Season 01 Compilation 09

Compilation 09

Mosaic of China Season 01 - China Hangouts

Original Date of Release: 25 Aug 2020.

In today’s penultimate compilation episode from Season 1, we’re talking about the favourite places people like to frequent in China. And since this first season has focused on resident of Shanghai, the resulting answers are a love letter to all the restaurants, bars and cafés of this vibrant world-class city.

Whether you’re looking for recommendations of street food, high-end restaurants, bars, clubs, coffeeshops, malls or even supermarkets, you should find some inspiration from today’s episode. If you have your own favourite haunts which weren't mentioned in today’s show, please contribute your ideas to the communities on WeChat, Instagram and Facebook.

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[Trailer]

Roz COLEMAN: Put your bags and coats here. Let's get a drink. Right, now come in here. Now we're going to do a dance”. And then I'm like a four-year-old, I'm like “Listen, can you hear me talking? You can hear me talking, but you can feel the bass, right? You can hear me talking, but you can feel the bass?” It’s like, my friends laugh at me because they're like “Roz, I know. We've done this before. You've literally showed me this five times”.

[Intro]

OF: Welcome to Mosaic of China, a podcast about people who are making their mark in China. I'm your host, Oscar Fuchs.

So today is the penultimate compilation episode from Season 01. And as we're coming to the end of these special compilations, it's making me reflect on the fact that this is the only season that I will personally curate. Because the whole idea of this podcast was for the guests themselves to nominate who will appear in the next season of the show. This is where the idea of the ‘Mosaic’ comes from: I helped to lay out the first tiles at the beginning, but then the mosaic will organically build out from there.

The reason I bring this up now is to explain that - as diverse as my network was in putting together the season - it's still largely limited to people in Shanghai. Next season the referrals are already a little bit more spread out into other cities, and this trend will definitely grow as the mosaic tiles build out in the future seasons. But for Season 01, Mosaic of China could have been renamed ‘Mosaic of Shanghai’. You might not have paid too much attention to that across all thirty of these conversations. But you will definitely notice it now, because in today's episode we're talking about the favourite places people like to hang out at in China. And it's a love letter to all the restaurants, bars and cafes of Shanghai.

[Main]

[Voiceover]

OF: Tom Barker, the diplomat from Episode 25.

[Clip]

TB: There is one place I particularly love. So on the outside it's concrete, and it screams out “You will be murdered in here.” Like, for example, its name - as far as I was aware for ages - was ‘Cocktail.’ ‘Cocktail’, very faded. But one day, we were desperate for somewhere to have a drink. Our kids had been really bratty all day, we were just really frazzled, but we didn't really want to go anywhere. So I saw that place, I saw it was open, the lights were finally on for the first time we’d walked past it. So we went in, and inside it was this amazing, clean, semi-welcoming environment, where somebody had clearly really been into the Beatles, and had just embraced the, sort of, the 60s mod vibe in a really bizarre way. So it turns out the bar’s called ‘Beagle.’

OF: ‘Beagle’? Never heard of it.

TB: No, you can still smoke all you want inside - that’s the downside - but the cocktails, they were so annoyingly good.

[Voiceover]

OF: Nick Yu, the playwright from Episode 13.

[Clip]

NY: If you say in Shanghai a place you love, it’s our theatre. I’m really crazy for my job. Since 1995, I stayed in this road, and every night I’m almost the last guy to leave this building.

[Voiceover]

OF: Jorge Luzio, the marketer for Sprite from Episode 05.

[Clip]

JL: Well, my terrace. I like my terrace. And we throw amazing parties there. I really enjoy having people come over to the terrace and enjoy the good weather.

[Voiceover]

OF: Greg Nance, the ultramarathon athlete from Episode 23.

[Clip]

GN: One of my favourite things to do is just go on long runs where I just unplug, I'm thinking, and I run and run and run until I'm so hungry or I don’t think I can keep going. And I will just jump into the random hole-in-the-wall dumpling or noodle or rice place right there. And more often than not, just like a really wonderful granny or grandpa is cooking up something delicious. We'll have a special moment there, I'll usually get a selfie in with them. And then I'll have the fuel and the carbs to then run back to 静安 [Jìng’ān] where I'm based. That's kind of my favourite actually, of everything. And I feel like I've seen a couple hundred wonderful holes-in-the-wall at this point. For listeners who may be looking for recommendations in Shanghai, I love The Press, it’s maybe my favourite coffee shop. It's down in the 黄浦 [Huángpǔ] district. It is the site of one of the old newspaper presses. And so it's beautiful Greco Roman style architecture. And it's relatively affordable, you know, americanos and coffee there. It’s just a really beautiful place to go do some work, set some goals. And then my favourite kind of hang out… I'm not a big night owl anymore, I go to bed relatively early, I'm pretty boring. But I do like Co.Cheese, which is like a grilled cheese spot, real close to Chinaccelerator, which is where I'm based. And so yeah, that's a very tasty spot, if you’re ever craving some some grilled cheese.

