The perfect city mini break is the
holiday equivalent of a brief but torrid affair.
A couple of days enjoying the very
best bits of someone elses's city. Enough time to fall hopelessly and utterly
in lust, but not enough time to see any of its bad habits. Days starting with
blissful lie-ins wrapped in expensive bed linen, sipping strong coffee and
nibbling on buttery, flaky croissants. Indulgent breakfasts running lazily into
gentle strolls around pretty streets, ducking into a boutique here, a gallery there
and refuelling every now and then with coffee, cocktails and morsels of all
your most favourite foods. Drinking champagne at 11am and taking hour-long
soaks in bath tubs big enough for swimming lengths are virtually mandatory.
Leaving with whispered promises of future adventures exploring those as yet
undiscovered delights is essential.
For me Paris has always been my
holiday bit on the side. When I lived in London, a short hop across the Channel
and winding cobbled streets unfurled before me offering up gothic Cathedrals,
museums stuffed with Renoirs and Monets and hours of languid wandering along
the banks of the moody Seine. A city made for lust, love and everything in
between; picture perfection even down to the swirling Art Deco wrought iron Metro
signs.
Sweeping
into the huge white marble lobby, an army of uniformed staff trailed in our
wake efficiently toting our luggage. Check-in breezed by and we were whisked up
to the room. Not just any room though, the Alpha male of rooms.
From
the second I walked through the door, the view through floor to ceiling
wrap-around windows smacked me between the eyes and set my heart aflutter.
Postcard perfect vistas across the river - boats gracefully gliding along its
silvery waters reflecting the forest of skyscrapers on its opposite bank.
Dragging my eyes from the view, I was dazzled again by a bed bigger than my
whole flat in Hong Kong, a walk-in wardrobe that would make Carrie Bradshaw
green with envy and the bathroom to top all bathrooms. I’d gladly have spent
the rest of the weekend in that bathroom. A huge circular bath tub big enough
to fit a rugby team was set right next to the window and despite the fact that
those views would provide all the entertainment any normal person would need, a
waterproof remote control sat on the side of the tub hinting at a TV but with
no set to be seen (I later discovered it lurked behind a glossy black wall
panel).
Groaningly
full, I was en route back to the Ryan Gosling of a room for an indulgent
afternoon snooze, when I wandered past a couple of tealight lit steps leading
up to the spa. One short chat with the super friendly therapists at the front
desk later, and I was curled up in an enormous fluffy robe agonizing over which
incense to choose to have burning during my treatment. Opting for the amber, my
therapist washed my feet in a bowlful of rose-petal strewn water before
massaging and kneading away every last bit of travel weariness from every inch
of my body. An hour later, I floated out of the spa ready to tear myself from
the cocoon of the hotel and venture out into the glittering Shanghai evening.
Feeling peckish again, we
drained our cocktails and headed a hop, skip and a jump from the Bund for a
Yunnan feast at Lost Heaven. With sultry scarlet and dark wood interiors and a buzzy, lively atmosphere this was the perfect refuel before heading back to the Bund for a little bar hopping.
Top of the bars on the Bund for us were the
Glamour Bar for art deco glam and killer martinis and new Latino lovely, Unico
where we sipped Pisco Sours and listened to an incredible live trumpet set.
As
the clock struck 2am, we realized it had been a very long day and we still had
a weekend of exploring ahead of us. Luckily the hotel and the most comfortable
bed in China, were just a short cab ride back along the river.
As
a result of a cocktail soaked, late night, Saturday started slowly with a
lie-in so lazy that we missed breakfast. When the hangover hunger bit, we
taxied double quick across town to the French Concession where we found the
ideal spot to soak up the excesses of the night before – laid-back,
loungey-chic Australian restaurant, Mr Willis. This high-ceilinged industrial
style space is cosied up with lots of warm wood, bright artwork and homey
touches. We promptly devoured huge hunks of ciabatta, a delicious salad and an
enormous pizza before rolling back out onto the street for an afternoon of
strolling it all off (and a little light shopping…).
