Marriage needs Date Night! Time away from the kids and routine roles, basking in flirtatiousness and wine-based marital romance.
Here are our personal favourites for the ultimate Shanghai date night.
Hakkasan provides the ideal mix of Asian flirtatiousness, a Bund view, and lots of bites of sweet and savoury flavours, with an energising soundtrack and live DJ – alongside an exciting cocktail list.
Their lunches, served Friday to Sunday only, are excellent value, starting at 258 RMB per person.
Dinner is a bit expensive and can easily end up at 1500-2500 RMB for two, depending on how much you drink. But, it is a must-try Shanghai date experience.
ShangXi at Four Seasons Pudong
You don’t get a view, but what you do get at Shang Xi, the hotel’s Cantonese restaurant, is really gorgeous Cantonese food in a top environment with excellent service.
The Chef is a true Cantonese native and the menu is his personal pride.
Even the cups and plates are made especially for Shang Xi.
The weekend brunch is relatively reasonable, starting at around 298++ RMB each, while dinner will inevitably set you back over 1200 RMB for two with drinks.
But the dim sum in particular is worth it. This is one of the very best and most authentic (for high-end of course) Cantonese restaurants in Shanghai.
This is strictly a dinner place. The Peninsula is an absolutely amazing hotel, but you only really enjoy the best service if you’re clearly a big spender. Going in for the weekday set lunch, for example, will be an underwhelming experience.
But booking a special table for the dinner menu – usually at least 1000 RMB per person without drinks – will see you enjoying top service and a sensational meal.
Capo offers unbeatable value. The environment, location, service and food quality is all exceptionally good, while the starters are around 80-100 RMB each, the mains around 130-250 RMB each.
The steaks are of course more expensive, but the menu means that you can have a top meal for two for around 600-900 RMB – which you won’t find elsewhere in Shanghai, especially not on the Bund.
For after dinner drinks, not many views will beat Vue bar at Hyatt On The Bund. Different venues share out the ‘best view’ award with the city’s English media, only because they have paid for the award.
In reality, no view beats Vue bar because you have the perfect angle and height of Lujiazui, the sweep of the river and the glow of the Bund. Drinks are of course expensive, at around 100 RMB for a cocktail, but the experience is worth it.