According to smartshanghai this restaurant price level is $$$.
On that I disagree and would say $$$$.

And after that statement I must say I am very pleased with the experience from visiting Cuivre.
When we visit the service was very good!
They stayed around to help without hovering over your table and there where room for some small talk.
I ordered Escargots for starter. Taste and texture where nice. A very strong 4 of 5.
Then continue with Tarta for main. Here I thought the meat pieces was slightly to big and mention so afterwards. My mistake that I didn't mention it earlier and kitchen would have taken care of this.
As taste was excellent and the meat would been finer cut if asked by me, I give the dish 5 of 5.
After this I was too full to continue with desert and I am not realy a desert person. :)

The wine we picked was a familiarly wine for 380rmb, that we know is a full body wine and no surprise this time either. Wine was great.
I do think do that there should be, slightly, more of a selection of wines from 300-450rmb.
As it is now I find the selection of wines is 25% to pricy, but I do not hesitate that all wines on the list taste excellent.

Final conclusion.
Yes, I will go back.
Yes, it is worth calling the day before to make a booking.
Yes, I will try some other of the dishes.
Yes, it is worth the money, even then we always wish it to cost less and there is some room for price adjustment on the wine list.. (my opinion)

See you soon again. :)

I was adviced for several times to go to Cuivre by some french friends working in local hospitality and food industry. After a few vain tentatives to book a table there I finaly manage to have diner in Cuivre yesterday with my wife.

The overall feeling was very good, in term of Service, environement and food.

I would say that the main quality of this restaurant is the warm and professional service due to the involment of the french management. This french woman was everywhere : welcoming us, checking in the kitchen the cooking of the meat for my pregnant wife, and at the end of the service behind the bars; drying wine glasses, talking to customer. That's a really rare attitude in Shanghai.
Anyway, this type of management is having a great impact of Chinese employees who are smiley, professional, just enought talkative. They seems happy in their job, motivated and this is making the dinning experience enjoyable.

Decoration and environement are fine, I don't really like the concept of menu on IPad, since we are already too much addicted to this and I have a problem to see people spending more time looking at their mobile phone than talking with the other guests on the table, and I think this doesn't really match with the friendly spirit and authentic athmosphere of this restaurant (anyway, that's my personnal idea).

Regarding the food, my foie-gras was really, really, really good, and the quantity was perfect for my greedy appetite and enough to also share 2 bites with my wife... Unfortunalely, it was not matching with her sword-fish, so I can't really say if her starter was very good or just good.
I just had the feeling that the swordfish was not on the same level as my foie-gras.
For the main course, we had Beef tartare and Bavette a l'Echalotte, with too simple but very good french fries. I can't say anything bad for these dishes. Taste and price were very well balanced! Just too simple. (we didn't really took any risk ordering these courses).
Then at last, we were too full to order the cheese plate, that I wish is on the level of what is announced on the menu.
Instead I took the Framboise entremet and my wife mango yougourt. It was good, and quantity was there, while the price very fine. But it seems that the Chef is not specialised in Pastry. No amazing creativity there...
Then the Wine list, at once I felt I had choice in wine where the price was not the limitation factor... I really appreciated to see a large choice of affoardable wine below 600RMB. There are wines for all expectation and budget, with some exclusivities that must be valuable.
Anyway, being alone to drink I just had one glass of wine! So I can't say more about their "original" selection.
So in a few words, this restaurant is serving "authentic" food at the right price in a very friendly environment. More "tralala" or "show" in the plate would be welcomed, if it is not impacting the price.
I'd like to go there again with friends or colleagues, and I'm sure it will be an happy dinner.

I came to Cuivre with high expectations, and that would be prove to be my undoing. Various friends of mine had talked up the atmosphere, cool menu scheme, good service, and great food. I am happy to say that they were right on many of things, but wrong on the most important element of a good restaurant. First the good:

Atmosphere: I really liked the vibe and design of the place. Very laid-back feel to place but still reasonably upscale. Design with bikes was as weird as I heard, but not in bad way. You can often tell authenticity of place by type of clientele, and the volume of French customers spoke to that issue.

Service: Our server was pretty decent as she was there when needed most of time, and gave us enough space so as not to be overbearing. Only gripe I had was she kept trying to take away plates where food was not finished or even close to finished. She also either intentionally or perhaps accidentally tried to get us to order more than we wanted. I chalk this up to inexperience.

