Club Shanghai features the Swallow Tail
Ballroom. |
Those seeking somewhere
special to eat are spoilt for choice in Shanghai. There are the Bund
establishments with their views and their names: M on the Bund, Laris and Jean
Georges. There are some hard to fault eateries in Xintiandi, T8 for one.
The city's sprinkling of four- and five-star hotels each have restaurants
offering sublime dining experiences - the Westin, the Shangri-La and Le Meridien
to name but three. Then there are random venues such as Sasha's and the new
Hugo.
All of these deliver world-class cuisine in superbly convivial environments
with hyper-attentive service. But, and here comes the rub: All will charge a
price that isn't far off what one would expect to pay in some of the best
restaurants of London, New York or Paris. The crucial difference being that the
top restaurants of those cities have monthlong-plus waiting lists and they are
always chock-a-block.
Getting a table at any of the afore mentioned Shanghai eateries, except those
on the Bund, is usually not a problem. Which brings us to the oldest problem in
the hospitality industry: People don't like eating in empty restaurants - a
catch 22 chicken and egg situation. Glorious food in fabulous surroundings with
sensational service and in the company of three score other diners makes for one
of life's great pleasures.
Remove any of those factors and it just isn't the same.
This is where Bund restaurants score big and justify their prices; you'll
never be the sole couple at any of these. All the staff are regularly stretched
and well practiced, the produce is accordingly fresh, the chefs know what
they're doing; they did it last night.
Club Shanghai illustrates the point better than most. This restaurant on the
fourth floor of the Shanghai Concert Hall could make a strong case for being the
most beautiful in the city. It also has character by the bucket. With its
chandeliers, sweeping split-level layout and elegant tables, the place purrs
seductively: "Romance baby, romance."
All of the old Shanghai hey day cliches are embodied in this 1930s-built,
recently-moved gem of a building to the south of the People's Square.
A pedigree Parisian chef is in situ and cooking the kind of cuisine the
French nobility died for: Unashamedly haute cuisine of the highest order.
Beef consomme is a notoriously difficult soup, but Chef Franck Bruwier's,
with chicken mousse and tangerine peel, is something to behold. His lightly
roasted duck breast isn't for the faint hearted, Gallic arrogance shining
through. Paired with a light risotto of straw mushrooms and mung beans this dish
is rich but not overpoweringly so.
Evidence of a similarly reverent approach to the core ingredients and a
certain artistry, albeit faintly traditional, is clear in both the cod dish and
the tenderloin.
The lunch deal has an array of antipasto, soup de la jour, a main and sweets
from the counter. The homemade creme anglais is capable of making a grown man
weep. Culinary credentials firmly established.
Service-wise, the staff are amply competent but struggle a little in terms of
staying focused which ushers in my final two related points. There really is no
need to book a table at Club Shanghai. It would be a safe bet that during
today's lunch service less than a handful of diners will enjoy this most opulent
of restaurants. Staff outnumber guests four to one. Were this place packed to
the rafters, dizzying tunes, diners dressed to the nines, waiters dashing hither
and thither, leggy cigarette girls and peals of laughter, it would be nothing
short of incredible. As it is, Club Shanghai must be barely viable.
The lunch deal is just shy of 200 yuan (US$25) per head. An evening meal for
two with wine could easily breach the 2,000 yuan mark. Could there be a
connection?
Connected to the bar there is the elegant J Bar and through the bar there is
the Swallow Tail Ballroom, harking back to a bygone era, where a live jazz band
plays nightly.
Club Shanghai
Address: 4/F, Shanghai Concert Hall, No.
523 Yan'an Road E.
Tel: 021-5383-9989
