Art & Gourmet in Shanghai
Our “Art & Gourmet” series introduces food related to the art world.
This time, we bring you a spot in Shanghai.
Near the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai stands a building housing famous galleries such as Perrotin and Almine Rech.
What we introduce today is a Chinese restaurant tucked quietly right next to this high-end building.
Drawn in by something intangible, my art-world companion and I stepped inside as a pair.
Shanghai is a city where English is not widely spoken. This place was no exception — no English at all.
Wanting to drink beer, I grabbed a bottle from the in-store fridge myself and had it opened at the counter.
Looking at the menu, neither of us Japanese speakers could read any Chinese. Left with no choice, we pointed at photos and ordered two dishes.
Midway through the meal, the auntie running the place started saying something to us.
Since we had no idea what she meant and just tilted our heads, she walked over to the rice cooker and gestured with a rice paddle, asking whether we wanted rice. What a kind lady.
The atmosphere inside was homey; the staff had taken over one table and were surrounding it in a lively, banquet-like scene. It just felt like a good place. The food was tasty too, and the two of us ended up relaxing there at length.
Payment was via Alipay — two dishes and three bottles of beer for “109 yuan (about 1,744 yen in Japanese currency)” ※calculated at 16 yen per yuan.
That works out to just 872 yen per person — remarkably cheap.
In China, these kinds of neighborhood eateries scattered throughout the city are wonderfully inexpensive and full of character.
