Checking in to The Sukhothai Shanghai

One of Shanghai’s stand-out gem boutique hotels, the Neri&Hu designed The Sukhothai Shanghai offers some of this city’s most popular and worth-it food and beverage destinations, from all-in-one casual dining to creative cocktails at night to elegant intimate moments dinners.

Since launching in Shanghai in 2018, these names are already well-known: stylish, contemporary URBAN Café; craft cocktail lounge The ZUK Bar; and the focus for today’s deep dive into accessible luxury: their Italian fine dining restaurant La Scala.   

The Full Nine Yards: A Winter Staycation at The Sukhothai Shanghai

We’re going to get into the star of the star of the show — Chef Enrico De Martino’s Black Pearl Tasting Menu — but we’d just like to humbly and dutifully point out that The Sukhothai Shanghai offers Winter Staycation packages in their Executive Rooms, Studio Rooms, or Executive Suite, inclusive of breakfast, food credit at their restaurants and bar, and a few other amenities.

If you’re looking to treat yourself get out of the house for a vacation in the city, with the tasting menu serving as the focal point, that would be a great way to do it.  Then you can tack on the gin bar, gym, and spa as you see fit along with an extended and fully realized pampering session.    

Rising to the Occasion

La Scala is an elegant, contemporary Italian restaurant, recipient of a 2020 and 2021 Michelin Plate award and listed as a Black Pearl restaurant in 2022. Generally speaking, they offer traditional Italian recipes and flavors — classics and deep cuts from all over the country— filtered through a modern outlook and with an eye to reinvention. The experience is rustic and classic but also creative and singular, especially in presentation. Expect unexpected twists — the mark of chef Enrico De Martino.  

The dining experience becomes one of rediscovering traditional flavors of Italy presented in new ways or conversely experiencing regional Italian delicacies not available anywhere else in Shanghai. 

Humble Origins...

The dining space is upscale and polished, with a sort of genteel flair, taking inspiration as it does from a Renaissance garden. The chef’s table in the open kitchen, replete with emerald green ceramic tile work, perhaps references and pays homage to the restaurant's more classic and humble family trattoria influences. 

...and Fashionably Relaxed

General dining is set for large groups of friends and family, and smaller more romantic occasions. Deep woods and muted colors define the mise en scene, and a gorgeous triptych inspired by Sicily and the Mediterranean gives the proceedings a chic and modern character.  

Introducing the Chef

Enrico De Martino: "My name is Enrico De Martino and I’m from Salerno. 

So, I started this cooking passion… well…    

I’m lucky that my family from my mothers side and my father side, I grew up in two different traditions. On my mother’s side, my grandparents had a farm, with animals and vegetables, so we were always preparing housemade stuff from the farm to the table. Like fresh mozzarella for the table made the night before. Salad coming from the field. On my father’s side, they were fishermen, so also I was growing up with seafood — my father would love to go fishing and snorkelling. 

I grew up with food, all around food, knowing where it comes from originally — not just about eating and the stomach — but the original things and where ingredients come from.   

Also with this, we had a big family, with big family meals. Every Sunday, was a family day with traditional recipes. Even if it was a smaller meal, it would be around 20 people — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins all together, in traditional style, with everyone bringing their own best dish. Their own specialty.

When I travel I bring the family and tradition with me…"

Experiencing New Things

Enrico De Martino: "I began in the hotel industry concentrating on cooking. In the summers I would work for experience, first in Sicily, then a restaurant in my hometown. That one was my first experience being on a team that received a Michelin star and I got into the world of fine dining restaurants.

But I knew to learn.

I needed to travel and go around and open my mind to knew things. After working in a few different countries — France, Switzerland, Croatia — I had a good reputation in Europe and I got the opportunity to move to Vietnam in 2018 to be a part of one of the best hotels in Vietnam, The Reverie Saigon. I was in charge of the fine dining restaurant Romeo & Juliet and also the bistro, The Long. 

But I want to move to Shanghai to try something new. I want to put myself in a challenge. 

What I try to give to my guests in my dishes is traditional Italian food but not the traditional tourist food, maybe. The carbonara, the pizza margarita — it’s maybe a little too stereotypical of Italian food. And it gets offered because everyone knows these dishes. 

So with this tasting menu there are traditional dishes but way more variety. Italy is a small country but there is many regions and a huge variety of ingredients and recipes. I try to mix them and let the guests try traditional dishes they might not have experienced before, presented in a modern way. 

Always bring you roots and your family with you but experience new things."

