[Radar]: Maison Pourcel

 

Area: Maison Pourcel is naturally in the French Concession. It comprises the sixth and eighth floors of the Red House building, smack in the middle of Shaanxi Lu's HELLO-Watch-Bag-DVD corridor. That's a block or two south of Yan'an Lu, and a block or two north of Huaihai Lu, where Chez Louis -- the original, colonial-era Red House -- was.

What it is: A fancy French restaurant, with Michelin Stardust.

The Pourcel brothers have returned to Shanghai in two steps, after an inglorious sinking of Sens & Bund, their original Shanghai project.

They are twins whose flagship French restaurant has been on both the good and bad side of the Michelin star. Their flagship, Jardine de Sens, has risen as high as three. They have been darlings in France.

Like a lot of these starry chefs, they've got a mean biz streak, and have parlayed stars into business galaxies. Pourcel Incorporated's fine dining portfolio alone includes Bangkok, Tokyo, Casablanca, Geneva, Marrakech, Algiers, Dubai, and Shanghai -- twice.

Sens & Bund was first. When it went screwy in '08, they left Shanghai. The Expo brought them back to run 6SENS, the restaurant on top of the French Pavilion. That was step one. Step two is leaving that false economy for the real world: Maison Pourcel.

The location couldn't be better known among locals. The Red House was the French restaurant in China's mind for decades. (In this NYT time capsule from 1984, the paper summed it up as where "young men take their dates to show off with a knife and fork.") The last time this fine-dining dinosaur tried to update with a foreign partner, it didn't go so well.

The Pourcels and their partners are going for round two. No doubt their hefty reputation calmed Red House's nerves. What's significantly different from Sens & Bund is that the Pourcels, and their company, have personally invested in this project. They have scores of consulting projects across the globe, but this is the first Pourcel venue outside of France funded with some of their own money, and so it's now called Maison Pourcel. They're invested in this, to the point that Jacques Pourcel and two of his top deputies will be living in Shanghai for six months of the year from now on. That's what they say.

The eighth floor is where they go for broke. It's French fine-dining, with the Mediterranean influences these guys are known for. Frankly, alot of it is dated French cooking. It's modern circa the late '90s. There is mango and chicken, and green tea powder desserts among the ballotines and millefeuilles, and tons of squiggles and sauce dots. (The menu is broken up by section, and can be seen here, here, here, here here, and here.) The sixth-floor is a relatively casual lounge with a terrace.

Atmosphere: Modern luxury. Black woods, marble marble marble, floor to ceiling windows wrapping around the eighth floor. An army of polished French managers and staff in black-on-black suits. The view of low-rise Shanghai stops only at the skyscrapers of Pudong, the neon towers of Huaihai Lu, and the office blocks on Nanjing. Jacques and Laurent Pourcel themselves greet you as you step off the elevator.

The lounge is more classic '30s Deco, without being overbearing. It is much more relaxed. When God turns off his hair dryer and the temperature becomes more amenable, their terrace is going to be a winner.

Damage: Pack cash like you're going to the Bund. Tapas at the sixth floor are more reasonable, but you'll still need a few hundred to occupy a seat with any kind of dignity.

Who's going: Maison Pourcel's eighth floor is for special occasions, business dinners, and people who hunt Big Chefs. Last night, it was almost exclusively Rich Chinese, and that's what they want: people who know the Red House's reputation, feel comfortable with French food, and can spend, spend, spend.