I have been dining at Cuivre since they opened back in early 2011, and great to see that the establishment is still buzzing on a damp Monday evening in Shanghai.

The ambience that's created by both Michael Wendling and Fanny Cervera, the former in the simple artistic nature of the dishes coming from the kitchen, and the latter in ensuring that the service team are on top of their game make one want to return again and again to Cuivre.

I was dining with a colleague, not my usual dining partner, he arrived before me and started on the wine, a delightful smooth Syrah, normally I would just say a Shiraz, but hey this was from France so one must have a glass of Syrah, this was smooth and well rounded.

On to the menu and suggestions from Michael's new updated menu: 

We shared the following dishes.

Salmon Tartare: ok one might say what’s so special here, this is NOT the usually chopped salmon plonked on a plate, the subtle flavours incorporated into this dish are not something I would want to share, all mine it was, so precious, we had one each, this was served with a well-balanced Sancerre, served at the correct temperature, and decent pour, as were all the wines.

Octopus Leg: char-grilled, with a half a lemon also char-grilled and roughly chopped grilled capsicums, and shallots, wasn’t sure which leg it was, none of your rubbery chewy stuff that puts folks off eating octopus, this was delicate, we carried on with the Sancerre for this dish.

Beef Flank: served with double or possibly triple fried potatoes, Beef flank is such an underrated cut of meat, this was from Australia, I have had Flank steak from Argentina equally as  good, as with all grilled or BBQed meat it’s how you cook it, and this was incredibly tender and juicy, served, more on the rare side of medium, just how we like it, we went back to the Syrah, which worked well with the dish.

Can highly recommend dining at Cuivre, whether for a dinner or brunch you won’t be disappointed in the slightest here, you are being offered consistent quality in both the food and wines, coupled with attentive service by both Michael and Fanny working the tables.

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