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KJ
Ranter
Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
Apr 12, 2008 - 10:27 AM |
 
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We're had fresh salsa that's great for some time now. Use it with the beef wraps and when we do soft tacos for breakfast on occassion. |
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Bubba's: Smokin' the Good Stuff Since 1996 |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 12, 2008 - 10:36 AM |
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| Buzzd wrote: |
| zimbu wrote: |
The Mexican items sound good. Got any good fresh salsa ready to roll yet?
Beer: Looking forward to it. Maybe time for a shexpat night at Bubba's? |
Sounds good. Zimbu will be the one dressed like Ruth Reichl. |
Wiki: Ruth Reichl (born January 16, 1948 in New York City) is an American food writer, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine.
Yeah...that's me. |
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Buzzd
PopStar
Joined: Jan 30, 2008
Posts: 1092
Status: Offline
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Apr 12, 2008 - 11:58 AM |
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| Quote: |
Wiki: Ruth Reichl (born January 16, 1948 in New York City) is an American food writer, the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine.
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She was so feared while working as chief reviewer for the NY Times, that she was forced to dine out in elaborate disguises. A Serpico of the food industry, if you will. |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 17, 2008 - 12:59 PM |
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iiiit! Review
Yes, iiiit! is the most ridiculous name for a restaurant in all of Shanghai. What in the world could they have been thinking when they settled on this name? Now, I suppose they may be reading this and saying to themselves that there is no such thing as bad publicity, i.e. the fact that I am rambling on about this name is actually helping them. Sorry. No. It's just a really bad name. Strike 1.
OK, despite the dumb name, I went to this place the other day to check it out. I went to the branch near Jiang Su Metro Station. Here's what I found: I couldn't find it. It is located on the second floor of the Edifice apartment building. There are no signs outside at all. There are no signs in the lobby. And no signs anywhere along the way. Plus you need a resident's security card to open the door to get to the second floor. Plus the security guards in that complex have an combined IQ of 300 (that's the total for the 5 guards I spoke with when I was there). Strike 2.
Finally, I found it, walked in the front door...oops, that is the door to the kitchen. Then I walked in the real front door and found...sofas. Yes, sofas and little coffee tables. No regular chairs, and no regular tables. Vwat is zis?! Strike 3.
But this is China, so the owner did some guanxi work with the Shanghai party secretary before the guy was sentenced to 18 years for corruption (the party secretary, not the restaurant owner) and had the third strike removed from the system. Not realizing I had been hoodwinked, and therefore thinking there were only two strikes so far, I went ahead and tried the food.
The style is Element Freshy, but slightly more narrow selection than from EF. They have dips, bruschetta, salads, sandwiches and paninis, pizzas, and pasta/potato salads. Also some smoothies and other beverages. I ordered the chicken pesto pizza and Mrs. Zimbu got the steak panini with a smoothie. We also tried the hummus dip and breadsticks. (For the record, I also ordered delivery from them two days ago; marg pizza and pasta salad).
Guess what? It is just about the best casual food restaurant I have ever eaten at in Shanghai. Basically, this is 5 star hotel food served in a casual place for 1/3 the price. Everything that I have tried there is perfect. The small salad that comes with the panini is amazing: fresh and tasty. Hummus dip beats out even the experts at the Mediterrenean place on Hong Mei (and Da Gu Road). Pizza was the thin crust type and equals or betters that of Pasta Fresca and Jimix. (Gimme a break! Oily, grungy, canned-tomatoey "NY Style Pizza" from Jing An is not even close). Steak panini was a dream come true...Real little steak strips, cooked perfectly, served with mushrooms and cheese on grilled flatbread. Pasta salad was perfect. Even the smoothie, according to Frau Zimbu, was really good.
Who woulda thunk?!
Still a really dumb name for the restaurant. |
Last edited by zimbu on Apr 17, 2008 - 04:08 PM; edited 1 time in total |
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jonasei
Barker
Joined: May 02, 2006
Posts: 164
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Apr 17, 2008 - 01:50 PM |
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OMG, a positive food review from Zimbu! I've always veered away from this place becuase of the name, figuring with a name that bad, the food must be bad as well. After reading this, however, I'll go against instinct and give it a try. Thanks for the tip. |
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Juan_Tamad
Board Royalty
Joined: Jan 29, 2007
Posts: 6270
Location: Smoky Mountain
Status: Offline
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:05 PM |
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same here, iiiit here i go.
