The Shanghai Scoop is a monthly column dedicated to the latest food and drink news happening in Shanghai. Click here to read the last Scoop.
Things are kicking into overdrive post-summer: JUJU opens. Plaza 66 gets an upgrade with some cool eateries, and Tribe Sky Beach Club via Bangkok due for Q4. Atelier opens two concepts in the same space — Cantonese restaurant Atelier Kau Lou and cocktail bar Opia. More than a dozen new openings!
Opening Soon#
JUJU: KBBQ in The Cannery space#
Korean barbecue restaurant JUJU soft opens September 21, taking over the former home of The Cannery.
If you didn’t hear, the beloved Pacific Northwest restaurant and bar closed on August 6. In its place comes JUJU, a “grill-and-ganbei” concept that first launched on the Bund in 2019. The news got quite a bit of fanfare when I covered it here.
And now it’s ready.
On the menu is plenty of UYYU wagyu beef, highly marbled cuts of all kinds for the grill, plus pork.
Other dishes include KBBQ classics like japchae, crispy Korean pancakes, jigae stew, spicy noodles, and a buldak (spicy chicken with ttokbokki and cheese) available as a “fire or nuclear” option. Sneaking in to keep its predecessor alive in spirit is a poutine, dressed up with bulgogi and kimchi.
Soft opening hours: Mon–Thu, 5pm–midnight; Fri–Sat, 5pm–1am; Sun, 5pm–10pm.
Walk-in only for now, but it’s a huge space that seats just under 200, so likely they’ll be able to accommodate. Plus, 10% off food from Monday to Thursday during soft opening week, September 21 to 24.
Feral Xiaoye: Banh Mi & Pho#
Feral, the banh mi shop I talked up about here, is making a comeback, opening any day now at 753 Yuyuan Lu, in the old Specters complex.
It’s getting an upgrade: Feral Xiaoye is the new brand, and in addition to banh mi, they’ll have pho and other Vietnamese snacks. Proper seating too — indoor and outdoor, totaling 60 seats.
Plaza 66 Phase III: Pavilion#
Pavilion#
In Jing’an, Plaza 66 now has an extension called Pavilion, a lifestyle hub complete with plenty of green spaces.
Eateries include a third location of Crave — this one’s more brunch and bistro — as well as a bagel shop, BegL. Opening in October is Nuits, which closed its Tongren Lu location on July 31. Outdoor seating available for these ground floor eateries.
Opening soon: Thai concept Somsak, Rong Sichuan restaurant, and plenty more.
Tribe Sky Beach Club Opening Q4 2026#
Outside of Pavilion, the main mall is also getting a big new opening. Coming in from Thailand is Tribe Sky Beach Club, due to open late Q4. This is the brand’s first foray into China, and also its first step internationally. It’ll open on the 6th-floor rooftop garden.
Tribe originated in Bangkok and is a high-altitude beach club brand — pools, visual design, entertainment, dining — a beach above the city channeling a vacation-style urban hotspot. The Shanghai location will be decked out in elegant tropical glory, complete with an infinity sky pool, art installations, and top-of-the-line sound and lighting.
七月柿 Farm House: Tomato-Themed Restaurant#
Also new on the fifth floor of Plaza 66’s main mall is 七月柿 Farm House (Melt in July), a farm-to-table restaurant built around its signature ingredient: tomatoes.
The concept comes from Shenzhen, where it’s been operating since 2023, and is the work of Tina Chen — the force behind Voisin Organique (V.O.), a notable fine-dining farm-to-table restaurant in the same city. What sets Melt in July apart is the backing: the company owns and partners with TESH (特石农场), its own organic farm network with full traceability, including a farm in Nanhui, Shanghai, among others.
The 430-sqm Shanghai flagship spans a wine cellar, an open fermentation lab, and a private room with an open-kitchen view. You can even buy fresh tomatoes there.
Not every dish features tomatoes, but most signature dishes do, which include a tomato-and-egg stir-fry, braised beef brisket, and a yellow croaker rice dish. (The food is largely Chinese-inspired.) And even some drinks are tomato-based.
