Chef Francesco Bonvini joins Cellar To Table as executive chef, revamping the menu with a mix of Italian, Mediterranean, and broad European strokes. It’s all fantastic, and I highly recommend paying Cellar To Table a visit.
About Cellar To Table
Cellar To Table is housed in the iconic Donghu Lu villa in Xuhui, Shanghai. (It shares the space with Blaz on the ground floor.) It’s a cozy restaurant with spacious courtyard seating in addition to a balcony. It’s backed by the same people behind Napa (soon to reopen, I hear) and import company Bund Fine Wines.
The food is certainly a big draw, but so is the wine. Wine buffs that lean towards the traditional side of the spectrum should explore the selection.
About Francesco Bonvini
A team player in the kitchen and a culinary virtuoso, Francesco Bonvini was previously executive chef at New Wave by Da Vittorio; the fine Italian restaurant received a Michelin one-star during his tenure. His culinary prowess is well-known throughout the Shanghai food and beverage industry.
So, forget the Cellar To Table food you knew before. This is a completely new take, and chef Francesco holds all the cards. Some dishes hint borrow from the Michelin playbook — intricate tuiles and moss-like sponge cake — while others are straight from the heart and downright comforting like the meatballs in marinara, duck maltagliati, and the parmesan covered steak.
He even sneaks in a few Asian inspirations like the Ningbo clam tagliolini, inspired by Taiwanese street noodles. I slurped that one down real quick!
The Food
Cellar To Table is not too precious about staying in their “modern European” box (see: clam tagliolini), and they don’t need to be, especially if their off-piste dishes are that delicious.
To start, there’s the house bread, fluffy milk bread served buttered with anchovy butter. Next, beef tongue, cured and thinly sliced, served with parsley foam, tufts of sponge cake, fried baby capers, peppery jellies, and crumbled hazelnuts. It tastes like vitello tonato! Complex and deep flavors with a spike of acidity in each bite. For a snacky starter, try the stuffed green olives, filled with beef and pork, battered and fried. Briny bites that work well as a drinking snack.
If you’re looking for a dose of comfort, make a beeline for the meatballs. Super fluffy and juicy meatballs are served in a smooth, tart and naturally sweet marinara sauce, a decadently buttery mashed potatoes comes on the side.
If you love fish, don’t miss the Wild Taizhou Catch! Essentially the fresh catch of the day, delivered straight from fisherman to the restaurant. Cellar To Table guts and cleans the dish, before lightly seasoning and then dry aging for four to five days.
The dry-aging process draws out moisture from the flesh, resulting in a meatier texture. The fish is lightly roasted, caramelizing the skin whilst retaining a desirable gummy texture of flesh with a concentrated flavor of natural sweetness. It’s topped with a Mediterranean medley of olives, tomatoes, capers, white onion, chives, and shallots. Plus, the fish is completely deboned for dining convenience.
For pastas, don’t miss the Ningbo Clam Tagliolini, a dish inspired by Francesco’s time in Taiwan. Eggy house-made noodles tossed with sweet clams, and a sauce of ginger, splash of rice wine, and basil oil, finished with sesame seeds. Absolutely divine! Currently the only “fusion” dish on the menu. Also a must-order is the Huzhou Duck Maltagliati (¥198). It’s a house-made maltagliati pasta with a rich duck ragu and an avalanche of Yunnan black truffle.
The Tagliata di Manzo is more than a steak. The cut is an M7 UYYU ribeye, a beefy steak with excellent marbling that is dry-aged for 30 days. It’s cooked to medium-rare and served over arugula, the steak is then topped with crisped 36-month aged parmesan cheese and a fantastic homemade mustard. Add ¥288 for 100g of steak.
Cellar To Table
Address: 20 Donghu Lu 东湖路20号
Tel: 64166676
Hours: Mon-Fri, 6pm-1am; Sat-Sun, 12pm-2pm, 6pm-1am
