Best Food In China

Location

LifeHub@JinQiao is a newly built shopping complex in Zhangyang Road in Pudong. It aims to be much more than a shopping centre, however. In the words of Fanny Leung, the marketing director of the complex’s developer, Chongbang Group, it aims to promote “the lifestyle.” LifeHub@JinQiao is in the business not just of providing high-end shops and dining for the local residents but also of creating a virtual community for them – place where people can hang out and relax. Situated as it is, in remote Pudong, far from the hubbubs of Nanjing Road or Lujiazui, LifeHub@JinQiao saw a need to create a local town centre. To make the well-healed local residents feel less on the fringes.

We came to Jinqiao to interview Fanny Leung, but beforehand we were given a tour by the Ms Wang from the PR company, Fleishman Hillard. With obvious pride, she took us first to the “Action and Fun” centre. Here Jinqiao has set up an incredible fairly land for children to play in. It includes a huge model tree house, a chamber of horrors complete with serpents , spiders and other beasties. It also included a series of slides including a “slide of death” with an incredible almost vertical drop. Ms Wang then showed us the centre’s bowling alley and snooker tables. Our tour concluded with a quick look in at Ms Wang’s favourite shop, which specializes in making fake flowers and plants. I had to admit that they did look realistic and found myself frustratingly unable to find a good response to to Miss Wang’s logic, “these look exactly the same as flowers but will never wilt and do not need to be watered, so they are much better.”

The tour over, we were conducted to the offices of Chongbang Group where Fanny Leung gave us a complete rundown on what LifeHub@JinQiao was going to offer in terms of food. Chongbang Group only leases (rather than sells) space in LifeHub@JinQiao to restaurants and shops, and rather than advertise for potential tenants they approach restaurants and shops. Chongbang wants to have overall artistic control of the whole project and wants to ensure there is the right balance between high-end and mid range and, in the case of restaurants, the right mix of cuisines.

Ms Leung told us that there are 48 outlets in LifeHub@JinQiao which offer food or drink including cafes and bars. Many of the usual suspects are there: Costa Coffee, Dairy Queen, Burger King, KFC etc, but Chongbang Group has also invited in some exciting and unique restaurants. At the top end there will be a branch of the high-end Shanghainese restaurant “Xiao Nan Guo”. This is its first venture out of the CBD and into the suburbs.

The most interesting feature will be the Rainbow Seafood Restaurant. To seafood connoisseurs from Hong Kong, this will be familiar as the most famous restaurant on Lamma Island – the seafood haven where weekend trippers from Hong Kong Island go to gorge themselves on its famous delicacies. Rainbow Seafood Restaurant has been an institution there for decades and now it is opening its first branch not only in Shanghai but in mainland China at LifeHub@JinQiao. The daughter of the original Rainbow Seafood restaurant’s founder has come over to supervise the new restaurant personally. Leung told us that the Rainbow Seafood restaurant has unparalleled access to the best seafood suppliers in Hong Kong and other centres like Xiamen.

There will also be a branch of the well-known vegetarian restaurant “Gong De Lin”. In a typical example of Chongbang Group’s collaborative philosophy, they worked closely with the rather traditional ownership of “Gong De Lin” to modernize and upgrade the restaurant’s décor.

The centre will also feature a branch of a well-known Korean BBQ restaurant. Ms Leung joked that this had the double advantage of saving on chef’s salaries and allowing guests to see clearly what they’re eating and being sure its fresh.

For fans of Tepanyaki, the well known Asaki, from Xintiandi, will be opening a branch there. For those with a taste for hot food there will be a Hunanese restaurant called South Memory and a Szechuanese restaurant called “Tiffany Spicy.” Both these are innovative restaurants whose chefs have created new and exciting dishes. In the case of “Tiffany Spicy” the outlet at LifeHub@JinQiao will be its first branch restaurant.
Most countries cuisine is represented, there’s a Thai restaurant (Mai Thai) a HK style Dim Sum restaurant (Jiwang) and a Sushi restaurant.

LifeHub@JinQiao aims to provide the complete range of restaurants from budget to high-end. At the budget end, it has a Taiwanese 1001 Noodle House and other quick noodle restaurants. Within each category of food it also tries to provide a cheaper and more expensive option. There is a Double Star Steakhouse, catering to the more expensive market and a John Steak for those who just want a basic steak. Ms. Leung explained that their key principle is to try to avoid any direct competition between restaurants. “We want all our restaurants to succeed,” she said.

Shanghai is a sprawling metropolis with a population five times the size of New Zealand. Inevitably there will be feelings of isolation and even alienation for those who live far from its throbbing heart. LifeHub@JinQiao represents one of the ways forward. Instead of just building a shopping centre, they have constructed a “town centre” away from the CBD. If food is one of the key elements of creating communities, it is clear that the centre is opening to an auspicious start. Ms. Leung and her team have successfully enticed many of the most exciting and innovating restaurants from Shanghai and beyond to help create Chongbang Group’s vision of “the lifestyle.”

-- by David Symington