I am always looking for a better pizza place.
The Steak panini sounds good..... |
_________________
what is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after |
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boredengineer
SuperStar
Joined: Oct 17, 2007
Posts: 1344
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:18 PM |
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I'm staying by jiangsu metro so I hope its good.
What are the prices like? |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:41 PM |
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Hummus dip with fresh breadsticks: 20
Bruschetta: 28
Mixed Green Salad: 18
Sandwiches: 28-48
Pizzas: 48-68
Paninis: 28-48
Sides: 18
Lunch specials: 55-65
They also have branches at The Summit Clubhouse on Wulumuqi Zhong Lu and The World Trade Tower (very bad choice of a name for a building) located on Guangdong Lu. |
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CK1
Raver
Joined: June 07, 2007
Posts: 498
Status: Offline
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:50 PM |
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Yup, iiiit is excellent. I pretty much order it every day for lunch, and delivery is very quick too. |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:56 PM |
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| jonasei wrote: |
| OMG, a positive food review from Zimbu! ... |
Indeed. Tis a rare occasion when monkeys fly out of my butt. |
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Michael
Moderator
Joined: Mar 22, 2002
Posts: 5292
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Apr 17, 2008 - 02:59 PM |
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I sometimes go to the one inside Summitt complex on Wulumuchi Lu near Changde Lu. Yes.. its good.. salads are good, pizza is good, smoothies are good, and they have excellent cheesecake and just about the best brownies around. And good prices. They also deliver. |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 20, 2008 - 06:35 PM |
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Mini-review: iiiit! on Guangdong Lu
Visited this place yesterday for lunch. Turns out it is equally as good as the Yuyuan branch, but easier to find. Also, this branch actually has restaurant tables and chairs. Nice single-color-theme decoration too. It seems the owner actually does have quite good business skills, in spite of the bad choice of brand name. I wonder if this brand name is actually bad enough to kill off this excellent mini-chain of restaurants?
Training: The owner must have some professional F&B experience (in addition to being a very good chef). Each of the two outlets I visited was very well run with the staff nicely behaved (not jabbering loudly back and forth as if the customers did not exist) and the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen was top notch in both locations.
Delivery: good delivery but the pizza definitely suffers from the journey. If you are a picky eater (moi?!), you might want to order something other than pizza for delivery. I would also recommend you get the various sandwich sauces on the side the prevent mushification during delivery. By the way, the "aioli" sauces mentioned on the menu are basically mayonnaise with something added, i.e. basil or lemon or whatever. |
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KJ
Ranter
Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Apr 21, 2008 - 07:52 AM |
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Owner is Kelly Lee, former chef at Azul and 239, and also former partner of City Diner. She just opened a new restaurant called the Boxing Cat out past Gubei...it's a brew pub and Gary Heyne is the brew master.
The beer is great, and the food tastings I went to were impressive. |
_________________
Bubba's: Smokin' the Good Stuff Since 1996 |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 21, 2008 - 09:03 AM |
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I guess she really was having a very bad day when she did the menu at City Diner. According to my taste buds, it is really really bad. Moon River, which is nothing to write home about, is much better. I heard she had some "partner problems" there, but they couldn't have been that bad, could they?! (On the other hand, I know what it is like to have partner problems in a Chinese JV, so maybe it could be that bad)
It is also amazing to compare the TERRIBLE service at City Diner with the good service at iiiit! I am not sure about before the partner problems issue, but now the service at City Diner is really bad. The classic "all eight staff members are chatting and goofing around loudly in the corner and just by chance have their backs to you so they can never see you waving your hand".
The concept of Boxing Cat (not the be confused with the recent thread about "cat meat") sounds good. I would question the brand name though. Not as bad as "iiiit!" but not a lot better.
Isn't Gary Heyne the guy who did the beer at that other place near the bund...Henry's? The beer there was good but the food was a massive disappointment...unless you are on the "mayonnaise on everything" diet. Staff problems there were even worse than City Diner. I wonder if that place is still open? |
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KJ
Ranter
Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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Apr 21, 2008 - 09:10 AM |
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Yea that's the same Gary. He was hired to do the beer and consult on the overall execution of Henry's...from decor to menu. They (chinese owners) didn't take any of his advice on food, decor, events, marketing, etc., and as such the place sucked badly. The food was and still is horrible. The beer started to suffer as well as the owners decided against letting Gary use the freshest and best ingredients available as part of their attempt to salvage the tilting ship.