Now unfortunately the bad:

Food: I ordered two dishes total, the tuna tartare and the lamb loin. The Tuna Tartare was pretty decent, with nice balance of avocado and tuna. I especially liked the sauce that went with this dish though the whole thing was a bit smaller than I would have liked for price paid. The Lamb loin was the reason this place got three stars. I will give credit when credit is due, the loin was cooked well. However, the sauce that went with it was just not good and neither was the garnish on top of it. The bacon wrapped asparagus was just not right...uncooked or didn't have a decent flavor. The bread was good....but come on, it was not as good as people make it sound on the review. I tried my friends pork chop, which is fattier than I would like in a expensive piece of meat....

Price: For the portions of meat, I felt the price was a bit on the high side(USD for a mediocre piece of meat). Not good bargain but did not rise to level of being rip off.

To sum it up, was worth trying out, but not a return visit kind of place. Paying more for atmosphere than great food.

Finally a pleasant surprise in this ever-changing restaurant opening/closing overkill of Shanghai.
Went to Cuivre with a friend (for business chit chat) for the 1st time last night. Made the reservation the same day, still got a table. I arrived early and though (!) i could still choose wehere we could sit. Ok...Nope. Table was fine, nice wooden flair and warm colors in the whole spacious dining hall. Lots of warm wooden tones and copper (cuivre- sic !). Not sure about the bikes, but..we were here to eat !Nice touch having the ipads as menues and the Maitre D' promised they'll have their own interactive app soon- Had a crispy (bordering on too dry) glass of Sauvignon to start (45RMB) We decided to share a plate of "Les escargots d’Antoinette" which translated into baked snail in garlic butter, tomato concasse and roasted pancetta. Very good choice to go with the crispy bread (finally not just baguette but proper "pain the campagne" with dark crust). The dish was a pleasant surprise, not too garlicky and well balanced flavors. As main we decided to go for the "Cote de boeuf" a grilled Australian beef rack (served for 2 pers) with homemade béarnaise sauce. =>Spot. On. This dish, despite the elevated pricing (630RMB)- will make me come back. Cooked to perfection (as ordered: more on the medium than the well side) it was tender and grilled perfectly. The green side salad and the delicious french fries were welcomed but the main event was the beef and the bearnaise which had to be refilled once...!The terragon combined with the lemon was a perfect match to the powerful beef aroma.

The selection of open wines could be a bit wider, but was just fine for this evening. The waitstaff was attentive-despite a full house- and friendly without being pushy or intrusive.
Unfortunately the beef took it's toll ad there was no room for desert...A lot of other items on the menu are too tempting. I will be back for sure to try more. Thank you Michael and your team for a very pleasant evening !

Beautiful atmosphere, decent service, but was very disappointed in the food. The bread was stale. I had the black pig and it was just basically a hunk of fried pork. Friend had the mussels and another friend had the beef, after trying them I wasn't impressed with either (although to be fair, there's not much you can do with mussels). We had a chocolate desert that was also mediocre - it tasted prefrozen actually. The escargot was the only salvageable dish. Wine was also good.

The overall experience was a warm atmosphere (lots of new wood and soft lighting), decor was well presented (its one of the most better done for its scale and positioning) and friendly staff. Good selection on menus, on ipads (saves print and paper). We ordered duck salad, and foi gras to start with. For mains, it was cod and the steak and to end a nice cheese board. Highly recommended and we didn't have to go to the Bund!

Walking into CUIVRE....I noticed... a weird...

ARE THOSE BIKES?!?!?! Interesting accents to the bar...and IPADS!!!! Too bad there wasn't a live feed so we can watch them cook.. lol kidding kidding, no games either....they should definitely put internet on so we can write reviews as we eat... hmmm..

Fanny, is the gorgeous French Spanish manager who is an extremely efficient hostess came and greeted us.... Michael, nice tall friendly French guy..

Anyway, what did we have...

Terrine de foie gras...
I think I died and went to heaven. Truthfully I'm not a big goose liver person...I acquired the taste in college, eating my way through Restaurant Row and Hollywood...BUT OMG. This...creamy...delicious, succulent...goose liver-melted in my mouth... I understand why the French and Italians can't get enough of it now. (Yes, btw goose liver originated as an Italian delicacy -I was schooled by an Italian chef. Haha.)

Beef Tartare and Tuna tartar... I love avocado and they had avocado in both dishes. Lots of big chunky avocados...the tuna tartar had an interesting I guess tarty Asian sauce. Both good very, very good dishes.

