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The Lowdown Dirty Food Gossip

Roomtwentyeight, Bakeries, Laris - By Christopher St Cavish, Jan 06, 10

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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