/ Reviews / Cafe
Tasty Quick Bites
by Juliann Kirkland
on Monday, June 08, 2009 12:00 AM
Voila Bistro recently held a block party to celebrate their grand opening on Fumin Rd. in the former French Concession. Judging from the overflow crowd spilling onto the sidewalk, and the half empty tubs of gelato - did I mention we arrived only thirty minutes late - the place is already a hit. I returned several days later to catch a glimpse of the bistro sans ravenous hordes of Shanghai's weekend partygoers.
The bistro was decidedly more relaxed than I remembered with bright yellow walls, and a beautiful food display area. The owner, Charles Liao, a young entrepreneur, has always wanted to own a restaurant and thought the best way to start would be to open a friendly, European style bistro here in Shanghai. It's a small venue, providing their neighborhood customers a nice place to stop by and enjoy a quick bite.
They are serving up freshly baked French pastries, such as croissants, muffins and Danishes (6-10RMB) and homemade juices (24-26RMB). I sampled the pineapple/orange juice and the watermelon juice. The watermelon was personally my favorite, but both were a nice size, served in a tin cup, and very refreshing. If juice isn't your thing, they have an imported coffee selection too (Espresso 18RMB; Cappuccino 25RMB).
Their specialty is crepes. I tried the Parmesan Pizza and Pepperoni Crepe (32RMB). It had parmesan baked into the crust, and was stuffed with a special sauce containing plenty Italian herbs, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni served in its own miniature pizza pan. It is now probably one of my favorite crapes, very unique - I loved it! I also tried the Strawberry Love Crepe (18RMB). This is a great desert crepe filled with Nutella, fresh strawberries, and strawberry jam. It was super sweet, and is big enough to split with a friend. It's a great after dinner desert idea.
Finally, I had to sample some more of their homemade Gelato since it was the hit of the party. They have a different selection each day. A small order (2 scoops) is 25RMB and the large (4scoops) is 45RMB. My favorites were the rich and creamy chocolate, and the banana flavor with real pieces of bananas mixed in.
The Bottom Line: A great little shop to stop off at for an inexpensive quick bite to eat or a unique after dinner treat.
