Pane e Vino - Shanghai

After looking for new non-Indian food places to eat in Shanghai, I read about Pane e Vino in the City weekend magazine - http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/dining/italian/has/pane-e-vino/ - the review in the magazine was better than the one online. It talked about the ambience, the Caprese Salad & the fabulous thin crust pizza that they serve.

On a cold wintry night in Shanghai, I decided it was pizza time and moreover, time to find a new spot - I also decided I am going to take public transport. I love being able to take public transport everywhere. After a bit of online research, I found that this place is just a gentle walk from the Shaanxi Rd station - So, I decided to take Line No. 10 from Nanjing East Rd station and arrived at Shaanxi Rd (S) station. Take exit #1 and once you reach the top of the stairs, take a left (or ask the people hawking wares outside for MaoMing Road). The next intersection is Mao Ming Road - take a right at the intersection and walk a couple blocks and there you are staring at a Mexican place, Blue Frog, Melrose Pizza, Pane e Vino and a Moroccan restaurant in a little stretch in the middle of what appears to be no where.

The ambience, as described resembles that of a tiny Italian restaurant you could find in the Little Italies of the world, giving you the feel of a cozy family owned restaurant. I arrived late (9:20 PM), was frowned upon & told the place was closed. However, they were willing to make a pizza for me. So, quickly, I decided I wanted there famed Margarita pizza. The pizza arrived rather quickly & as promised was about 10-11" in diameter, but was extra thin that it had to melt in your mouth - trust me, this is thinner than the brooklyn style pizzas that New York has become famous for. The servers were a bit jumpy literally willing & wishing for me to get the heck out of there. Given I didn't really need the urging, I devoured the pie in a few minutes and walked out quickly. I'd give the food & ambience a double plus & the service a minus - it feels like a good cozy place to get down to with a bunch of friends, a bit earlier in the evening.

Line No. 10 also stops at Xintiandi & Yu Yuan Garden (places that I didn't know the subway went to). So, I stopped at the Xintiandi station & found out the station is just a block away from the central Xintiandi party places - wandered the area for a bit & returned to the comfort & saftety of a nice cozy bed. All in all a good night.

Shanghai Xintiandi + Xin Ji Shi + Vegetarian authentic chinese food

After staying in Shanghai with Charan for a week & complaining to Jack daily about how we didn't get any authentic Chinese food as we were vegetarians, Jack & Lulu took pity on us and took us out to Xintiandi and gave us a tour of the place, the french architecture.

If you don't have the luxury of a chinese speaking friend, don't despair. Xintiandi (pronounced Shin-tendi) is well-known with the cab drivers & the hotel concierge can easily send you off there. It is on the Puxi side of the river. However, this area is designed for the tourists & especially packed with american/ european fare. There are steakhouses, breweries, cafes and a few authentic chinese restaurants as well. I have heard good things about another Chinese restaurant in Xintiandi called "Southern Beauty" which I haven't been to yet.

Jack & Lulu said this was one of the good places to go to & so we did. They made us believe that Chinese food is truly vegetarian, at its heart. Historically, meat was only sparsely available and was consumed only by the rich. Hence, the average daily fare consisted of rice and vegetables - it isn't true anymore.

One of the things I find immensely useful in Chinese restaurants is the picture menu. Xin Ji Shi does have a few pictures in their menu .. but, unfortunately, not all of the above are well represented in the menu. From left to right, we had a tofu dish with mushrooms in a sweet sauce and garnished with salty peanuts, a tofu dish with coriander leaves & spices (not my favorite), lotus root stuffed with sticky rice, steamed and sliced - this was just wonderful and then, a stir fry of a combination of different vegetables including bamboo shoots that was mildly spicy and very tasty. Not represented in the photographs, Xin Ji Shi serve an "onion bread" that is oozing with oil (as most shanghainese foods are), but is just simply fabulous.

Chinese foods are served family style, as in the bowl is set in the center of the table and each person starts poking at it with their chopsticks - the ability to use chopsticks helps. If not, good luck asking for forks. A good idea would be to ask your concierge to write down the above menu in chinese and also to write down how to ask for forks in chinese.

would certainly recommend Xin Ji Shi for a taste of authentic Chinese food, yet very vegetarian. Let me know if you find it.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend