The bund,a symbol of Shanghai,is a must-see place in Shanghai.It is a showcase of the city’s semi-colonial past and its transformation in the new era.

The Bund is an Anglo-Indian word for embankment.In Chinese,we call it Waitan.It is about 1,500 meters long,running from the Waibaidu Bridge in the north to Yan’an Road in the south.

At the beginning of the 19th century,this area was a mere shallow waterfront.After the Opium War in 1840s,Shanghai was opened as a Treaty Port and the Bund area became one of the earliest foreign settlements.Many buildings were builtin the early 20th century and they used to house embassies,hotels,banks and so on.In the 1930s,the Bund was described the Wall Street in the Far East.

In 1990s,the Bund underwent a massive transformation.The promenade was raised prevent the city from flooding.Since then,The Bund has served as a central business district and a tourist attraction.Besides,it also offers visitors a peek into everyday life of the locals.

Just before 2010 Shanghai Expo,the Bund was renovated again.The renovation turned the Bund from a vehicle-dominated area to a pedestrian-dominated area.

Although the Bund went through great physical change,the skylines of this area did not change.As we can see,altogether ,26 buildings stand in a line,projecting an imposing city skyline.They were built mainly in the 1920s and 1930s,with the earliest in 1906.These buildings are in a variety of styles ,ancient and modern,Chinese and foreign.No wonder the Bund is known as a “Gallery of World Architecture”.When night falls,these buildings look magnificent and charming just like a giant crystal palace.

Besides,the Bund is also a traffic hub.There are many important streets here,such as Nanjing Road.It still serves as an important link between the north and south of the Suzhou Creek.In the future,the Bund will extend to the Nanpu Bridge in the south and the Yangpu Bridge in the north.

If we say the history of Shanghai is a mirror of the history of modern China,the history of the Bund can be considered the mirror of modern Shanghai.

In December 2017, Starbucks opened its big coffee restaurant in Shanghai. At that time, it was the biggest in the world, but in 2019 they opened an even bigger one in Chicago.
But he restaurant in Shanghai which is called the ‘Reserve Roastery’ and it’s located on West Nanjing Road (Nanjing Xi Lu) is still a marvellous place to drink a coffee or eat a bite.
The brand defines it as “a coffee theatre with a Chinese Spirit”. It is a venue with 2 700 square meter’s shop, which is 15 times bigger than a classic Starbucks’s shop (around 200 m2). This shop has 400 employees and can serve around 500 persons at the same time!
The store concept :
It is an up-market store with premium quality of products and services. There is an in-house artisanal bakery, a long coffee bar, a Teavana bar, a shop with clothes, goodies, food, Italian catering (in collaboration with Prince Bakery), cooking utensils and professional tools for coffee or tea making. The coffee Aficionado will also find rare products, such as « grand crus » unfindable elsewhere, such as Yunnan, a region best known for its teas.

TaoBao & Alibaba :
To create a real buzz Starbucks cooperates with TaoBao and Alibaba. They launched a special app that offers customers a nice and interactive way to learn about coffee and the process of coffee roasting. And it really worked because nowadays there are more than 4500 Starbuck in China.

The ‘Reserve Roastery’ in Shanghai is a very nice place to drink a coffee or to enjoy some nice food.


Xu Jin

In southen China, the "Hundred-Year-Old Egg" is a very popular side dish for breakfast. Called pidan, it is a black-brown colored, hard-boiled egg with a translucent egg while, a grayish blue yolk and a distinct sulfur smell. Most Chinese like to dip the pidan in soy sauce and eat it with breakfast congee.

Most foreingers cringe when they see this Chinese delicacy. Both the sight and the smell are so unusual that many people find it revolting. But it really can be quite delicious when cooked into congee with minced chicken.

Contrary to its looks, pidans are not rotten eggs that have been kept for a hundred years. They are made from fresh duck eggs wrapped in layers of mud and straw, and then placed in lye for at least a month. Apparently, the basic properties in lye ‘cooks’ the egg and hardens it so that the egg appears hard-boiled after the process.

Vanca's is a Bulgarian Shef restaurant in the heart of Shanghai. Shef Ivan Tsekov is happy to help you order and select for you prime wines from Bugaria. Bulgarian cuisine is a mixure of Balkan food, with nuances from the Mediterranean and Turkish cuisines, lots of cheese, yogurt and meat. Shef Ivan, originally from Bulgaria, has travelled the world and the seven seas, and so he likes to blend all the flavours to achive great taste. Bulgarian cuisine shares a number of dishes with the middle east as well as a limited number with the Indian. The culinary exchange with the East started as early as the 7th century, when traders started bringing herbs and spices to the First Bulgarian Empire from India and Persia via the Roman and later Byzantine empires. This is evident from the wide popularity of dishes like moussaka, gyuvetch, kyufte and baklava, which are common in Middle Eastern cuisine today. White brine cheese called "sirene" (сирене), similar to feta, is also a popular ingredient used in salads and a variety of pastries.

