The Venue: Sleek & Swanky Restaurant, Lounge & Club in Jing’an
On October 19, 2023
The Venue is an all-in-one restaurant, lounge, bar, and nightclub complete with multiple private rooms located at the Golden Eagle mall in Jing’an.
The Space
The restaurant & lounge
The backers of this project spared no expense, reportedly shelling out ¥80 million to deck out the space in designer furniture and finishings, complete with a club sound system sporting Funktion-One speakers.
The club
The restaurant and lounge is posh. Sleek and swanky, I tell ya! Leather and velvet banquets with marble-top lounge tables, soft warm lighting and vibrant wall art. Music selection adds to the ambiance, too. It’s the kind of classy space that you should dress up for, lest feel out of place. The lights dim at 10pm for a lounge setting.
The restaurant & lounge
The Food
The food is upmarket fusion with obvious French influence, featuring a subtle crossover of East and West. (Their Chinese chef Mario has a background in French fine dining.)
French Foie Gras Cake (¥129) – Foie gras layered with ox tongue, served with diced peppers, a potent five spice jelly, and slightly tart carrot jam. Well executed and served with a fun assortment of jams to cut the richness.
Wagyu Beef Tartare (¥129) – A lightly spiced tartare speckled with bits of water chestnut, topped with egg yolk. It’s a twist on the classic. Served with crispy “ru shan”, literal translation is “milk fan,” a cheese-like fermented milk product from Yunnan.
Drunken Arctic Amaebi (¥129) – Sweet shrimp in a vinegary-soy marinade spiked with huadiao yellow wine. It came with edamame mash, a side that was honestly unnecessary.Gnocchi with Spicy Beef Tripe Ragu (¥149) – A rich serving of gnocchi finished in spicy beef tripe ragu, topped and tossed with bone marrow. Saucy, comforting, and opulent.Fried Sea Cucumber Pork Dumpling (¥149) – Sea cucumber isn’t your typical potsticker filling. It does add that bouncy, gelatinous texture, but doesn’t contribute much else. Overall, the dumplings are delicious, served with a smooth XO mayonnaise and black truffle vinegar.Roasted Truffle Butter Chicken (¥499) – A three-part dish that’s made for sharing. Chicken breast served with a morel jus, cheesy coquillettes cooked with liver and gizzard, served in a sheep’s stomach, and an en croute pastry filled with chicken thigh meat.My favorite component of the three is the macaroni pasta. It’s again, a very rich dish. I’m assuming plenty of butter and cheese within.Tender chicken thigh encased in flaky pastry.Cuttlefish “Noodle” (¥159) – Cuttlefish cut into noodle form, served with bamboo shoots, pancetta, and egg yolk. Salty and lemon with fresh herbs. A tad too salty for my preference, though.Roast Tuna Steak “Char Siu” Style (¥229) – Tataki-style tuna with a sweet-savory sauce hinted with spice and citrus. The julienned snow peas for texture and tart marmalade elevate the dish. Excellent.Lemon Tart (¥69) – Mellow, sweet, and floral rather than acidic. Creamy lemon jam with dry tangerine peel and buttery sablé.Coffee Mille-Feuille Cake (¥79) – Light and fluffy coffee cream with a layer of tart jam.
The Drinks
As for drinks, The Venue has 10 signature cocktails in addition to the classics. Wines by the glass start from ¥85.
Thai Cooler (¥110) – Laksa leaf indused dark rum with apricot brandy, coconut, lemon, pineapple juice. Tiki-style and boozy.Rouged Lips (¥110) – Sichuan green pepper sous vide with gin, beetroot juice, cranberry jelly, lemon juice. Earthy, spiced and fragrant, subtly sweet. Low ABV.
The Club
Here’s a bit about the club side of things:
The Venue Club isn’t very big. It’s a one-room club with a large bar. The bar area also caters for people who don’t have table bookings to loiter about. All tables require a minimum spend, starting for ¥4,000. Dance floor is wherever you make it.
There are a dozen private rooms, including the high-roller room located above the bar that overlooks the club. The music program changes weekly and based on available DJs; style is a variety, but leans towards house, not hip-hop or EDM.
The bar at the clubOne of the private roomsAnd the swanky bathroom
In Summary
Back to the restaurant… The food exceeded my expectations. It is on the upmarket end of things. Overall, the dishes are well executed and well balanced, tasty and impressive.
Recommend the gnocchi, roasted truffle butter chicken, tuna steak, and coffee mille-feuille.
The Venue Address: South Block, Golden Eagle mall, 278 Shaanxi Bei Lu 陕西北路278号,金鹰国际购物中心南里 Tel: 62600098 Hours: Tue-Sun, 5:30pm-2am; closed Monday
Rachel Gouk has been writing about food and drink in Shanghai since 2011. She is a food critic, writer, photographer, and F&B consultant based in Shanghai. Nomfluence was founded in May 2018 as a means to express her love for the Shanghai F&B scene. Follow her blog www.nomfluence.com or on Instagram @nomfluence.
