The Lowdown Dirty Food Gossip

By Christopher St Cavish, Jan 6th, 2010 | In Dining



Roomtwentyeight has closed, and left a jagged dispute in its place. It's messy. The restaurant, on the ground floor of the URBN Hotel, was operated by the Wagas group. By URBN's account, it was a contract dispute, with a steady stream of legal notices. By Wagas' account, they were "shocked" to find their restaurant -- an apparently profitable business -- boarded up one day with "no notice, no nothing."

Who knows? Lawyers are gonna be battling this one out for a while yet -- it's headed to the courts -- but the end game is the same: Roomtwentyeight, gone for good. It's under renovation right now.

URBN, meanwhile, inadvertently hints that David Laris is going to step in with a "really new and exciting" project, a "whole new restaurant concept in Shanghai." Oh, great! What? "We can't tell you, but it's gonna be really new and exciting." (David Laris Creates, the man's company, is quick to point out that "to date, no contract has been signed" but acknowledges that URBN has approached them.) Maybe say a couple prayers, light some incense, and call in a priest to clear out that bad juju first, guys? After pulling a few teeth, all I can get from URBN is that it will be the "first eco-friendly" concept in Shanghai, and will be "in line with URBN's sustainable concept."

Hmm, that sounds not dissimilar from Zest Express, a newly opened salad bar from the Shanghai Organics people -- which Laris consulted on. Maybe it's something like that, minus the "express"? Zest Express says that's not the case; any potential happenings at URBN are unrelated to them. It's still early days, then. Maybe completely false, premature speculation. URBN says the new place will be revealed after Chinese New Year.

The Wagas people are moving on, too. They've just opened the third puzzle piece in the F&B Jenga tower they've built at 195 Anfu Lu, a bakery and deli called Baker & Spice. It's a striking modernist space, full of light and grey wood-grained marble, and breads, pastries, jams, and wine. They're ramping up the inventory over the next couple of weeks, adding pates and jams from the upstairs Mr. Willis, a deeper wine selection, and various edible goodies. Already in stock: long planks of knobby Turkish pide (18rmb); boiled-and-baked bagels in plain, cinnamon-raisin, and cranberry (6,8,9rmb); excellent baguettes with a sourdough twang (15rmb); croissants, either all-butter or almond (8, 12rmb); zucchini, carrot, and poppyseed cake with cream cheese frosting (15rmb); pain au chocolat (10rmb); coffees, granola, cookies, and more, more, more.

The kitchen behind it is 300 square meters, and is now functioning as the central bakery for the 20-something restaurants in the Wagas stable; Baker & Spice is its retail front. Dean Brettschneider, an accomplished, jetsetting baker, has consulted on the place, tagged it a "micro artisan bakery" on his website, and installed David Brien, a fellow NZ'er, to handle the day-to-day.

The last piece in the Wagas Compound puzzle was originally cut to be a Japanese restaurant, operated by someone who wasn't Wagas-affiliated. That's been scrapped. In its place, there will be Mi Thai, on the second floor, a "modern Thai restaurant", scheduled to open on March 1. Construction and menus are already under way.

Finally, speaking of bread and disputes and central kitchens with retail outlets, Patisserie de France. The tip of their iceberg is a corner of Little Face's first floor so small that in order to see the full selection, you've got to step outside and look at the window display. But what's behind it is interesting. Patisserie de France is the project of three former bigwigs at Paul, the French bakery. The former production manager, former operations manager, and former purchasing manager teamed up, without Paul, and Patisserie de France is their concept: "a traditional, high-class bakery with reasonable prices." That is to say (though they are careful not to), a cheaper Paul, with woven, cloth-lined breadbaskets and all. Prices are mostly between 9rmb and 24rmb. They are primarily a wholesale business, having taken over the operations and kitchens of the now-dormant Visage bakery. A second Patisserie de France is expected to open on Hongqiao Lu, after Chinese New Year.

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djsexypaul, Jan 6th, 2010

a rat ran over my foot in Paul Bakery in Xintiandi last week, will never go back to that place

joaquin, Jan 6th, 2010

Shanghai is completely infested by rats. For one to enter into a street level shop can totally happen to anyone. On the other hand i saw a huge fat pig inside Malones the other day. The punters called it Paul.

bbfok27, Jan 6th, 2010

Paul is full of rats, so if URBN is full of rats too then someone should go overthere and shoot Ratatouille 2. Stop Laris and put Paul instead of the restaurant and that s it ...Great location a great Shanghai F & B movie ..:)))

chinaman, Jan 6th, 2010

Xintiandi has always been full of rats, not all the rodent kind either...

marduko, Jan 7th, 2010

I got Food poisoned last saturday at one of the branch restaurants in Xintiandi and....they didnt care about that.

meileidi, Jan 7th, 2010

Very nice updated, regarding "first eco-friendly" concept in Shanghai will be looking forward for it....go laris..

Bobcat, Jan 7th, 2010

@bbfok27, hilarious comment.

I saw a huge rat climbing up a pole in the food basement at the jing an shopping mall. It was nasty, but my family still goes there to buy seafood and steaks, barf.

loli, Jan 7th, 2010

I love rats

greasyspoon, Jan 11th, 2010

Ha ha...! @joaquin, hilarious comment.

One never knows for sure whatever goes into his mouth is good or not because he is a terrible "food critic" but you always know its CRAP coming out of his mouth...

mmarco, Jan 11th, 2010

Such a piece of crap this DJSEXYPAUl... probably the biggest rat in town but not the sexiest. pretty sure rats stories could happen anytime anywere, even Malones.
''will never go back to that place''....booooooo.... such a kid...go back to bed.

fundooy, Feb 8th, 2010

rat tail is really nutritious. You guys should try it. Rich in protein too. Would be a perfect fit at one wellness

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