Now Open#
Atelier Kau Lou and Opia#
From the group behind the Atelier restaurants comes a huge two-part project on Fumin Lu: Cantonese restaurant Atelier Kau Lou (玖樓) and cocktail bar Opia. Together they take up the entire ninth floor of A Mansion, the building on the corner of Fumin and Changle Lu where Atelier No. 3, Laizhou Bar, and Cantina Agave are located.
The space is enormous, spanning the whole floor, decked out in soft matte green. It’s an impressive, open layout with multiple spacious private rooms, a large communal dining room, and not one but two terraces running the length of the space.
Atelier Kau Lou is a contemporary Cantonese restaurant, fusing traditional cooking with a light Western touch — nothing overbearing, leaning more toward modern presentation. One dish, a whole char-grilled crab, comes served over paccheri pasta. The menu is sizable: Cantonese-style roasted meats, soups, claypot dishes, live seafood, classic Cantonese stir-fries, and dim sum. Off-menu dishes are available on request.
Opia shares the same space but has its own nook — not fully separated, but set apart enough that it stays out of the main view when you enter. It’s a setup unlike anything in Shanghai yet: a massive sunken bar, with drinkers perched up top looking down onto the bar below. The bar program is led by Matthew Hall, previously of The Upper House Shanghai and Hakkasan.
Entrance to the ninth floor is from the Changle Lu side, via the office elevators.
Leyas Middle Eastern Restaurant in Xintiandi#
Not sure if you noticed, but Middle Eastern cuisine is on the rise in Shanghai. The latest is Leyas, a modern Middle Eastern restaurant in Xintiandi, brought to you by Head Chef and Founder Wael Accad, the creative force behind the beloved Lebanese restaurant chain Eli Falafel.
In comparison, Leyas is posh, totally different to Eli Falafel’s neighborhood eatery vibe. It’s located in the main Xintiandi square — three floors of dining, a private room, a full bar, and two terraces with al fresco seating and shisha.
The menu extends beyond mezze and kebabs to include Middle Eastern classics from hearty share plates like lamb shank over saffron rice to whole baked fish, and Batata Harra (spicy potatoes) to Sambousek Lahme, a house-made pie with minced meat, pine nuts, and aromatics.
Accents: Haipai+ on Yongfu Lu#
Yongfu Lu’s latest and final tenant is Accents, a restaurant that leans Haipai, blending French, Shanghainese, and Japanese influences. In the kitchen is Joey, the man behind 28 Aout bakery. And yes, he’s an actual chef, with a stint at Narisawa, Tokyo under his belt, hence the Japanese influence. The restaurant is located on the second floor, next to Nono’s. It’s small but cozy, with elegant Art Deco touches.
Uni Shushi Opens in Xintiandi#
Serial omakase restaurateur Sun-San, of Ochiyo fame, is back at it again, this time with a second location of Uni Shushi in Xintiandi’s Hubindao Mall. Uni Shushi is the price-competitive brand under Sun-San’s empire. And just like the PAC original, it’s ¥498 and ¥698 for omakase here. Don’t expect anything crazy fancy, but you’ll still get tuna and sea urchin.
They’re also running a lunch time special: ¥298 for ten selected sushi, tamagoyaki, miso soup, and dessert. Click here to book — open for lunch and dinner.
Horse & Cow#
From VOS Families (Ottimo, Suzie) comes Horse & Cow, a compact wine bistro on Xiangyang Bei Lu. Space-wise, it feels like a miniature brasserie, complete with tightly packed tables and a glittering wine display. It’s elegant, feminine even, with a gold and cream as the main palate. There’s also outdoor seating.
The food is by consulting chef Freddy Raoult, the group’s go-to guy for all things kitchen related. It’s a small selection of dishes that French-Chinese — think spicy cream pastas and fried little shrimp for drinking snacks.
Caffe Yaya’s#
Yaya’s has expanded with a second location in Jing’an: Caffe Yaya’s, an all-day restaurant and café inside the NOA Hotel on Wuding Lu.