White bean Truffle soup... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
Foamy, truffle-yyyyyy yummmmmmmmmmmy soup.

Risotto....wow haha apparently "Michael makes amazing risotto...for a French guy" beef stock...cheeeeeesssssseee....al dente.

And last but not least...the cod. Cod... mmmmm I love cod, love the texture the taste, and even the really Chinese sauce... tasted a lot like lu rou, if you know what I'm talking about it's like stewed pork...Taiwanese style.

Mmmmm yea, this place is definitely a go-to restaurant when I have friends visiting, staffs efficient, my water was never empty, friendly service... the comfortable cozy feeling of enjoying good food, good service good company...that was slightly ruined by an annoying ANNOYING English guy who sat next to me.

A Complete idiot who could not stop complaining. Just went on and ON and ON to the point where even his dinner companions were telling him to tone it down. I'm sorry man, if you want to come to a restaurant to gripe and let loose all your pent up frustrations because you couldn't get laid in Shanghai or for whatever reason, do it elsewhere and don't ruin other people's dinner.

A week of adventure in Guizhou over Golden Week may have excited my taste buds but I was still glad to be back in Shanghai and craving something Western, on a plate all for myself. The picture of prosciutto-wrapped turbot on Smart Shanghai’s homepage made my mouth water and so I made it my mission to find a similar piece of fish. Although the mission did not lead to the House of Roosevelt which, alas, we deemed slightly beyond budget, it led to a dish which was so perfectly executed as to leave me satisfied and ready to go back for more.

Newly-opened Cuivre had intimidated me slightly at first in its venue below the Ambassy Club frontage but at my boyfriends encouragement I called last minute and was assured by the friendly French voice on the end of the line that they would easily accommodate us. This was not, I think a sign that Cuivre is lacking in custom, as when we arrived latish on the Friday evening before work began again with a vengeance at the end of the holiday, the restaurant was still about half full and the room quietly buzzing with the contented sound of mainly French accents.

Warm rustic bread arrived on our table as we took our seats, not only to take the edge off our hunger but to give us a taste of the understated quality of the meal which would follow. The i pad menu system worked flawlessly for two but I can see that for a larger party it may be more tricky to handle. The wine list is a good length with a variety of wines from different regions and enough at prices which are affordable to the mere mortal, starting at around the 200 RMB mark and escalating to the heavens. Cuivre is the name of a cooking pot in French but does not seem to lend its meaning either to the food, which is lighter and not as ‘typically French’ as one might expect, or the décor which is wooden but gives a very contemporary and sleeker twist on the converted barn feeling.

Of two pages of starters, the first were all quite heavily meaty, including the perfect choice of country terrine for my boyfriend. I passed, quite happy to nibble on the delicious bread and steal his toasted version, lightly drizzled with olive oil whose flavour spoke quality and a simple yet sweet and sharp onion marmalade. The terrine itself, pale in colour, got top marks for its creamy flavour which nevertheless supported enough roughness to the texture, buoyed by an addition of hazelnuts. Now for a review of the fish, from a self-professed fish connoisseur who has too many times in Shanghai been disappointed for over-cooking to blotting paper consistency. The chef, who, we were told when we asked to have our compliments passed on, had previously had five years’ experience at the Royal Meridian in People’s Square, had cooked it just to perfection and no more, before setting it on a bed of aubergine confit and chorizo. The chorizo was unexpectedly invisible in very small cubes but enough to give the dish that complementary smoky flavour and also strong enough to hold up against our bottle of Chilean merlot which, at the lower end of the price bracket at 220 RMB was surprisingly good. Although the service was attentive, the waiter was evidently not versed in wine and we chose on price rather than what we ourselves knew would be best with fish.

The only quibble with the I pad menu system was that, although we saw baskets overflowing with French fries passing our table from time to time, there was no section for sides. On asking the waiter who was very helpful and eager, if slightly lacking acquaintance with what was possible without constantly asking the chef, informed us that we could indeed have French fries or mashed potato. We opted for mash but, after consultation, were told that this was not in fact possible so french fries it was. I can’t help but feeling that it is too easy for restaurants to opt out on the potato option- I know in a French bistro frites should be the norm, but as a Brit I’d like a bit more choice. And a green side salad would not have gone amiss either. Desert was as perfectly executed as the main and although the chocolate ‘ingot’, described as ‘dark’ on the menu was more reminiscent of a ferrero rocher deconstructed and put back together differently than the bitter Mayan flavours I expected, it was, delicious all the same and finished with a quenelle of delicate vanilla ice cream. Altogether the bill, a modest total of one starter, two very reasonably-priced mains (148 RMB) mains, two deserts and a bottle of wine was around the 800 mark, although I’d expect it to be closer to 1000 for the more extravagant. Passing our complements to the chef was, it turned out, unnecessary, as he appeared in person as we finished our deserts, a nice personal touch which added to the warm ambience of the evening.

