Nono's Italian aperitivo & Caravaggio cocktails at Shanghai EDITION (28F/29F), city views. RMB238 gets 1 bite + 1 drink; +RMB60 for NZ oyster. Until Dec 20.
Tags:By Mike Norton
High above the city, two kitchens meet on the top floors of The Shanghai EDITION—with extraordinary results.
THE NONO‘S EDIT is the current chapter of That's The Taste of Shanghai, the yearlong series in which The Shanghai EDITION partners with That's Shanghai to connect the city through a curated selection of restaurants.
The menu brings together five bar bites, three cocktails, and a concept—or a challenge?—printed at the bottom:
A little aperitivo, a lot of Shanghai.
Running until December 20 at Punch Room and ROOF, the collaboration brings Nono’s upstairs for its first venture into bar bites.
The younger sibling of Yaya’s, which has spent the past five years cooking Italian food with a Chinese accent, Nono’s arrives with plenty of personality.
Calling these dishes bar bites feels like an understatement…
The Cannoli, Mudsnail, Leek, Mascarpone (RMB78) is the place to start. Nono’s has taken the Sicilian dessert, hollowed it out and given it a savory makeover: two crisp tubes, ends flecked with chopped scallion, mascarpone in place of cream.
Inside, the sea snail—diced fine—registers as depth rather than texture, a low umami note under all that cream.
Don’t be put off by the mudsnail; this is Italian-Shanghai fusion at its most imaginative.
There’s Aussie Wagyu Beef Tartare (RMB88), from the EDITION's own kitchen. Heaped rectangles of toast, topped beef—chopped coarse by hand rather than ground to paste—with egg yolk purée, plus a green chili purée that comes on as warmth rather than heat. Mushroom lies beneath, doing quiet savory work.
A great deal of thinking concentrated in a very small area.
The Arancini, Gorgonzola, Nono's House Coppa (RMB98) come four to the plate, sitting in a sauce carrying just enough acid and chili heat to cut the cheese.
Crunch outside, delicately rich within, with the coppa and Parmesan shavings over the top providing the seasoning.
The Gin Cured Rainbow Trout in Spicy Nanru Sauce (RMB98) is a most elegant thing.
Built on gravlax logic: the botanicals in the gin cure rein in the earthiness of the freshwater fish, then fermented red bean curd for savory punch, cucumber, radish, and a lemon gel to keep the whole thing bright.
Finally, the New Zealand Moana Oyster, Cucumber Granita, Finger Lime (RMB158), two of them in a wooden bowl with the granita heaped green on top.
Sweet, plump, properly cold, the finger lime snapping at the back of the throat.
Absolutely worth ordering at least once.
Now the bar, which has found its inspiration in Caravaggio. Three cocktails, each one a painting rebuilt as a drink.
Basket of Fruit (RMB168) takes the still life and puts it in a glass: Calvados for depth, peach jam and pear for the fruit, Prosecco for the lift at the end.
The flavors shine through here—a Tuscan orchard in liquid form.
The Boy with a Basket of Fruit (RMB168) has more complexity—fig gin and Cynar giving it a bitter, botanical spine, then waxberry and yellow rice wine pulling it somewhere unmistakably local.
Arguably the standout is the Bacchus (RMB168): a lively back-and-forth between Campari and sour grape juice, softened by Moscato. Magnolia syrup threading the city's own flower straight down the middle of it.
There are peel-and-reveal menus and a cherry keychain for the collectors. The venues are threaded through with Nono’s cherry-red neon lifted from their Yongjia Lu home. The details all point toward the same promise: a fun night out.
Nono's comes upstairs for a season and brings its flair with it. The food and cocktails are the reason to come, the view is the cherry on top.
For RMB238, guests can enjoy one bar bite paired with one Caravaggio-inspired cocktail—add RMB60 to upgrade the bite to the New Zealand Moana Oyster.
Click below to purchase the package now:
Until December 20
28F & 29F, The Shanghai EDITION, 199 Nanjing Dong Lu, by Henan Zhong Lu, Huangpu District
南京东路199号28及29楼, 近河南中路
No comments:
Post a Comment