Yea yea, I know the 28th was yesterday (unless you’re in a completely different timezone then please disregard this sentence) but I was too busy yesterday so I’m going to post about yesterday today! And yes, I realise I haven’t really talked about my post-graduation festivities but you know… I’m a lazy kid. Laziest person you’ll probably ever meet. It’s a miracle I’m still keeping up with this blog.
So anyways, back to yesterday. I had a 19 month anniversary date with the boy hehehe. We went to Downstairs by David Laris, which is in the Urbn Hotel. This is an extract from their website:
“URBN hotel has joined forces with Australian Restaurateur, David Laris, to create a brand new line-up of dining and drinking venues. URBN’s signature restaurant, “Downstairs with David Laris” offers organic and natural, healthy, farm-fresh cuisine which keeps in line with the hotel’s core concept of sustainability. Downstairs is china’s only environmental and carbon-neutral restaurant of shanghai. In addition to Downstairs with David Laris, you can experience our rooftop bar called “upstairs” and a private lounge called “the social”.”
Maaaan the food was delicous. Actually we only went there because I had a 50% voucher (you see what I mean by I’m a sucker for deals?) but it was an amazing meal that was worth every single cent. I would have gone back there, even if I had no voucher. It was a perfect weather to sit outside – warm enough that you could enjoy the sunshine, yet not too warm that you were sweating like a pig (can someone please tell me where that comes from? Because pigs don’t sweat). There was also a slight breeze that made everything flutter ever so magically. Just look at how beautiful the outdoor patio is! Classy brunches at it’s finest.
Sometimes I reckon the best part of a meal is the ‘free’ bread they give before. I honestly think that the quality of the bread acts as a signal for the quality of the food I’ll be eating later. My favourite kind of break is a warm soft bread. Give me just about any bread that’s soft and warm and toasted and I’ll be in seven heaven.
Let me go through each bread. My favourite is the one on the top right corner, that semi resembles a cinnamon bun. EXCEPT ITS NOT! Inbetween each layer is pesto. Mmmmhm the mighty delicous pesto. Pesto is actually one of my favourite sauces of all time, it actually goes with just about anything, trust me. Even apples (yea I have a weird culinary taste).The one of the left was just a normal roll, but it was warm and toasted so hehehe right up my alley. The dark brown one I’m guessing was superduper whole wheat and the outside was just crunchy enough to match the softness inside. Perfecto.
How amazing does that all look? For the actual food, we ordered 2 appetizers, 1 soup and 1 wrap.
Say hello to the creamy cauliflower soup with cheese croutons. This is probably one of the best cauliflower soups I’ve ever had (although to be fair I haven’t had many cauliflower soups before so please don’t trust my judgement on this one). Whatever it is, I really enjoyed the soup. Except the cheese croutons were a little too cheesey that they overpowered the cauliflower soup. Oh well.
A bowl of steamed mussels in white wine, fresh herbs and a side of fries (which I forgot to take a picture of). BEST MUSSELS I’VE EVER HAD. Now on this you can trust my opinion on. I’ve had a plethora of mussels, and this has to be my favourite. Mmmhm the flavours just mixed in so well together, and of course the onions help.
Also, the price was superduper worth it. For ‘only’ 88RMB, we got that LARGE bowl of mussels (those are all the shells). I’ve had more expensive mussels that came with less mussels, so I can’t complain about the portion sizes here. They aren’t stingy at all.
Next up is the dips and bits – hummus and artichoke dip, served with roasted, pickled and fresh vegetables served with bread. I WAS REALLY DISSAPOINTED THEY DIDNT HAVE PITA BREAD. Who serves hummus without pita bread. Shame on them. Apart from that, I can’t really complain about it. I mean I’m not a friend of asparagus/beans, except the boy is so yayayay not wasting food. I’ve never tried artichoke dip before but I really really really really enjoyed it. I can’t really explain what it tasted like, but I like it. Maybe I’ll try more of artichoke next time it comes up in a dish. Still sad there was no hummus to go with it.
Last but not least, here’s the falafel wrap and parsley salad. The wrap was a downer. It wasn’t bad, but neither was it OMG THIS IS GEAT. Wouldn’t have ordered it again, but I did add in artichoke dip/hummus into the wrap, which did significantly improve it. Ehhh you can’t win on all your dishes can you.
At the end of the day, it was a perfect date with a perfect lunch. Oh and here’s a photo of a typical Shanghai man, just for kicks. Notice the leather shoes matched with sweat pants.
Well I’m off to enjoy a birthday party and laser tag!
Have an amazing day today!
Jin x
Question of the Day: What’s your fashion pet peeve?
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