After years of restoration and a very soft opening earlier this year, the old Bund City Hall has finally started to feel like a place you can actually use, not just walk past. With more spaces now accessible, it's slowly revealing what this newly revived block is shaping up to be.
Right now, the main draw is the Salvador Dalí exhibition, which also marks the first time the building has properly opened as a public-facing cultural venue. More than 150 works are spread throughout the neoclassical interiors, with sculptures, installations, and familiar Dalí motifs popping up in rooms that were, until recently, off-limits. A handful of large-scale pieces spill out into the plaza, so even a casual stroll-by turns into an encounter.
Food-wise, there's already one tenant up and running. Taste of Chinais located down on B1, accessed from the outside rather than through the main hall, but it's very much part of the Bund City Hall complex. The venue runs a 90-minute immersive dining "show"that blends regional Chinese dishes with live performance, projections, and a heavy dose of narrative. It's ambitious, pricey, and very on-the-nose, but it offers a clear preview of how experience-driven this redevelopment wants to be.
More openings are queued up. The biggest name so far is Villa Le Bec, slated for 2026, with plans for a multi-level French restaurant and wine space tucked into the courtyard. Details are still thin, but the move signals that Bund City Hall is positioning itself as more than just an exhibition hall — expect dining, events, and culture sharing the same historic footprint.For now, parts of the courtyard and plaza are open, and even without a ticket, it's worth a wander. It's still very much a project in progress, but for the first time in over a century, it feels like one you're actually invited into.
