Hidden just across the highway from Columbia Circle in Changning District is my current favorite cluster of cafes, restaurants, shops, and palatial bathrooms in Shanghai. Sure, it's super photogenic and popular with people doing extended photo shoots with vintage digital cameras (inc. yours truly), but it's actually really good. Good as in, this is a place you might visit multiple times a week for hours at a time, working, hanging out, and drinking coffee and maybe smoking cigs until late, possibly with your dog.
Located in what was once a toy factory, Park Dimanche ("Park of Sunday"?) has grown steadily over the past few years and just hit critical mass over the May holiday with the opening of the newest café there, Klinos. The four restaurants and cafes here are all run by the Taiwanese family behind the French restaurant chain Chartres Garden (夏朵花园), which has been around for 25 years (in 2016, we said "Chartres on Tianshan road is the sixth branch of the Shanghai F&B empire that nobody talks about"). They also manage the park and rent out spaces to the other businesses, which include a bookstore, stationary shop, Pilates studio, and a tango school. The group didn't intend to do the whole daka/wanghong thing here, they just slowly curated a bunch of spaces they like.
P Coffee
First, there's P Coffee (fka Polly; there was a legal issue; people still call it Polly). The place plays classical music all day, there's a pterodactyl statue hanging from the ceiling, and you can get coffee until around midnight. Yes, they serve coffee after 6pm. It's a real café and they do community events and film screenings sometimes too. The place draws a steady daytime crowd of people posted up with laptops, drinking coffee, and eating desserts and snacks with a Cantonese vibe.
Barque
Barque is the Spanish restaurant that one friend described as "it's giving like Mary Woolstonecraft locked in a tower." I've never eaten there but have visited the giant bathroom many times. It is, in a word, unforgettable. Baroque, even. The shower area alone is big enough to wash a Cybertruck or host a small house party. They opened during covid and added the shower in case staff got stuck here for a few days. Like all the other spots, it's breezy and full of natural light.
Den-Q
Just opposite P Coffee is Den-Q, a big Taiwanese restaurant with a vintage cinema theme. Old movie props, antiques, DVDs, and 20th-century Taiwanese household items like TVs and record players fill the space. Tom and Jerry projected on the walls? Why not. It's not the most fire Taiwanese food in town but it's solid for the price – chicken rice and a vegetable is about 38rmb. I like the vibe and the fact that you can usually get a seat, which isn't always true at Polly.
Kainos
The newest spot is Kainos, an airy, sunny, and comfortable café that's already drawing crowds (though unlike Barque, apparently more dudes are taking pictures here than girls). It's good for socializing, working, and photos. Dogs are welcome outside. Coffee is solid, sound is good, couches are plentiful.
What keeps me coming back to Park Dimanche is that all the places have distinct music programming and decent sound systems. They also all have plants and varied seating: vintage couches, low soft chairs, small two-seaters, random pads - something for everyone. Most importantly, they feel distinct not just from each other, but from Shanghai's café ecosystem in general. They don't feel like Instagram-driven café slop. There are no big brand names here, just owner-operated spots. Everything feels pretty organic, kinda like the cafes I grew up in, but with QR ordering (still not a fan). Like many people, I'm finding myself there more and more.
Find it: Head to Yan'an Lu just east of Anxi Lu and look for the sign that says "Master Bear Glasses" (interesting choice of name). It's right down there.
