Andalusia in Pudong may sound like a stretch—but Albero Spanish Restaurant in the Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai delivers a weekend brunch that feels like a sun-drenched escape to the Mediterranean, no passport required.
The setting is gentle, warm, almost nostalgic. There are terracotta walls, banquette seats, and soft mosaics of Andalusia’s pueblos blancos—those chalk-white villages you glimpse from a winding Spanish road, suspended between sky and earth.
It invites you to settle in.
The format is a semi-buffet, which works very nicely here. Starters and desserts are self-serve, while the middle and main courses are ordered from the menu and brought to your table—plated with care and still steaming.
You begin with a slow meander around the appetizer table, where the Mediterranean sings softly in the language of cured meats and salt-bright cheeses.
The buffet is well-curated: There’s proper buffalo mozzarella—soft and collapsing under its own creaminess—next to cherry tomatoes with streaks of herby green oil.
There’s another version melting under delicate slivers of Iberico ham—and, yes, you should eat both.
On and on it goes. There’s gazpacho, deeply chilled and humming with garlic and olive oil. Seared tuna slices lounge seductively beside bowls of olives and marinated vegetables.
But the highlight here—one that will have you openly gawking—is the Caesar salad station, where your salad is assembled to order inside a giant parmesan wheel.
Servers shave cheese straight into the middle of the wheel before tossing everything together and plating in front of you.
It’s rich, savory, and social media gold.
For the second round, you’ll choose from a carefully crafted menu, and dishes arrive plated and polished.
We opted for the halibut, beautifully cooked, flaking at the touch of a fork, resting in a tomato-rich fish stew dotted with olives and little treasures of shellfish.
Two oysters arrived before it, looking indecently plump and fresh, as if they’d barely had time to say goodbye to the sea.
But it’s the main course that turns this brunch into a bit of a feast, of which there are four choices.
Let’s start with the lamb chops—tender, just-charred, sitting in a cumin-scented tangle of beans, finished with a lamb jus and a salsa verde that cuts through the richness of the meat.
Or you can skip the menu dithering and order the Chicken Chorizo Paella. This is no dainty portion: a full pan of rice laced with seafood—mussels, squid, clams—is studded with smoky coins of chorizo and hunks of moist chicken.
It is a dish that firmly remembers its Andalusian roots, and could easily serve two.
There’s also a king prawn pasta, the prawns curled like commas around a tangle of spaghetti in a delicately sweet tomato sauce.
And just when you think this may be enough, something delightful happens. Pizza, hot from the oven, makes an appearance.
Staff parade them around the room like tray-passed canapés at a particularly fabulous wedding. You take a slice.
Or two. No judgement here.
Dessert is back at the buffet, and it’s every bit as thoughtful as the savory spread. The Grand Kempinski’s pastry team brings serious skill to the sweets section.
Highlights include a blueberry tart with a creamy topping...
... mini lemon meringue pies with sky-high fluff...
... and square-cut Black Forest cake, rich with chocolate cherry and nostalgia.
At RMB268 per person, Albero’s weekend brunch is serious value, especially given the imported ingredients, à la carte plating, and the sheer quality of food on offer.
It’s a brunch that feels both bountiful and balanced—one that lets you eat well, but more than that: lets you breathe.
If you find yourself craving sun-soaked flavors, slow meals, and just a hint of Mediterranean escapism, skip the PVG plane ticket and head to Lujiazui instead.
Reservations +86 21 3867 9196
Sat & Sun, 11.30am-2pm; RMB268
Albero Spanish Restaurant, 2/F, Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai, 1288 Lujiazui Huan Lu, by Dongyuan Lu, Pudong District 陆家嘴环路1288号2楼, 近东园路
[All image by That's]
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