What the hell is a Tiramisuteca? And why are there lines out the door for it? Those are the main questions raised by ORO, a so-called Tiramisuteca on the corner of Shaanxi Nan Lu and Jinxian Lu, that has been trending highly on social media in the past weeks. I had to go.
What I found was more of a design shop, with fancy chairs that look like ladyfingers, a brown marble display case, and packaging made of gold fabric and sashes. The line was tame for a weekday afternoon (it’s worse on weekends) and when I got to the front, I ordered two: the classic tiramisu and the Mojito (39rmb). The packaging was top-notch, the tiramisu less so. The cube of a takeout container held something more in line with the 1920s bakery Red Ruby’s “fresh cream”, so beloved by the Shanghainese, and less classic tiramisu, with its ladyfingers, coffee, and chocolate. Is it wrong? Let’s say it’s heavily localized instead.
As for what a Tiramisuteca is, I had to turn online. They are, apparently, a thing in Milan. Designer tiramisu. Designer spaces. It was, in retrospect, inevitable this would end up in Shanghai. Have at it.
