Bistro Nouveau
By Hien Huynh, Nov 26th, 2007 | In Dining
The Jingan area north of Nanjing Lu is fast becoming a hip location for new apartment complexes, boutiques, stores, delis and restaurants. For some time now most of Shanghai's "hipness" has been contained within the ring road highway hemming in the French Concession, and, as several failed restaurateurs can tell you, it's been difficult for new venues to draw people up past Nanjing Lu.
The city's urban planners have been seeking to change this however, looking to develop other areas of town with mixed success. As a result, several far-flung areas in Shanghai have been turned into little, diet Xintaindis with flashy names supposedly signifying their modern and contemporary edge: the New Factories, Bridge 8, Red Town and now, Loft 98 north of Jingan Temple at Yanping Lu and Xinzha Lu. Loft 98 used to be a non-descript Chinese restaurant, a non-descript hair salon, a non-descript bakery, a non-descript women's clothing store and a cigarettes store, but has undergone radical remodeling to launch as a collection of new restaurants, trendy, creative office spaces and shops catering to the burgeoning expat community in the area. In addition to the famous expat apartment complex "San He Hua Yuan," this area of Jingan has seen an increased expat population over the past three years due to its comparatively low apartment rental prices, its relatively central location and its proximity to the subway. Basically, if you're only going to be in Shanghai for a year to drink and teach English, it's a pretty good area to live in. The only downside was that you used to end up having to be taking a lot of cabs south to eat at proper restaurants once you got sick of Gong Bao Ji Ding.
And so, Cantine has quietly opened its doors on Yanping Lu and is one of three new enterprises in Loft 98 by Gilles (erstwhile of Pegasus, Babyface & VIP Room fame). His offerings in the new complex are three small and quaint venues, all neighbouring each other: Cantine is a simple bistro with French twists, "Shoka" is a sashimi, sushi and saki bar, and "Delish" is a gourmet deli.
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