ASIA PAC
CITY FOCUS
Ying, marketing director at Fu Group, a collection of high-end Shanghainese restaurants. Diners are increasingly interested in healthy eating, which you can see refl ected in on-the-go salad chains to the group’s Michelin-starred vegetarian fi ne-dining restaurant Fu He Hui, one of Shanghai’s few restaurants recognized on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list (number 22 in 2021).
The dining experience
The entire dining experience has also risen in importance. “Dining in Shanghai is no longer just about eating,” says Ying. Restaurant interior design takes cues from global trends and social media (for better or worse) plays an outsized role in the scene. "Competition in
Shanghai’s restaurant industry is fi erce," says Acker So FCSI, general manager of Angles and Curves design studio. "Whether it’s in casual or high-end restaurants, diners are demanding more – fast ordering, quick delivery, excellent ingredients, high- level service." “What brand is your hand
sanitizer and what brand is your bathroom fragrance? Is the restaurant beautiful? Are the photos they took during the meal also beautiful?” These are the questions guests will ask, says Li Ze, who’s behind a wave of the city’s new generation of wine bars and restaurants including SOiF and Vinism. It’s as much about the “wine lifestyle” as the taste of the food for many diners. While Western concepts
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continue to trend, one could argue that the evolution of Chinese food is what’s most exciting in Shanghai right now. “Xin Rong Ji is expanding very quickly in Shanghai and throughout China,” says Li, naming the Taizhou cuisine fi ne-dining restaurant chain with locations across the country that have garnered Michelin recognition as an example of the mid- and high-end Chinese restaurants taking off . It’s a part of the nascent revolution of modern Chinese cuisine, which is seeing chefs experiment and innovate. Along with his fi ancée, chef DeAille Tam, Hong Kong-Canadian chef Simon Wong opened Obscura last year, an intimate fi ne- dining restaurant blending Chinese fl avors with a Western perspective that’s leading Shanghai’s modern Chinese cuisine.
“There has been a recent
introspective attitude towards local ingredients and their return to glory,” says Wong. “Many nationals are rekindling their memories from their childhood by becoming more attuned to their hometown and the bounties that originate from that source.”
Challenges ahead The only constant is change is a phrase nowhere more apt than in Shanghai. “In some ways, it’s like a chameleon,” historian Joanna Waley- Cohen says of the city. This has been true throughout its history, but for the restaurant
SHANGHAI: A MUST-SEE CULINARY DESTNATION
The 2022 edition of the Michelin Guide Shanghai saw 129 of the city's restaurants recognized. The announcement saw five new recipients of one star while Shanghai now has eight restaurants with two stars.
Taian Table was promoted from two to three stars and was also awarded the Michelin Green star, recognizing a commitment to sustainability.
"Shanghai plays a very special role in Asian world gastronomy," said Gwendal Poullennec, Michelin Guides International Director.
industry, never has it been truer than now. A destination for
both chefs and diners, Shanghai is not without its challenges. More than 100,000 restaurants means competition is at an all-time high. The city’s restaurateurs speak to the diffi culties in staffi ng and rent has skyrocketed, making it survival of the fi ttest – or in some cases, luckiest. “There is only a limited supply of talent and the labor market has become spread thin,” says Simon Wong. “With so much competition, there has been no holding back from landlords to constantly jack up rent, which adds to the pressure of operating costs. We have never witnessed as much turnover in any other city we have ever visited on this planet.”
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