[Voiceover]

OF: Lori Li, the private club GM from Episode 10.

[Clip]

LL: My favourite place is one we call ‘David Lynch’s 麻辣烫 [Málàtàng]’. It's 麻辣烫 [Málàtàng], open very late into the morning, and the atmosphere is really underground. It’s like David Lynch’s movies. All the decoration, the people inside, and all the music played there, is really unusual from the daily life.

[Voiceover]

OF: Michael Zee, the Instagram influencer from Episode 07.

[Clip]

MZ: One of my new favourites is Heritage by Madison, which is a lovely new restaurant down at the Bund Finance Center, next to the lovely Thomas Heatherwick building that moves. And it's excellent. You know, it's Western casual fine dining with lots of Chinese influences. Really nice wine list. Really inexpensive. Stunning setting. World-class service. Nailed it.

[Voiceover]

OF: Yang Yi, the broadcaster from Episode 21.

[Clip]

YY: I think usually a friend will recommend some restaurant or coffee shop, and they will bring me there. And at that time, I will give it a score, like “This restaurant is good”. But it doesn't mean I will come back. Or it doesn't mean it is my favourite. Because I think if you think the place is your favourite, you will go there many times, right? So if you have to say the place I usually go, it’s a small noodle restaurant near my house. I go there every day. But is it my ‘favourite’? I don't think so.

[Voiceover]

OF: Maple Zuo, the comedian from Episode 02.

[Clip]

MZ: OK, there was a Japanese restaurant I really really like. Because the designer is from Japan, he’s very good - so you’re sitting there, you look through the window, you can see the area you're in, you can see the lobby, you can see the outside view. It's like you’re starting from here, and you can just see the world connecting. It's so beautiful and peaceful. It’s called 百川 [Bǎichuān] restaurant.

[Voiceover]

OF: Emily Madge, the aquarium conservationist from Episode 14.

[Clip]

EM: Oh, um, where's my favourite place? I tend to be lazy with it, really. Kind of Funkadeli area, just because it's five minutes walk from home, there's always people there. I love hotpot. So any good hotpot restaurant. The spicy one is the best. Yeah, I love that. So, yeah, I float around.

[Voiceover]

OF: Angie Wu, the jewellery craftsman from Episode 18.

[Clip]

AW: I really like Malabar, because of the Spanish environment. The food is really good. And it's not overpriced. Really good portions, it’s not like really tiny tapas. So I will take you there next time.

[Voiceover]

OF: Astrid Poghosyan, the violinist from Episode 04.

[Clip]

AP: I think one of my favourite places for food is Sichuan Citizen restaurant. And it's been, I think the first Chinese restaurant I've ever even tried in Shanghai, because back then they used to be at 东湖 [Dōnghú] Road, and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music was beside it. And I've been going there for, like, ten years already. And the people there, I’ve known for ten years. And I spend, like, five to six of my birthdays there with them. So it's just very, very, super, like ‘first place to go’ and take my friends, whoever is visiting here.

[Voiceover]

OF: Noah Sheldon, the documentary filmmaker from Episode 09.

[Clip]

NS: There's a restaurant we love. What is the name in Chinese? The English name is ‘In & Out’. It's a horrible translation.

OF: In-N-Out Burger?

NS: No, no. ‘In & Out’, it’s a 云南 [Yúnnán] restaurant.

OF: Oh right.

NS: And it’s in 湖滨道 [Húbīndào] mall. And it's so excellent.

OF: I know it, it's on the third floor, yes.

NS: Exactly. I think the food there is so great. But they don't have a lot of alcohol. So that's kind of a problem.

[Voiceover]

OF: Sebastien Denes, the inclusion advocate from Episode 11.

[Clip]

SD: Alright, so it's gonna sound odd. It’s a restaurant in the Florentia Village. So, Florentia Village is an outlet close to the airport. So that's not so fancy, nor glamourous, let's put it that way. But they have a very good restaurant, a very good Italian restaurant called ‘Bella Vita’. We know the chef, Stefano, personally. And it's a little bit like every week, every Sunday, we go back to Italy. Nothing fancy, nothing ‘fusion’, just traditional Italian cuisine, where you can find a little bit of home and, you know, spend good family time.

OF: And that's because your wife is Italian, right?

SD: Yeah.

[Voiceover]

OF: Vy Vu, the fitness community leader from Episode 08.

[Clip]

VV: Blackbird, actually. Have you been there?

OF: Oh, in Columbia Circle?

