here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, and Part 7 here.

HALO

Like falling face (and stomach) first into a futuristic fantasy videogame, HALO is an immersive, multi-sensory dining experience that challenges the concept of what a traditional restaurant can be.

It’s a whole sci-fi space odyssey meets cyberpunk art vibe.

Image courtesy of HALO

The aim is to provide guests with an immersive performance using multi sensorial high-end technology, paired with equally imaginative food and drink, "like a less intimate, more approachable version of world-renowned Ultraviolet," says the HALO team.

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Curated by Chef Steven Dong – who cut his teeth at the likes of Le Meridian, Marriott, and other Accor Group hotels – the Western-leaning set and a la carte menu are presented whimsically to fit the light and audio show surroundings.

Read a full review here.

HALO, 7/F, 683 Yunjin Lu, by Longqi Lu, 云锦路683号西岸凤巢7楼, 近龙启路.

Ichi Roll

Opening just next door to sister restaurant Sake Ichi Oden (酒一关东煮酒场), Ichi Roll is a casual alternative to the high-end sushi and omakase houses – serving maki-style hand rolls and sashimi in a pleasantly bright and contemporary setting.

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So, while the two venues are inherently distinct – a classic retro soup and sipper hangout and a straightforward, modern sushi roll spot – together they form a symbiotic relationship that belongs on a backstreet of Osaka’s trendiest neighborhood, each enhancing the offerings of the other, while simultaneously sharing a wall.

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While a lot of everyday sushi houses find their home in a shopping mall with minimal vibe, a lack of a cohesive concept and questionable value, Ichi Roll is the antithesis to that trend.

It’s an approachable, fast-casual place where diners can enjoy a modest meal made with high quality seafood at affordable prices, all with the backdrop of 90s and early 2000s gangster rap – a genius pairing.

Read a full review here.

Ichi Roll, 35 Shanxi Nan Lu, by Jinxian Lu 陕西南路35号, 近进贤路.

INT.

Neo bistro and wine bar INT. soft opened this past April behind Mikkeller in Jing'an.

As the high-end version of the Interval series (INT. is short for Interval) – owned by Hong Kong's Twins Kitchen group (孖人厨房) – INT. is the first of its kind, bringing to Shanghai Chinese flavors and Cantonese cooking techniques, coupled with Italian undertones (plus natural wines).

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The 23-item menu sees a myriad of cooking techniques that span East to West – from Western-style sous-vide, charcoal grilling, pickling and customary Cantonese broth-making – to pay tribute to the almost fully locally-sourced roster of ingredients.

Their first venture outside of Hong Kong sees masterminds Joshua Ng and Chef Sean Bai draw on experiences from a four-hands collaboration between Ng and Chef Danny Yip of Hong Kong’s The Chairman’s (#23 on World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022, #5 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022).

The two worked for weeks, combining Italian and Cantonese flavors to build Asian-infused dishes, and the collaboration event served as a jumping off point for the entire menu that can now be found at INT., right here in Jing’an.

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While the venue is branded as having “Italian DNA” that aligns with the rest of the Interval restaurants in Hong Kong, we didn’t totally feel that part; it’s more novel Chinese fusion, heavier on the Chinese than the fusion. Less of a menu issue, more of a branding issue.

Read a full review here.

INT., Room 114, Bldg. 9, No. 60, Lane 273 Jiaozhou Lu, by Wuding Lu, 胶州路273弄60号114室, 近武定路.

Just Pocket

Just Pocket is a casual sandwich shop and eatery, centered around (as the name suggests) just pockets – warm, made-fresh-daily, Tel Aviv-style pita bread pocket sandwiches stuffed with fusion fillings.

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In addition to five sandwich pocket choices, the menu – developed by owner Lin Yan and Chef Brandon Chang (Duli) – also offers colorful salads, hearty mains, veggie-focused sides, homemade juices, coffee, and an extremely affordable wine selection.

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This everyday neighborhood hangout is straightforward: what you see is what you get – colorful, tasty plates, inspired by flavors from around the globe, that are equally healthy and hearty.

Read a full review here.

Just Pocket, 227 Yanping Lu, by Kangding Lu, 延平路227号, 近康定路.

Junn Izakaya

Junn Izakaya is the antidote to the chaos of the Wukang Market, a calm space in the center of the humming hubbub – a traditional Japanese izakaya.

It’s a place you go to scratch an izakaya itch, if not necessarily explore unchartered territory.

There’s comfort in receiving the expected, especially in the world of constant “wow” that is Shanghai. And Junn is just that.

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There's a dozen bar seats circling an open kitchen, where sashimi is sliced to order and cocktails are shaken; an enclosed binchotan grill, where proteins are scorched and served, alongside a wine fridge and a dry-aging rack.

And beyond that, well, there is no beyond that – it’s exactly what you picture when you think of an izakaya.

And if your mind draws a blank, here’s a little reminder...

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Grilled meat, fresh seafood, a handful of steaks and charred veggies cover the majority of the anticipated izakaya menu, satisfying those BBQ cravings, regardless of where you grew up.

Read a full review here.

Junn Izakaya, 98 Wukang Lu, by Wuyuan Lu 武康路98号, 近五原路.

Kilo

Walking through the nondescript building entrance into Wuding Lu’s newest “speakeasy-style” izakaya Kilo, it must be how Jeff Bridges’ character felt when he was transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer in the movie Tron.

Reverberating with deep bass beats, it is shadowy and mostly onyx-hued, crisscrossed with glowing crimson lighting and a pattern of exactly 1,000 squares throughout – hence the name Kilo, meaning ‘one thousand’ in Greek.

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The menu is what you expect from an izakaya – primarily chicken with a handful of beef, seafood and pigeon dishes, plus veggies, snacks, sashimi and carbs.

Surrounded by sake bottles and boasting a cocktail menu just as long as the food one, it’s no surprise that Kilo leans a bit more party.

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And, when you order that ideal sake bottle, your decision informed by the in-house sake sommelier, he presents it to you accompanied by a box of one-off glasses, so you can choose whichever fits your drinking mood the most.

Read a full review here.

Kilo, 2/F, 595 Wuding Lu, by Xikang Lu 武定路595号2楼，近西康路.

La Brise 523

Chef Conrad Van Den Heever (previously of Highline, Dentree, The Nest, Bloom, Anchor & Clover Club) has opened his very own restaurant, La Brise 523 in Sinan Mansions.

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The concept is a firepit-roasted proteins bistro with a modern Southeast Asian flavor-leaning menu.

The kitchen sports its own firepit, where anything that can be is roasted over open woodfire flames, tendrils of curling smoke adding a campfire aroma to the entire vicinity.

Chef Conrad’s cooking captures the places his experiences have led him thus far – at once nostalgic and inventive, and constantly refining. Expect big flavors that tie together ingredients from around the globe.

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