A project forged between an unnamed local celebrity (hint: her last name is Liu and she’s from Chengdu) and the building owner of Bund 22, Lady Bund is an enormous, high budget, luxuriously decorated restaurant and bar, with breathtaking views. If only the food were similarly high octane.
It gives us little pleasure to admit that Lady Bund’s food doesn’t do this place justice yet. Occupying arguably the most enviable spot on the river, the potential here is vast and deserves far better than what is currently on offer. With that said, Lady Bund is still in soft opening, so we’re hoping they can drastically turn things around before the grace period is up.
Lady Bund’s insides are better described as a work of art than interior decoration. The work of highly sought-after Frenchman Thomas Dariel, designer furniture, sculptures, artworks and bespoke lighting elements line the venue’s expanses. We turned a corner and found an additional dining area, this one dotted with oversized white lamps mysteriously suspended mid-air between tables. Another corner revealed a private dining area partitioned by foot-wide ribbons of white elastic. It’s called the ‘bondage room,’ apparently…
Alas, it appears the vast majority of Lady Bund’s budget went on things like these rather than the menu, which comprises ‘contemporary Asian’ dishes spanning Japan, China and Singapore. Unfortunately, no elements were much good, with the exception of a roasted Bluefin tuna cheek (RMB248, below), which came flown in from Japan that day apparently.
Roast duck with caviar, taro, wasabi, crispy sesame bacon, RMB98
Low points of the meal included a criminally overcooked Wagyu beef tataki for the unreassuringly low price of RMB88. On the other end of the spectrum, the overpriced large mangrove crab with Singaporean chili sauce and fried jasmine rice (RMB208) was a bizarre concoction, its ‘large’ description frankly misleading.
Similarly disastrous was a dessert with soft serve ice cream, chickpeas, lentils and brown sugar for RMB58 (below). Less said about that one the better.
To Lady Bund’s credit, they have a fabulously stocked bar manned by award winning mixologist Lei He, who seems to take his job extremely seriously indeed.
As such, for now we recommend skipping the food at Lady Bund for cocktails instead, at least until they’ve got the kitchen straightened out…
Price: RMB350 per person
Who’s going: Friends of the celebrity owner
Good for: Cocktails
0 User Comments