Family dinner out on a Monday night: Cuivre delivered good food for adults and children. Not exactly bistro fair, as I found main courses were too light on the plate - a lock of a vegetable stable maybe. French Fries were good. The cod dish really tasty, but steak of Australian beef not overly tender. We liked the advise on menu/wine and the value for money kids money. Think the iPad menu system is maybe less practical than a traditional menu. Only one ipad per table - and difficult to share and look all at the same time.

Long story to short- CUIVRE should be in your MUST-TRY list!!!

Dinner: approx. 350RMB / person (excluding wine) -> after we ordered all dishes, the fresh bread was served with butter immediately. The menu was through iPad, it was funny to read all menus (unfortunately it does not have food photos, so we need to read all explanation of dishes :) which was fine for me).

1. Foie gras: it was perfectly serves with some poached cherries and grilled toast. Very tasty, and the goose liver was marinated with cognac.
2. Escargots: Baked snails were cooked with garlic butter, tomato, and pancetta. They didn't have escargots spoon/fork but the French lady (as I remember her name is Fanny) brought small spoon for us - she is really friendly and attentive on each table-, I could enjoy the garlic butter well with the fresh French bread. EXCELLENT!
3. Grilled Wagyu Beef: the quality of beef was good. The wine sauce was a bit strong hence I could not enjoy the beef taste itself but the beef was cooked well; it was very tender and juicy!
4. Seabass: The skin of seabass was very crispy and inside was perfectly cooked. The sauce was creamy and well balanced with seabass taste. The food temperature of main dishes was also perfect.
* Cocktail -> we had cocktails (Whisky sour & Mojito) instead of wine, the price of drinks were quiet reasonable and quality of cocktails were not outstanding but definitely very standard.
** At dinner, the dishes were served perfectly. Starter first and main dishes later - the forks and knives were changed as well.

Brunch: 188RMB / person (with 3 course meal incl. fresh juice or smoothie) -> We were 6 people in total, and we decied to order various dishes to share. The waiter advised us the portion is not big, and we can order any 3 dishes from the menu.

1. Grilled truffle sandwish -> grilled sandwich with melted brie cheese, and arugula. It was served as small 4 pieces.
2. Goat cheese salad -> fresh salad with Goat cheese and avocado. It was so fresh with lots of avocado, and the dressing was not too strong - it was superb.
3. Salmon -> Simply marinated with olive oil.
4. Quiche -> Took some time to serve, but wealthy to wait. The fresh quiche was impressive.
** We had more dishes but these 4 dishes were the best from the brunch menu.

Dessert: Chocolate tart was nice but a bit too sweet for me; I normally prefer dark chocolate tart. It was served with ice cream. Cheese cake was with fresh mango! It was also nice!

*Reservation: the booking of table was excellent; most of staffs were very attentive and friendly. Without reminding them, they served water and asked coffee or tea after meal.

If they give more training for the waitress, it will be better. For example, when the waitress served the dishes, she put the dishes anywhere without asking who orders that dishes. And also her attitude or knowledge of dishes was poor. The waitress dropped the forks and knives at our table, she didn’t even say sorry to us. And also at Brunch, all dishes were served at the same time, so we needed to put all dishes on our table; it was fully packed with all cold and warm dishes. When we asked the waitress to serve the dish slowly, she said they normally served all together. When I looked at another table, it was NOT, but she insisted to put all plates on our table – that was a bit disappointed.

I think CUIVRE has great food with nice ambience. It has huge glass-window with lots of sunshine at brunch. At dinner, the light's a bit bright, but the wood floor makes the ambience warm and cozy. I definitely go back and try more dishes and also highly recommend friends to try there.

I used to go to Allure restaurant where the team Manager + Chef used to act and I followed them to Cuivre. This is truly their style. You have a friendly cuisine in a friendly and warm place.
The food & wine are not over priced and the dishes go from very french classic to redesigned.In fact, the atmosphere is a french bistro but redesigned with a strong character more suitable to Shanghai.

I liked the small portions that you can enjoy with some wines at the bar or in the very comfortable lounge.

A must to go and try.