The menu includes plenty of signatures from the Tongren Lu original — mapo tofu lasagna, pappardelle with lamb ragu — plus new items like spaghetti, salads, and affogato.
Le Reflet#
At Broadway Mansions, north of the Waibaidu Bridge by the Bund, is Le Reflet, a modern French restaurant led by Chef Giovanni Ji (嵇凡), who recently returned to China after stints in Europe and Southeast Asia. The cooking draws on classic French fine dining with Chinese nuance, built around local ingredients like hairy crab, Chinese cured ham, and Chongming tomatoes.
From the à la carte: langoustine with caviar in a pu’er-infused stock, and a claypot rice dish with capon, sweet peas, and wild mushrooms. Chef’s tasting menu available.
Molo di Dario#
Chef Dario has opened Molo di Dario, a sister concept on the floor below his chef’s table restaurant Cucina di Dario on Wuding Lu. Like Cucina, Molo di Dario serves Chinese-Italian cuisine, but here the focus is charcoal-grilled seafood sourced from China — “molo” means harbor in Italian.
Seafood comes prepared multiple ways: think yellow croaker, whether classic Italian olive oil confit, charcoal-grilled, or rolled and roasted, giving diners the freedom of choice. And it’s not all seafood — other meat dishes are available too.
Tao Shu Chuan#
New on Yuyuan Lu is Tao Shu Chuan, a Sichuan restaurant dedicated to traditional dishes paired with wine. Named after its two founders, Tao and Shu, the humble eatery draws on the 24 classic flavor profiles of the cuisine, all served in a modern space.
Akalcha#
On Yongyuan Lu, at the development where Aster is located, sits Akalcha — a Shanghai original wanting to do for tea what third-wave coffee did for espresso. Creative tea-based drinks with a coffee/cocktail style approach, complete with a flavor lab. A signature is the high-caffeine tea concentrate pulled on an espresso machine and combined with coffee. Cocktails, matcha drinks, and house-fermented kombucha, too.
Other News#
Remember Hele Dim Sum, the one on the corner of Xiangyang Bei Lu? This decades-old huntun and jiaozi shop has reopened with two locations: 373 Xinhui Lu and 1438 Xietu Lu, the latter the most recent.
URBN Hotel has revamped its ground-floor restaurant: Le Coq is out, and Southeastia is in. As the creatively named concept suggests, it’s a Southeast Asian spot. Dog-friendly, since June.
Around Town#
Wolfgang Puck Four Hands at Spago Shanghai#
Wolfgang Puck returns to Spago Shanghai for a special dinner on October 13, this time joined by his son, Byron Lazaroff-Puck. The four-hands dinner, billed as the “Generational Tasting Tour,” is part of a series hosted at Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining destinations around the world.
Dinner at Spago Shanghai is ¥1,080 per person, or ¥980 for early birds, available until October 11. Call 021-53688889 to inquire.
Sparkling Lot: New Sparkling Tea Brand#
There’s a new sparkling tea brand in town: Sparkling Lot, brought to you by bar guy Ilya Khokhlov. That said, the sparkling tea is inspired by cocktail craft — made with premium teas, selected fruits, and botanicals, then cold-brewed for 24 hours for delicate bubbles. Kombucha is also in the works, coming soon.
Scan the QR code in the image above to purchase via Red Book and for more info.
Closures#
Zhejiang restaurant Le Patio La Famille’s Bund location is temporary closed — for about a year, starting from September 1, 2026. This is due to a restoration project for the exterior facade.
Nuits closed July 31 (reopening), Ti-Akol closed August 10, The Cannery (TBD reopening) on August 6, ice cream shop Doiceful on August 11.
Thai restaurant Akanee also closed, but is due to reopen in Xingfu Li this October.
Xibo closed its MixC location — the Changshu Lu original still going strong, as are the West Bund and Xinyao mall locations.
Holy Spice is currently closed — the OHA Group is looking to turn it into something more along the lines of a lounge-style concept with a bar menu. Updates soon.
