Bargain Of The (Restaurant) Week

I wrote recently about Shanghai Restaurant Week, which runs from 27th August to 28th September. I'm sure some of you read the post with interest, but then forgot about it. And that's fine. But you're missing out. It is a bit of a minefield and there are a lot of venues offering sub par menus, but there are definitely some bargains on offer as well if you take the time to study the various menus. I think I've found a good one so I'm sharing it here for you loyal readers of the blog.

The restaurant is called Bespoke, in the St Regis Hotel in Jing'an (not the one on the Bund!). Their offering is above and beyond what is required, so while many offer just a 3 course meal, Bespoke's dinner menu consists of appetiser, main and dessert PLUS a pasta course and a cocktail for the incredible price of just 258 RMB per person.

Every course (except the dessert) has two options and you can choose one, so if you have a guest, you can each choose one and enjoy the full menu between you. So that's what we did, and it was great.

Both appetisers were delicious, but I have always had a soft spot for seared scallops. The thinly sliced veal salad was also very enjoyable.

Of the two pasta dishes, my favourite was the Tortelli. The Spaghetti was great, but fairly common tomato sauce. My son would have enjoyed that one.

For mains, the beef chuck was a lot more tender than I expected and the salmon combined well with the Bagna càuda sauce.

For dessert there was disappointingly, just one option, so we shared one and took one home. My wife said it lacked alcohol, and my wife is always right!

The one big drawback was that the entire restaurant was empty except for my wife and I, so it was severely lacking in ambience, but the waitress was very attentive and welcoming and I think happy to have some customers. To be clear, the hotel itself is very busy, but it appears that the restaurant just doesn't appeal to local guests, perhaps favouring the Cantonese restaurant over "strange western food".

For the 258 RMB per person price tag, you will be hard pressed to find a better bargain during Restaurant Week, but if you do, I would love to hear about it. Bookings can be made directly on the Dining City website.