It is still open cause another investor came in with money with a plan that would turn the place around. How many times have you seen this? The plan consisted of doing nothing. Change nothing. Business as usual.
Uhmmmm let's try and guess how this plan is working out. |
_________________
Bubba's: Smokin' the Good Stuff Since 1996 |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 21, 2008 - 09:23 AM |
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That's too bad. It really was an OK build-out. And the concept seemed right. OK, the location was a little weird, but probably could have done a ton of tourist business if they advertised in the tourist mags in hotels. Oh well... |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 25, 2008 - 11:45 PM |
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Review: Bohemia Cafe and Bar
I guess the most distinctive thing to note about this place is its location: down the same alley as well-known Kommune (off of Taikang Road).
The good news is that this is an authentic version of what Xin Tian Di is trying to imitate. But whereas Xin Tian Di is a nearly 99% artificial rebuild of "something like" an old nong tang Shanghai-style housing area, this Taikang alley is the real thing.
Much smaller in scale than the its fake offspring, this alley is really a mixture of the new and old. On the old side, you have cramped little houses made out of brick and featuring the famous "lao hu chuang" Shanghai-style window architecture (bet you didn't know that "lao hu chuang" is pronounced "lo hu cang" in Shanghainese and the origin of this phrase is...English: "roof window". Class dismissed.)
Another old-style thing in this alley is the lack of toilets in the houses. So the residents, to this day, still "poop in the bucket" (not to be confused with fast food chain, Jack in the Box), and then carry it by hand to the alley entrance for a daily dump (pun intended). So if you see anyone walking down the narrow alley, steaming lidded bucket in hand, give them a wide space to pass.
On the new side, the alley now has lots of little restaurants and cafes that have kicked out the poor poop people (PPP, not to be confused with Purchasing Power Parity) and set up nice little yuppy hangouts. Some of them have maintained the original bricks etc. quite nicely, and others have tried to upgrade a little too much.
OK, now back to Bohemia:
Food: Menu items are that same sort of "iiiit" sandwich, soup, salad thing. Not exactly the same, but pretty close. Overall, the quality of the food on offer at Bohemia is not quite as good as iiit but not bad either. I ordered a chicken something sandwich and it was good and came with a nice side salad. Mrs. Zimbu had the English Breakfast which she enjoyed too. Not great great stuff, but pretty good overall. Deserts looked nice, but we did not try any. Wide range of beer choices looked even nicer, but I will have to come back to try that some evening.
Decor: They have been a bit heavy on the upgrade, rather than maintain most of the original wood and brick like the coffee place across the alley (called what? I forget). It looks nice, but it would have been better with more original stuff. Their outside tables are nice for people watching, but you can expect to get a big wiff of incense from a nearby shop which doesn't help much with your food taste. Inside tables are a little better but pretty cramped. Anyways, whatdya expect?!
Service: I have seen a couple of reviews where other people raved about the friendly staff here, but I guess the friendly ones all had the day off when I was there. They were happy to chat amongst themselves loudly in Chinese about their "plans to improve their English", but they were not very interested in the customers or recommending any specials. Even the super chatty aussie at the next table could barely get them to crack a smile.
Summary: I give this one 3 out of 5 Zimbu bananas. Definitely worth a try. |
Last edited by zimbu on May 02, 2008 - 06:45 PM; edited 2 times in total |
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unoriginal
LoopKicker
Joined: Jan 13, 2008
Posts: 876
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Apr 28, 2008 - 10:56 AM |
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Bohemia> When I've been here the staff have been great... 4 insanely hungover aussies, no idea what to order and constantly changing our minds and they were great about it. However, the finally decided on coffee (Latte) was crapola, def should have waited until after breaky and headed to Kommune... The english breakfast was great, highlight probably the garlic mushrooms, and they were very happy to accomodate my odd desire for mashed potato instead of bacon (insane hangover has a lot to answer for!)... and completely against the general chinese spirit, at no extra charge! A mate had the cottage pie, and it was a lot smaller than anticipated and not hot enough... Would def go back, but not for the coffee...