As
dusk fell we whipped across to Pudong, Shanghai’s chief financial district and
home to a thicket of cloud-scraping, towering buildings. Zipping up to the
observation deck at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center (the current
tallest of the bunch), a neon toy-town sprawled before us - a complete contrast
to the pretty tree-lined streets and crumbling colonial architecture of the
French Concession. Eiffel Tower eat your heart out…
Next
up a brief pitstop back at the hotel where I managed to fit in a blissful,
bubbly soak in that bathtub of all bathtubs, sipping a gin & tonic while
being further bewitched by the breathtaking view. Revived and ready to hit the
city for Saturday night, we headed for aperitifs and live jazz at the Peace
Hotel before more Bund-based fun at the evening’s dinner spot, Mr & Mrs
Bund. Recommended to us by a host of food-lovers we’d booked our table well in
advance and were rewarded with a plum of a table set right next to the window
overlooking the lights of the Bund.
This modern French restaurant boasts a War
& Peace of a menu so long and complicated that it made our heads spin.
Luckily our amazing waiter asked a few questions and then recommended a whole
host of dishes each more delicious than the last. From the amuse bouche- a tuna
mousse served whimsically in a peeled back tuna can, to black cod in the bag
served, you guessed it, in a bag which the waiter snips open at the table and
topped off with quite possibly the best dessert that I’ve eaten, lemon &
lemon tart – a hollowed out, candied lemon skin filled with lemon mousse, lemon
curd, Chantilly cream and fresh orange and grapefruit segments. After dinner we
headed upstairs to Bar Rouge where we rounded off the evening with far too many
cocktails and a few ill-advised shots.
Sunday
dawned and it was fuzzy heads all round again, but the promise of a boozy
brunch at M on the Bund had us up and moving before you could say Bloody Mary.
A feast of a brunch was washed down with Mimosas and topped off with an
enormous piece of very naughty pavlova.
With a couple of hours left before it
was time to say goodbye, we went for a mosey around the warren of lanes in
Boho-chic Tianzifang. After ducking in and out of sweet little boutiques and
galleries we happened across tablefuls of beautiful people sipping coffees and
chatting over late lunches at courtyard café Kommune. Bagging a sun-soaked spot
we slurped down iced banana lattes before reluctantly admitting that it was
time to tearfully bid farewell to Shanghai and set-off back to the airport.
On
the flight back to Hong Kong I pondered whether this was a mere holiday romance
or whether Shanghai and I had found something truly special. I find with these
things that it’s best to be sure, so I’m thinking a couple more dates are
probably wise. Luckily there are a few public holidays coming up and after all,
Shanghai in Spring has a very nice ring to it…
The 3BM Shanghai
Address Book
Sleeping
Banyan Tree
Shanghai on the Bund
19 Gong Ping
Road,
Hong Kou District
Shanghai 200082
+86 21 25091188
Eating
Oceans
Banyan Tree
Shanghai on the Bund
19 Gong Ping
Road,
Hong Kou District
Shanghai 200082
+86 21 25091188
Lost Heaven (The Bund)
17, Yan'an Dong
Lu,
near Sichuan Nan
Lu,
Shanghai, 200002
+86 21 6330
0967
Mr Willis
3/F No. 195
Anfu Road,
Xuhui, Shanghai,
200233
+86 21 5404 0200
Mr & Mrs Bund
Bund 18, 6/F, 18
Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu (near Nanjing Dong Lu)
Shanghai 200002
+86 21 6323 9898
M on the Bund
7/F, No.5 The
Bund ( corner of Guangdong Lu )
Shanghai 200002
+86 21 6350
9988
Kommune
No 7, Lane 210,
Taikang Lu,
near Sinan Lu,
Huangpu district, Shanghai.
+86 21 6466 2416
Drinking
The Long Bar
Waldorf Astoria
Shanghai on the Bund
2 Zhongshan Dong
Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu, Huangpu district
+86 21 6322 9988
The Glamour Bar
Sixth Floor, Five
on the Bund, 20 Guangdong Lu,
near Zhongshan
Dong Yi Lu, Huangpu district
+86 21 6329
3751
Unico
Second Floor,
Three on the Bund 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu,
near Guangdong
Lu, Huangpu district
+86 21 5308
5399
The Jazz Bar
The Peace Hotel
First Floor,
Fairmont Peace Hotel 20 Nanjing Dong Lu,
near Zhongshan
Dong Yi Lu, Huangpu district
+86 21 6321
6888
Bar Rouge
Seventh Floor, 18
Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu,
near Nanjing Dong
Lu, Huangpu district
+86 21 6339
1199
Spa
Banyan Tree Spa
Banyan Tree
Shanghai on the Bund
19 Gong Ping
Road,
Hong Kou District
Shanghai 200082
+86 21 25091188
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