VV: Yeah. So I only just recently discovered Columbia Circle actually. But it's the perfect mix of everything. You've got great food on the lower floor. You've got great cocktails in the middle. And then you've got this gorgeous terrace where they play movies and everything. But it's a shame that Colombia Circle hasn't actually taken off as yet. But I'm really liking Blackbird.

[Voiceover]

OF: Nini Sum, the artist from Episode 16.

[Clip]

NS: Actually, my friend’s studio. So I have several artist friends, they all have studios around my studio’s area, pretty downtown. And I go in there, see what they're making recently. And also sometimes invite people here to my studio, having a beer.

OF: Right. It's funny, you're never really far away from art. Even when you're hanging out, you’re hanging out around art.

NS: Oh my god, it's terrible.

[Voiceover]

OF: Roz Coleman, the theatre producer from Episode 22.

[Clip]

RC: I think one of my favourite venues - in the entire world, never mind Shanghai - has to be ALL on 襄阳北路 [Xiāngyáng Běilù]. I think what Gaz has done there is absolutely astounding. The sound system is unparalleled. Whenever I get there, it's the same story every time. I'm like “Do this. Put your bags and coats here. Let's get a drink. Right, now come in here. Now we're going to do a dance”. And then I'm like a four-year-old, I'm like “Listen, can you hear me talking? You can hear me talking, but you can feel the bass, right? You can hear me talking, but you can feel the bass?” It’s like, my friends laugh at me because they're like “Roz, I know. We've done this before. You've literally showed me this five times”. “I know, but I can't believe how good the sound is in here”. And what I love is that any new music that's happening in there, people will say “Oh, but I don't think I like Trap music. I don't like Footwork. I don't think I'm into industrial techno”. But they go in there, they hear that, as soon as you're in front of the DJ, you’re dancing straightaway, because it’s always high quality programming.

[Voiceover]

OF: Gina Li, the invention company CEO from Episode 06.

[Clip]

GL: IAPM, a shopping mall based in downtown Shanghai. I think from the third, fourth, fifth floor, there are certain different bars or a coffee shops that have terraces. And then also, they have, like, supermarkets and a movie theatre. So I just like to put myself somewhere in the crowd, but still a little bit quiet, where it has multi-functions.

[Voiceover]

OF: Abe Deyo, the tour manager from Episode 27.

[Clip]

AD: Probably RnB. Just because that's, you know, where a lot of my friends go. It's a record shop / bottle shop.

OF: Right. I guess… I just worked out what RnB stands for.

AD: Yeah, Records n’ Beer, Records n’ Beer.

[Voiceover]

OF: Sabrina Chen, the dance programme curator from Episode 26.

[Clip]

SC: Well if you put me into a fashionable place, I will still enjoy it. But maybe I would not proactively choose to go. Maybe it's because I grew up in Shanghai, I've seen too many of them. For me, I feel a little bit fed up with it. Yeah, so that's why I like to go to places that are more cosy. Ah, maybe the supermarket! You know 盒马鲜生 [Hémǎ Xiānshēng]? It's magic. So when you order seafood, actually they will put it in a bag and they will hang the bag on a track. So it's like an automatic system, you can receive your goods. It's really funny.

[Voiceover]

OF: Stephane de Montgros, the events company CEO from Episode 19.

[Clip]

SDM: I’d like to give a shout to Shake. Shake is by far my favourite live music venue in Asia. They’re on 茂名 [Màomíng] Road. Beautiful place for dinner, drinks, and some dancing. And trust me, I've been to quite a lot. So go to Shake. Fantastic. And again, my favourite all over Asia.

[Voiceover]

OF: Srinivas Yanamandra, the compliance leader from Episode 15.

[Clip]

SY: So the best place to hang around is always The Bund. And once you go and take a walk in the evening, I think you really can't stop admiring the other side, how it has been created. And the phenomenal fact is that it has been done in the past 20 years.

[Voiceover]

OF: Sanford Browne, the biochemist from Episode 29.

[Clip]

SB: So there are some downsides to the pace of change that happens. So I would say a lot of the favourite places that I had no longer exist - my favourite 包子 [bāozi] shop, my favourite 小笼包 [xiǎolóngbāo] shop, some older streets that I would love to walk in, that really felt like you're in older China - unfortunately, those don’t really exist anymore in Shanghai. I used to do… when people came to Shanghai for the first time, I used to take my sidecar and go out to the countryside, where you see farmers and everything, and then take them down to the Bund. And you saw that all within one day. And so, it was the complete contrast of that. So that's a that's a little bit… But then on the flipside, you always have new fantastic places. The new restaurant that I like is Hiya in the Edition Hotel. Because, what I like about it, so food's very good there, the quality's there, but the view… So they have a bar upstairs, and you have a rooftop. And of course, Shanghai has lots of rooftop bars. But what was interesting with this one, it's a different view, at least from what I had seen before, because you're further back. And you have a different perspective on the city, that I had never seen before, even though I've seen it a million times. And honestly, I think Shanghai is the most beautiful city at night in the world.