Great restaurant near the Bund

This was the only restaurant I visited while on a weekend escape to Shanghai, however it was all I needed to experience. The service was outstanding and the atmosphere was calm and sophisticated. The lighting was perhaps too low key as it was a bit difficult reading the menu, however that's me trying to fault the place.

It's located very close to the Bund but be aware that bookings are recommended as we couldn't book for six people on a Saturday night. It was also quite reasonably priced - if anything, cheap.

The French Concession is an area of Shanghai that in late 1800s and early 1900s was administered by the French. From that time, it has kept its very agreable streets planted with 'platane' trees ('wutong' in chinese), which makes it very pleasant to walk. Many landmarks such as parks or famous homes (ex. the writer Lu Xun). The architecture of typical shanghai houses has been kept as well, sometimes restored for living or transformed into restaurants/commercial areas. There are many parks. Some blocks have kept their names in french, although the streets lost their french names fir chinese ones. What makes the French concession distinctive compared to other areas of Shanghai is its numbers if small boutiques and narrow streets. It gives you a real a sense of how people live here. The best is to borrow or rent a bicycle by a sunny day, stroll from cafes to boutiques, parks and restaurants and to escape for a while from the view of the modern skyscrappers and elevated roads. Experience it!

Vegetarian Restaurants in Shanghai
1.  Chunfeng Songyue Restaurant
Chinese name: 春风松月楼 (chūn fēng sōng yuè lóu)
Operating hours: 11:00 - 20:00
Average cost per person: CNY 20 - 60
Address: No.99, Jiujiaochang Road, Huangpu District

2. Chinese name: 功德林 (gōng dé lín)
No. 3611, Zhangyang Road, Pudong New Area
Operating hours: 11:00 – 22:00

3. Lucky Zen Vegetarian Restaurant
Chinese name: 吉祥草素食 (jí xiáng cǎo sù shí)
Operating hours: close on Mondays; 11:00 – 21:00 from Tuesday to Sunday
Average cost per person: CNY 50 – 100
4.  Vegetarian Life Style
Chinese name: 枣子树 (zǎo zi shù)
Operating hours: 11:00 - 14:00, 16:00 - 21:00
Average cost per person: CNY 50 – 120
5. New Age Veggie
Chinese name: 新素代 (xīn sù dài)
Operating hours: 11:00 - 22:00
Average cost per person: CNY 60 – 130

6. Jade Buddha Temple Vegetarian Restaurant
Chinese name: 玉佛寺素斋 (yù fó sì sù zhāi)

Operating hours: 06:30 – 20:30 (last order should be no later than   20:00.) Average cost per person: CNY 15 – 80
    Address: No. 999, Jiangning Road, Putuo District (near Anyuan Road)

7.  Longhua Temple Vegetarian Restaurant
Chinese name: 龙华素斋馆 (lóng huá sù zhāi guǎn)
Operating hours: 09:00 – 17:00
Average cost per person: CNY 15 – 50
Address: inside Longhua Temple, No.2787, Longhua Road, Xuhui District

8.  Pure & Whole
Chinese name: 素宿 (sù sù)
Average cost per person: CNY 70 – 150
West Nanjing Road branch: room no. 104, No. 1376, West Nanjing Road, Jing’an District
Operating hours: 11:00 – 21:00

9.  Veggie Dot
Chinese name: 素点 (sù diǎn)
Operating hours: 11:00 – 21:00
Average cost per person: CNY 50 - 120
Address: No. 1196, West Beijing Road, Jing’an District

10. IVegan
Chinese name: 爱源素 (ài yuán sù)
Operating hours: 11:00 – 14:00, 17:00 – 21:00
Average cost per person: CNY 50 - 100
Address: No. 87, Songlin Road, Pudong New Area (between Zhangyang Road and Shangcheng Road)

An independent garden house constituted of red-brick walls ,the most obvious features of which is its roof which is steep at the top and gradual at the bottom.in 1930s musicians like Zhou Xuan ,Hu Die and Ruan  lingyu  have all made some records here,and masterpieces like Shanghai in the Night and Tuberose are all recorded here .In 2009 little Red Hourse was transformed into restaurant  

I recently had the good fortune of dnning with freinds at the Istanbul restaurant.  I found the Turkish oriented food they serve to be of excelent quality and good value with very large portions.  I have previously been here a few times with clients and have never found a single person to complain about the meals.   The restaurant islocated in the idealic french connession area,      F1 900 middle Huaihai road, Huanpu DIstrict.  If you like this style of food or have customers that do then this s great choice.