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Raffles City Rocks Shanghai with More White Castle, Stockholm Closes, and Jackie's Beer Nest Getting Demolished?

Hey Shanghai. There's some stuff. A new Raffles City is opening up in Changning with a bunch of lofty promises, including a second White Castle, Stockholm closed down with a whimper, and there was... ...
Last updated: 2017-04-28
The monthly dose of what's new and hot in Shanghai's F&B scene.

Hey Shanghai. There's some stuff. A new Raffles City is opening up in Changning with a bunch of lofty promises, including a second White Castle, Stockholm closed down with a whimper, and there was... man, just a bunch of other stuff. You know the drill.

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Now Open

Beer Lady. She's a lady. She sells beer. That's how that whole thing works.

Shed 2, Beer Lady 2, and The Blind Pig Bourbon and Smokehouse all opened. They are all awaiting your dudeliness. Check out what we thought of them here.

New Jackie's Beer Nest opened. The old one, by the way, might be slated for demolition, but that's not news. Considering the neighborhood it's in, it's always kind of been slated for demolition. This new place is bigger, nicer, has a menu of Shanghainese eats and isn't as likely to suddenly get torn down over a hot weekend.

Hollywood. Opened. Again.

Yunnanese street-food eatery Slurp! opened a new location on the increasingly bustling Maoming Bei Lu. It's a tiny/cozy two-story joint doing various delicious things that include lemongrass, bamboo, banana leaf, cilantro and combinations thereof. They're in soft-open right now, expecting a proper opening later this month.

Grill & Chill has opened up on Changde Lu, doing 'babs. Doner 'babs. Grab a 'bab and chill.

Now Closed

The muddled Swedish concept that was: Stockholm on the Bund.

Maison Papillon is closed temporarily from May 1st until June for renovations. Not "renovations," just straight renovations, they got in touch with us to tell us and everything, we detected no note of panic in their tone.

Upscale Nordic eatery Stockholm on the Bund shuttered its shutters early this month. It... never really took off.

Tiny local Shanghainese kitchen Chun closed ages ago but we only just noticed. Last September, probably. It has been replaced by a tiny local Shanghainese kitchen called Jin Yuan.

Word Around Town

Okay! Big news is that Capital Changing Raffles City is opening this Saturday. Well, it's opening a bit, they're still working on the second tower and large portions of the mall are still walled-off. Just for you, Changning Chew, who commented on the last F&BS, I went down there to take a look. Here're the big names.

Most important, White Castle. Yes! Another one! TWO! Both were rumored to open end of this month, but I'd say that's optimistic. Soon as it's open, we'll be on it. We have a Google Alert grafted directly to our frontal lobe.

Also opening; Morton's Grille, TGI Friday's, Andaman, Gingko, Paradise Classic, Paradise Dynasty hang on nearly done here Pho Asia, Baker & Spice, The Isles, Ocean Ground's Coffee swear only two more, C!tySuper and inexplicable humanity-magnet HEY TEA. Phew.

Paulaner is opening up in one of the free-standing little buildings too, probably beginning of July.

They're all in various states of unopened. Gingko looks like this;

The Isles, however, has opened, and even has a special lunch menu available. What a bunch of eager bunnies. But overall, very much under construction. Maybe a couple of weeks. We'll keep an eye out.

That's the Big News. There's also stuff happening at Columbia Circle near Panyu Lu, but we'll save that for another wire.

What else oh there's another party down in Found 158. DEUS is having it's soft-opening gig. Wonder if it's going to break Cafe Des Stagieres' record of like 7 million attendees.

Hot new Bavarian eatery Zeitgeist goes into operation next Tuesday, kicking things off with a Schnitzel night.

Okay, word in from the streets. First up, Sarah:

The Peninsula Hotel Shanghai has taken over management of No. 1 Waitanyuan, the former British Consulate. The space will be used for hotel events and weddings. They are also hoping to draw a crowd (guests and non-guests) with their new bar and outdoor terrace in the gardens of the compound. The Peninsula has also added a private yacht for guests to book during their stay. Accommodates 10 passengers at a time and can be booked for charter, a meal, or private event.

Classy. Morgan:

There's a bit of activity in a new F&B renovation project at 199 Hengshan Lu, the spot where Eduardo Vargas' new one Colca is already doing tastings for friends and family. That's in behind popular bougey restaurant Garlic, in between Bottles XO and that Cuban place that's never ever, not ever going to open. At 199: The Qimin Organic Hotpot Marketplace from Green & Safe had their opening a few weeks back. A new beef and seafood oriented resto called Crafted is also now open, a bakery called Madeline is going in, and kebabs place Styx... looks stalled. That was supposed to open around Janaury of this year but when we stuck our faces in the window last night the lights were still off.

As for Colca, they're still waiting on licenses to go through, but should start being open to the public around May 15 or so. Not soft open. Open-open-open.

That's it for-- oh wait apropos of nothing, QSW is now called Bandai Namco Dream Hall. Those guys made PacMan, and Tekken.

That's it for this round, Shanghai. Check back next week for more scandalous, unsubstantiated F&B gossip.

One more from Morgan to round it out:

Arkham is opening on May 12 with a TBA S.T.D. event and then the next night is a SHFT party with a Canadian brostep dude called Excision. You'll find me there all weekend long selling dimebags of Earl Gray tea to the kids. Don't print that.

Okay, happy holidays everyone!

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