Not really sure why im writing this considering zimbu is the Ruth Reichl of the forum, but I do hope his staff experience was a once off, rather than mine, as they were great for us! |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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Apr 29, 2008 - 12:59 PM |
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El Review: Peter's Tex Mex
Los First Impressiones: I arrived at the well-known Hong Mei alley location (across the street from over-priced Pasta Fresca), home of Mexico Lindo, Royal Thai, and Indian Kitchen (aka, bad Mexican, bad Thai, and bad Indian food). Expecting to find some sort of little hole in the wall place, I was surprised by the size of the Peter's Tex Mex location. This place is big!
La Decorata: Well, it's not really Texan. And it's not Mexican either. And it's not exactly Gramma's Rose Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast. It is a cross between all three. More than a little confusing, to say the least...
That said, it's very nicely done. Good quality materials throughout, nice looking unique paint scheme, beautiful solid wood tables and chairs, high quality woven table covers...no skimping at all on the build-out of this place. Even the dish settings are very nice and quirky looking. Each piece on our table was slightly different from the others, giving it a very nice home-style feeling. The "fruit jar" drinking glasses were a little cliche, but nice to see they tried.
El Menuto: The menu consists of Mexican food and every other food on earth. One of those typical "reach too far" type of places (Steak and Eggs, are you listening?). I really wish they had just focused on Mexican and offered more choices of that type, rather than adding steak, pasta dishes, monkey brain, and everything else.
La Foodilla: Making the obvious choice to order Mexican food, the "Zimbu, party of 2" table ordered chips/salsa, "Big Texan chicken burrito", and tacos (beef and chicken). Also a side of “guac” for the ultimate test of authenticity.
Overall, the food is about the same quality as you would make at home if you had all of the exact ingredients needed. Which is to say, it tastes ok, but lacks some level of professional presentation. Still, the taste is pretty close, so I was quite happy with the food in general.
Salsa was a nice surprise; taste was great, and although it was not spicy enough, at least it had more spice that the Cal Kitchen "chunky mineral water" version. One complaint is that the salsa dish was really small. But they gave us a free refill when we asked for one. Gracias!
The buritos were served dry (just tortillas and a very good tasting spicy chicken filling) with refried beans, rice, lettuce on the side, and topped with sour cream). Tacos were similar but had fried corn tortilla shells; which were slightly limp feeling as if they were not completely fresh or had absorbed some steam in the kitchen.
Guacamole was chunky and clearly made from real avocado (as opposed to the greenish chunky mayo that passes for guacomole at some other places in Shanghai). But it did not have enough salt or onion, so it was a little bland. Still, not bad for Shanghai. So far, this is the best guacamole I have eaten in the city. Which is not saying much, but still...
El Servicio: Friendly and cheerful. Strange that they seemed to hire mainly Shanghainese, which is not very common for this type of restaurant in Shanghai (most usually hire staff from outside the area who will work for less money). When we arrived, the place was nearly empty, but they allowed us to freely select our own table, even on the second floor. I hate when restaurants play the "second floor is closed for cleaning" game in order to squeeze the sucker customers all together in one convenient location. Papa's John's does this all the time and it really annoys me.
Los Ordering Processito: The waitress was not quite up to speed on the typical ordering style and options for Mexican food. End result, she required a few quick runs to the kitchen to check this and that. "Is it breast meat chicken?"...hold on..."Can I have black beans instead of refried sludge?"...uhh, let me check. Still, in the end, we got what we wanted (well, not black beans, but sorta dryish pinto beans...anything is better than lardy refried beans!), and she was very friendly about it.
La Dinero Damagita: Something less that 200RMB for two people.
El Summarinosa: It is certainly not the slightly foo foo Euro-Mex type of food that you will find at Mexico Lindo. Instead, it is more like a dressed up Taco Bell on plates (not to be confused with Taco Bell Grande which was very badly localized in terms of ingredients). So if you go with the right mindset, you will definitely be satisfied. If you are looking for a 5-star hotel presentation, or big showy "shrimp ceviche mole volcano mountain" dishes, then you will not like it.
By the time we finished our meal, the downstairs eating area was packed full. A good sign that Peter's may have some staying power. That's good news since...
A new Mexican food king has been crowned for Shanghai: Peter's Tex Mex! Not the best quality, for sure, but the best that we currently have to choose from. I originally gave it 3.5 Zimbu bananas out of 5, but since my accounting department says I need to round up, in the end, Peter's earns 4 Zimbu bananas out of 5!