[Voiceover]

OF: Philippe Gas, the Disney resort CEO from Episode 01.

[Clip]

PG: I recently discovered a very good Cantonese restaurant in a hotel called Edition Hotel, it’s right off The Bund, called Canton Disco. If you have not been there, I recommend you try it. It’s great food, great environment, I love this place. I have many hangouts, places where I go to. I live here in the centre, so there’s some Mexican food that I love, and many of my friends like to hang out there. But this one I recommend to try.

[Voiceover]

OF: Octo Cheung, the fashion designer from Episode 30.

[Clip]

OC: The best restaurant I really like is called Highline, which is on the sixth floor of the Ascott. And the best drinks is Sober Company, which is one of the 50 best bars in Asia. And it was opened by a Japanese person.

[Voiceover]

OF: Eric Olander, the journalist from Episode 03.

[Clip]

EO: The perfect answer for this, and the cliché answer would be, some corner dive in the French concession that serves the best dumplings that you've ever heard of it, that nobody else knows. And it's their secret spot, that only this one foreigner seems to know. I won't give you that answer. Because to be honest with you, eating Eastern Chinese food - so that is Shanghai Chinese food - actually is not my favourite. I gotta be honest with you. It's greasy, I don't like the MSG, and it's very salty. I prefer Southern Chinese food, 云南 [Yúnnán]. So I actually like the French bistros and the Western food here in the French Concession. I don't have a particular favourite. I mean, listen, I'm a big Wagas fan, I mean, that's a very kind of mainstream pedestrian answer. But they do good service. You know, what I'm gonna say? But I don't actually have a favourite dive, or corner, or hole-in-the-wall in Shanghai.

[Voiceover]

OF: Lissanthea Taylor, the pain expert from Episode 28.

[Clip]

LT: So my favourite place is a cafe, it's on 淮海路 [Huáihǎi Lù], it's called On Air. And it's sort of tucked away in the back of a little lane. But you won't know it's there.

OF: Nice.

LT: Someone has to take you.

[Voiceover]

OF: Lexie Comstock, the cookie supplier from Episode 20.

[Clip]

LC: My friend Adam had this amazing apartment right on the corner of 复兴 [Fùxīng] and 乌鲁木齐  [Wūlǔmùqí]. And he made a New Year's Resolution one year to throw a theme party every month. And he just nailed it. And it was super open, like you could bring anyone, and there were various themes, like Chinese New Year, 80s prom, all this stuff. And people would dress up and… So party side, that was really fun to go out in. But also he had a great balcony. So you know, Sunday afternoons lounging on the balc'. That was pretty ideal.

[Voiceover]

OF: Gigi Chang, the translator from Episode 24.

[Clip]

GC: Well, my go-to restaurant, if friends come to town, in Shanghai would be Spicy Moment on 五原路 [Wǔyuán Lù], it’s a 湖南 [Húnán] restaurant. I particularly like it because it's very difficult to get good Cantonese food here. Good in the sense that, Cantonese food is not just about ingredients or tastes or flavourings, but you have to fry everything on a very, very, very, very hot wok. And that is a particular taste. Like, you can't really describe it. It’s not like a flavour, salty or sweet. But if you fry something on a very hot wok, it tastes different from a non-hot wok.

OF: And is it also a wok that has been fried before, and has some residual taste from it?

GC: No, no, no, it is not like a flavour-type taste, but that is something… It's like cooking something on wood, on coal, or on gas, or on electric. They taste different. And I love that restaurant because even though 湖南 [Húnán] food tastes very different from Cantonese food, that taste of fire is in it.

[Outro]

OF: And with that, we've reached the end of another compilation. And I love that last comment. I've been going to that restaurant that Gigi mentioned, and she's totally right about the taste of fire. Next week will be the final compilation. It's all about favourite words and phrases in Mandarin. Definitely a fun and useful one, and this time, not just for fans of Shanghai.

[Clips]

PG: Thank you very much.

MZ: Thank you.

EO: Thank you so much.

AP: Thank you too.

JL:  Thank you very much.

GL: Thank you.

MZ: Thank you again.

VV: Thank you so much.

NS: Great, thank you.

LL: My pleasure too.

SD: Thank you very much.

YF: Thank you.

NY: Thank you.

EM: Thank you.

SY: Thank you so much.

NS: Thank you for having me.

SM: Awesome, thank you.

AW: Thank you.

SDM: Thank you.

LC: Thanks for having me.

YY: Thank you for having me.

RC: Thank you so much for having me.

GN: Thank you for having me.

GC: Thank you

TB: Thank you very much.

SC: Thank you.

AD: Great to see you too.

LT: Thank you so much.

SB: Thanks.

OC: Thank you.