/ Announcement
What I Learnt This Week: Bye Bye Purple, Hello Lots of Other Stuff
The French mastermind behind Le Saleya, Graffiti and La Grange, Alexandre Daune is opening up a new location to accommodate the city's ravenous appetite for French-style bread and meats. Combining his previous butcher and baker ventures, the only thing Les Garcon Bouchers and La Boulangerie still lacks is a candlestick maker. Setting up shop on 356-1 ShuiCheng S. Road, near YanAn W. Road, you'll be able to buy pate, foie gras and meats at Les Garcons Bouchers, while La Boulangerie has fresh baguettes and croissants. Hopefully, these will all be served by men in black and white striped shirts, sporting moustaches and a beret.
For those with a penchant for female gunslingers, Pistolera is strutting its way into town - well, sort of, if you count JinQiao as part of town and not the suburbs. Dishing up Mexican cuisine in its cantina, I'm sure it will have all the usual tacos, tequilas and titillating bartenders and waitresses whispering "te quiero" into your ear.
Halloween may be far off but one Chinese company has decided it's never too early to scare the pants of people. Black Casket is set to haunt the banks of the HuangPu with eerie ghost wails and the screech of banshees. Actually, it sounds like the arguing couple in my apartment block - perhaps they're the owners?
Pedro Larumbe, one of the chefs involved in the Spanish pavilion restaurant, is using the Expo impetus to plug a new Chinese translation of culinary guide, Cooking in Spanish. Time to get those pots and pans out Shanghai, and fry up some patatas bravas or a nice seafood paella.
Fountain Bistro has added breakfast to their menu. Since April 1, early risers have been able to enjoy omelets, salmon and eggs, congee, a full fry up, a healthy fruit parfait, and many other morning pick-me-ups, from 8 to 11am. They're also planning to bring on board a Sunday brunch to spruce up the restaurant delights. A short step down the road, Villa du Lac is praying for good weather so they can commence offering up weekend appetizers in their garden, aiming for a similar style to now defunct Platane - which is scheduled to become a Spanish restaurant, according to the rumor mill.
Speaking of sudden takeovers, Purple is no more. It snuck away in the night, never to return. In it's place, we'll see shooting up a brand new Muslim restaurant. Eateries in Shanghai really are like daisies under a lawn mower.