Let's Dig In: The Aps

chef's appetizers selections 

PAIRED WITH 

Louis Roederer Collection 242 Brut, Champagne, France

***

At the intersection of Italian and Chinese cuisine, the journey of the Black Pearl Tasting Menu begins with a flurry of small plates on the scene at once. The "chef's appetizers" are a selection of seasonal dishes that change frequently to keep the guests coming back for this specific set menu. Featured is traditional Italian recipes from all over the country modified into new presentations whilst maintaining traditional flavor.  

Beginning with the Cherry on Top

Starting with something fun. An amarenas cherry foie gras bonbon. Amarenas are wild, dark cherries that come directly from Italy and are considered a gourmet sort of treat. Doubly so with the foie gras. Sicilian pistachio at the base.  

Tuna Marinade

Fresh tuna marinated with citrus apple and ginger puree, finished with salmon roe. Simple, fresh, effective. Served in a beach-y sort of platform of oyster shells and stones. 

The Octopus

An octopus, cooked twice for flavor, boiled and then grilled, with homemade mayonnaise and Italian fish sauce, maybe as an olive branch to diners that grew up with lots of fish sauce in their food. Topped with smoked paprika. 

A bit of a rare thing, the Italian fish sauce is “colatura di alici”, made from anchovies in a small fishing village in Campania.  

The Tartare

A beef tartar dish in the Piedmont style — “Battuta” — finely chopped and served with crisp leaves. This 'most classic' style of Italian beef tartar is simply seasoned with oil, lemon, and pepper to keep the flavor of the beef, and garnished with quail eggs and housemade pickle. 

La Scala’s Scallops

One of La Scala’s specialties is their scallops dish and it’s presented here in aps form as an in-road to their a la carte menu for your next visit. Scallops are served with peperonata (roasted sweet bell peppers with tomatoes). Crackers on top to give it a nice crunch. A real burst of flavor.

The Abalone Soup

abalone, seafood soup, rustic garlic bread

***

Another Italian classic with a Chinese touch. A Tuscan seafood soup reworked with abalone. Sourdough croutons with garlic, a seasonally specific mix of mushrooms and wolf berries to give it a sweet finish, also a flourish inspired by Chinese cuisine. Broth administered at the table. 

The Pasta Course - Handmade Ravioli

handmade pin ravioli stuffed with ossobuco, saffron sauce, truffle

OR

lobster linguini, lemon essence, basil

PAIRED WITH 

Cordello di Montezemolo Langhe Amies DOC, Piedmont, Italy

***

Bravely pressing on into the more substantial courses. This is chef’s revised version of a traditional osso bucco risotto Milanese. Presenting a plate of toothsome, slow-cooked, succulent osso bucco (braised beef shanks) done as a filling for handmade ravioli. Bone reduction and saffron sauce for topping and seasonal truffle to bump up the flavor into more luxurious terrain. 

The Main - Black Cod, Sautéed Veggies, and Caviar

black cod, "bagna cauda", sautéed vegetables, black pearl crown caviar

OR

grilled Rangers Valley Wagyu tenderloin M9 Plus, foie gras, truffle

PAIRED WITH 

M. Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG, Tuscany, Italy

***

For the main we opted for the black cod with braised vegetables, maintaining the strong seafood theme throughout. The sauce is a bagna cauda, typical of northern Italy, made with garlic and anchovies. Black pearl caviar adds to the lip-smacking, bracing saltyness of the dish. Beautiful skin on the cod. 

The Seasonal Finisher

La Scala dessert 

***

Finishing with a seasonally brisk pallet cleaser, just in time for Christmas.  This Mont Blanc comes with a chestnut mousse on the base with crumble, coconut, and finished with orange meringue to add a bit of flair to an otherwise creamy dish. Theatrically presented on a fluffy cloud of dry ice. Squisito!

Contact and Reservations

La Scala is on the first floor of The Sukhothai Shanghai at HKRI Taikoo Hui Mall. (AKA “The one with The Cheesecake Factory in it.)  They’re open daily for dinner fro, 5.30pm to 10.30pm (last order 10pm). The Black Pearl Tasting Menu is 1,388rmb net per person. With wine pairings, add 588rmb per person. If you want to forge your own path in terms of booze, the wine list offers over 180 types of wines including Italian boutique wines, champagnes, dessert and fortified wines to accompany the delicacies.

For reservations call 5237 8888 or click the "Book Now" button here. 

Cin cin! 

Christmas Eve Dinner

La Scala is hosting an upscale, Italian accented set dinner menu for Christmas featuring seasonal favorites and home-style Italian delicacies with a twist from Chef Enrico De Martino. The multi course meal is 1588rmb per person, including a glass of champagne. Scan the QR code for menu details and booking.