Shanghai Scene
Shanghai – the continuing story, developing as we speak. Ten years on from my last visit, I hardly recognize the place – apart from the Bund, cleaned up and developed within its glorious buildings, which now houses Gucci, Armani and all the top designer labels, plus the most lavish restaurants you can find in the world.
And over the river – a whole new mini-city – Pudong, of the tall towers and digitalized signage, dazzles and cajoles like a sophisticated Disneyland/ New York.
This is China 2006, a country of contrasts, reflected in its financial capital, Shanghai. The magnificent buildings of The Bund now bear historic association plaques in Chinese and English and have been restored to their former grandeur. Both this area and the French concession district are returning to the glamour of the past, while much of the rest of old China is disappearing into heaps of rubble. I noticed at least three “landmark” developments among the plethora of building sites around the city.
It’s ten years since I was last here with the Australian Ballet – and they’re here again – in the Grand Theatre, Shanghai – an imposing temple of performing arts in the central, People’s Square. On the last night of a short 3-night season, the company excel themselves in a performance of Graeme Murphy and the late Kristian Fredrikson’s Swan Lake. I pass Graeme - surrounded by autograph hunters in the foyer, his partner Janet Vernon, smilingly looking on.
He is well known to dance lovers in this city, having brought Sydney Dance Company here regularly for many years and recently co-choreographing Mulan with Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble.
I share a meal with friends from the company at Crystal Jade – a popular Cantonese restaurant in the trendy, upmarket Xintiandi shopping and restaurant complex, where we eat preserved (100 year old) eggs with shaved ginger, rolled cucumber with ginger and chilli, roast duck, and two kinds of dim sum, including one of densely packed spinach, full of flavour – all we can eat in a superb repast for equivalent of $AUD56. Sitting at a long wooden table behind a wooden screen, we are secluded from the pulsating crowd in the rest of the room.
On our way back we amble through Xintiandi, through the shopping and gossiping crowd thronging the streets at 10.30pm. The place is a treasure trove of exquisite architecture – I could wander for hours checking each place. We find the top class restaurant T8 where Kylie Kwong is currently cooking and call at Visage - a sophisticated patisserie/café for some takeaway sin.
Another day, another restaurant – or two. Lunch at Yin – a beautiful old building in the French concession, part of the grandiose 1930’Jian Jiang hotel (where Richard Nixon signed the Shanghai Communiqué` in 1972). The restaurant specializes in both Chinese and Japanese cuisine and has dedicated itself to healthy eating – the abolition of excess oil in cooking and MSG. I revel in my Japanese set lunch of sashimi and tempura, with miso and rice, perfectly prepared and presented.
I stroll around the huge hotel complex afterwards in awe of its size and grandeur. One of the buildings, Grosvenor House is still a popular apartment block with ex-pats.
Dinner at the black, white and grey gastronomic temple, Laris, the domain of Australian chef-entrepreneur David Laris, who is building an empire in Shanghai. Laris features its own Chocolate Room – a glass-windowed kitchen opposite the restrooms, where a young chocolatier is putting the final touches to an elaborate chocolate house. Thirty-four, beautifully packaged, varieties are available commercially. David Laris has also opened a delicatessen called Slice – the first of a chain, with Thin Slice as the express line.
Dining on crab with avocado salsa and lemongrass gazpacho, followed by tuna with wasabi infused rice, avocado and pink ginger with egg white dressing; and gazing at the illuminated junks on the river and bright lights and screens of Pudong beyond, I am blown away by the slick quality of Laris’s food and his entrepreneurship.
And over the river – a whole new mini-city – Pudong, of the tall towers and digitalized signage, dazzles and cajoles like a sophisticated Disneyland/ New York.
This is China 2006, a country of contrasts, reflected in its financial capital, Shanghai. The magnificent buildings of The Bund now bear historic association plaques in Chinese and English and have been restored to their former grandeur. Both this area and the French concession district are returning to the glamour of the past, while much of the rest of old China is disappearing into heaps of rubble. I noticed at least three “landmark” developments among the plethora of building sites around the city.
It’s ten years since I was last here with the Australian Ballet – and they’re here again – in the Grand Theatre, Shanghai – an imposing temple of performing arts in the central, People’s Square. On the last night of a short 3-night season, the company excel themselves in a performance of Graeme Murphy and the late Kristian Fredrikson’s Swan Lake. I pass Graeme - surrounded by autograph hunters in the foyer, his partner Janet Vernon, smilingly looking on.
He is well known to dance lovers in this city, having brought Sydney Dance Company here regularly for many years and recently co-choreographing Mulan with Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble.
I share a meal with friends from the company at Crystal Jade – a popular Cantonese restaurant in the trendy, upmarket Xintiandi shopping and restaurant complex, where we eat preserved (100 year old) eggs with shaved ginger, rolled cucumber with ginger and chilli, roast duck, and two kinds of dim sum, including one of densely packed spinach, full of flavour – all we can eat in a superb repast for equivalent of $AUD56. Sitting at a long wooden table behind a wooden screen, we are secluded from the pulsating crowd in the rest of the room.
On our way back we amble through Xintiandi, through the shopping and gossiping crowd thronging the streets at 10.30pm. The place is a treasure trove of exquisite architecture – I could wander for hours checking each place. We find the top class restaurant T8 where Kylie Kwong is currently cooking and call at Visage - a sophisticated patisserie/café for some takeaway sin.
Another day, another restaurant – or two. Lunch at Yin – a beautiful old building in the French concession, part of the grandiose 1930’Jian Jiang hotel (where Richard Nixon signed the Shanghai Communiqué` in 1972). The restaurant specializes in both Chinese and Japanese cuisine and has dedicated itself to healthy eating – the abolition of excess oil in cooking and MSG. I revel in my Japanese set lunch of sashimi and tempura, with miso and rice, perfectly prepared and presented.
I stroll around the huge hotel complex afterwards in awe of its size and grandeur. One of the buildings, Grosvenor House is still a popular apartment block with ex-pats.
Dinner at the black, white and grey gastronomic temple, Laris, the domain of Australian chef-entrepreneur David Laris, who is building an empire in Shanghai. Laris features its own Chocolate Room – a glass-windowed kitchen opposite the restrooms, where a young chocolatier is putting the final touches to an elaborate chocolate house. Thirty-four, beautifully packaged, varieties are available commercially. David Laris has also opened a delicatessen called Slice – the first of a chain, with Thin Slice as the express line.
Dining on crab with avocado salsa and lemongrass gazpacho, followed by tuna with wasabi infused rice, avocado and pink ginger with egg white dressing; and gazing at the illuminated junks on the river and bright lights and screens of Pudong beyond, I am blown away by the slick quality of Laris’s food and his entrepreneurship.