Update...2nd visit: Their Chicken Nachos suck. Seemed to have been topped with some sort of liquified cheesorama sauce (not to be confused with actual cheese). Black bean soup is excellent. Fajitas are pretty good but the various fillings that come with it are a bit skimpy in the quantity department. |
Last edited by zimbu on May 02, 2008 - 06:51 PM; edited 1 time in total |
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zimbu
Reacher
Joined: Oct 13, 2006
Posts: 242
Location: Stop poking my tail with your eye!
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May 01, 2008 - 12:29 AM |
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Believe it or not, I actually visited another very good restaurant today! I am really getting bored writing all these positive reviews, so I will probably wait a while until writing this one up. |
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Cambronne
Veejay
Joined: Feb 23, 2008
Posts: 2012
Status: Offline
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May 01, 2008 - 01:17 AM |
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Good thread, Bimbo. Paste Fresca is my favorite restaurant for pizza though. A little bit on the expensive side perhaps (but cheaper than those 5 star hotels Italians who cant cook). Service is good at their Hongmeilu and Hongqiao Parkson outlets, not been at Hengshan lu for a while. Anyway I tend to focus on the pizza when I am there.
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| Pasta Fresca: This place was overpriced from day one, and the service attitude is really sullen...why are they always so pissed? The food was great though. Then they raised the prices another 25% and I said "bye bye" to the sullen ladies of Pasta Fresca. |
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Countless people will hate the new world order and will die protesting against it. |
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SnappySammy
Board Legend
Joined: Nov 01, 2007
Posts: 10143
Status: Offline
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May 05, 2008 - 09:27 PM |
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| Michael wrote: |
| I sometimes go to the one inside Summitt complex on Wulumuchi Lu near Changde Lu. Yes.. its good.. salads are good, pizza is good, smoothies are good, and they have excellent cheesecake and just about the best brownies around. And good prices. They also deliver. |
Good Pizza,good salads, excellent cheesecake and best brownies..WHERE YOU IN NEW YORK FOR THE WEEKEND |
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CK1
Raver
Joined: June 07, 2007
Posts: 498
Status: Offline
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May 07, 2008 - 10:24 AM |
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With all this talk about 'corruption' in the restaurant review sections of local magazines, it must be asked......
with this recent spate of good reviews from Zimbu, are there some back-handers going on here too?  |
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p1atl10
Board Royalty
Joined: Mar 18, 2005
Posts: 6297
Location: Shanghai
Status: Offline
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May 07, 2008 - 11:06 AM |
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EXRTA!EXTRA!
ZIMBU ON THE TAKE!
SELLS HIS SOUL FOR A FREE BEER AND A KNOSH!
CLAIMS IT WAS THE MONKEY ON HIS BACK! |
_________________
Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.....Dave Barry |
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happyhere
Seeker
Joined: Jan 27, 2007
Posts: 47
Status: Offline
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May 07, 2008 - 11:56 AM |
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ZImbu and others -- I would be interested to know if you've been to Olives at the Novotel in Pudong and what you think about it.
We have been going there since it opened in the early 2000s and have had an on-again-off-again relationship with the place. It certainly set high expectations in its first couple of years. The first chef I think was an Australian and since then they have had both foreign and Chinese chefs and have gone through menu changes (some better than others). I would say it is a generic med. restaurant with a mostly generic Italian (mostly on the menu) and Greek (mostly in the buffett) offerings.
When it first opened it was really a Pan-Mediterranian restaurant. It's buffet section use to select one country each moth (Morocco, Lebanon, Spain, Greece, Italy...) to feature which was a great draw for us to keep comng back at least once a month. You could always get something new and interesting to eat. And then it started doing a more generic Med. Buffet. The last time we went I thought it had declined in terms of even that generic selection.
They also use to serve evry table wonderful homemade breads, bowls of olives and extra-virgin olive oil and balsimic vinegar. And then lately the olives became fewer, the bread less interesting and butter began to appear before the olive oil and vinegar are brought to the table.
Even with the above criticisms I think there are some good items on the menu.Their pizzas are still rather good though. Most are goat cheese and they have very thin crusts. Their spinach ravioli is also done well.
The atmosphere is quite nice. Tends to get most of its guests after 7:00 pm.
I don't think many people know about Olives because it caters primarily for hotel guests.
Would like to hear your review of this place.
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