/ Food
Shanghai's Sunday Brunches: Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund
Boozy Sunday brunches in five-star hotels are the standard finale to many a person's weekend. Adding to the growing list of choices is the recently launched Waldorf Astoria brunch tour, providing a voyage of exploration for your senses that's a different kettle of fish from your average high-end breakfast-lunch repast.
The luxurious hotel, located in prime Bund territory, gives you a brunch equal to the beautiful venue's combination of classic and modern architecture, visiting three of the venue's dining outlets. Different areas are open for patrons at slightly differing times, with the lighter options commencing and finishing service earlier. We recommend you begin at the Long Bar (11am-1pm), where you can bask in a view of the PuDong skyline. Alongside the choice alluring signature cocktails, wine and champagne are fresh oysters to whet the appetite. These are merely the appetizer to the delights that follow so try and retain a modicum of restraint and avoid slurping back these shellfish by the dozen, even if they are easily thrown back by the dozen.
Wandering from the older, renovated portion of the building into the modern extension, your culinary experience continues at Peacock Alley (11am-1pm). The elegant lounge serves refined coffee prepared with manually manipulated coffee machines. Savor your hot drink with a couple of the small homemade pastries, including croissants, cupcakes and muffins.
Everything culminates in the piece de resistance: the Grand Brasserie (12nn-3pm). While not offering the largest variety in Shanghai, it does live up to its name in offering a grander selection than most hotels, including caviar, tartare and a choice of roast meats. Signature Waldorf omelets add to the venue's unique twists, as do the chef's menu of main course items, which are cooked to order.
This gourmet peregrination is a novelty in Shanghai and on the upper end in terms of price at RMB488 (plus 15 percent). We recommend going all in and adding RMB100 to the bill, which means augmenting the food with free-flow Veuve Cliquot champagne, plus red and white wines. There is a drawback to this, however: while hopping from the Long Bar to Peacock Alley may be a cinch after a few glasses of bubbly, the trip from Peacock Alley to Grand Brasserie is decidedly more treacherous.
Three stops, three settings and three congenial moments for one unique experience. It's something a little different from what we've become used to, but will the Waldorf Astoria's new concept join the roster of now-standard indulgences like Le Royal Meridien's pink affair or the Westin's legendary spread?