New on The Bund: CÉ LA VI Shanghai

This venue has closed. For more bars in Shanghai, click here.

The latest addition on The Bund is CÉ LA VI Shanghai, a bar/club/restaurant located on the eight floor of the House of Roosevelt. (Now in soft opening.)

CÉ LA VI is a multi-city lifestyle brand acquired in 2015 by luxury goods brand LVMH, and has locations in St. Tropez, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, and Taipei (opened April 2019).

Its defining formula involves an iconic rooftop location coupled with modern Asian cuisine, cocktails, and rave-worthy parties.

Inside CÉ LA VI Shanghai

CÉ LA VI Shanghai, a restaurant, bar, and club located on the Bund. Photo by Rachel Gouk. — Elevators open to face the main bar.

Food at CÉ LA VI Shanghai

Food served is modern Asian. Executive chef Oscar Toro leads the kitchen. Joining Toro for the opening phase are two chef consultants—luminary pastry chef (and ex-CÉ LA VI corporate pastry chef) Jason Licker and CÉ LA VI Asia executive chef Brian Chan.

At first glance, the menu looks exciting—mix and match east-meets-west flavors like burrata with vegetarian XO sauce, ceviche with jicama and lemongrass, oysters with tamarind, and gochujang BBQ chicken next to a papaya salad. There’s a lot going on, and it’ll take time to fine-tune and tie it all together.

I went before soft opening, and I expect a few changes have since been implemented. Here’s what I tried:

Cocktails at CÉ LA VI Shanghai, a restaurant, bar, and club located on the Bund. Photo by Rachel Gouk. — Cocktails are ¥98, wine by the glass starts at ¥98

Modern Asian cuisine at CÉ LA VI Shanghai, a restaurant, bar, and club located on the Bund. Photo by Rachel Gouk. — Tuna & Uni Cohiba (¥138) with hijiki (a type of sea vegetable), avocado mousse, and ponzu. *(Not very wallet-friendly.)*

Desserts by Jason Licker at CÉ LA VI Shanghai, a restaurant, bar, and club located on the Bund. Photo by Rachel Gouk. — Yuzu Cheesecake (¥98) with yuzu cream and brown butter cake.

In Summary

Let’s be real. It’s the perfect destination for those looking to entertain and be entertained—the Bund view, the historical heritage building, and the ice cold champagne to go with the club’s table minimum spend.

CÉ LA VI Shanghai is a restaurant, bar, and club located on the Bund. Photo by Rachel Gouk.

Tourists will flock for drinks and the view, and people looking to sample the modern Asian food before a night of partying will find convenience in the restaurant’s offerings. There’s also talk about brunch.

It’s like Bar Rouge, but bigger with two terraces. It’s like M1NT, but with a bolder restaurant menu and minus the pomp of VIP membership. Since it’s new, CÉ LA VI will attract it’s own kind of clientele, but will it take customers away from the two venues mentioned above? Yep.

Will it do well? The Bund runs on bottle service. Yeah, it’ll do well.

CÉ LA VI Shanghai
Address: 8/F, House of Roosevelt, 27 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Beijing Dong Lu 中山东一路27号8层, 近北京东路
Tel: 63335877
Hours: 6pm-late