It might not be the reason you came to Shanghai, but label shopping is the city’s favourite pastime and there’s a handy Starbucks next door for people watching. Kenzo, the ultra trendy French fashion house, has just opened its first exclusive store in Shanghai. The new shop so far only carries the women’s collection. That collection was shown to a crush of media in March, the models pausing like mannequins in the window as part of their catwalk route, so passers-by were also treated to an eyeful of transparent tops and figure-hugging dresses.
Ma Folle de Soeur
Situated within strolling distance of the chic up-town shopping area, Ma Folle de Soeur has a large uncurtained window onto the street. The décor is simple – wooden floors, pine tables and candles everywhere – and lends warmth on a cold night. The three-course menu is good value and changes regularly. A la carte there are many traditional dishes, like the rabbit cooked in Geuze beer, and some nods to a more modern style – carpaccio and linguine. The two house aperitifs are highly recommended.
Slut For Art
A collaboration between dancer Muna Tseng and choreographer Ping Chong, ‘Slut For Art’ is a memorial to Tseng’s late brother Kwong Chi, the 1980′s underground art scene and to all the people claimed by the AIDS virus. A combination of dance and photography the piece is performed by Tseng while images from artists like Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Ann Magnuson flash behind her. The piece’s provocative title is taken from a badge Tseng’s brother (who worked with Keith Haring) wore in his acclaimed self-portrait series ‘East Meets West’.
Goethe / Grcic
The centro storico house where Wolfgang von Goethe stayed during his Rome sojourn is not just one of the better small museums in the city. It also commissions the most varied kinds of Goethe-related events. In this case, top designer Konstantin Grcic has taken 70 items which belonged to the great poet – from letters and paperweights to buttons and braces – and created a unique installation within the very house where they were once everyday objects. Minimalist and touching in equal measure.
La Moneda Cubana
San Ignacio #77, entre O’Reilly y Empedrado (673852)
Open noon-11pm Mon-Thur, Sat; closed Sun. Main courses $8-$10.
Despite its tourist-trap location, La Moneda Cubana avoids all temptation to serve any ole rubbish to one-time visitors and always succeeds in delivering a good-value, filling meal. The menu features the usual suspects of chicken, pork, rice and beans, plus a better-than-average salad (for Cuba). The most distinct feature of this paladar are the cash notes glued to the wall (hence the name). All nationalities are invited to leave their mark, contributing perhaps to that rainy day when brothers Rafael and Antonio cash it all in.
Annie Lebovitz
Perhaps the most famous photographer in America, Annie Lebovitz has been shooting celebrities for 30 years. Her covers for ‘Rolling Stone’ and ‘Vanity Fair’ are virtually iconic. But Lebovitz, a committed feminist, has also made it a point to use her camera to profile women who have broken barriers. This exhibition contains some of Lebovitz’s finest photographs, all of women who excel in the fields of art, sports, politics, business and entertainment.
Ultramarin
The city’s newest stab at lifestyle bar is a hit, with atmospheric retro jazz on the sound system, Sante Fe chicken salads on the menu and blond wood and mottled wall paint throughout. At street level Prague’s bright young things sip terrible local wine and excellent imported coffee for hours at a time. Downstairs is the real appeal, though, with credible house music blasting away in a small Gothic cellar space till 4am nightly. And get this: friendly waiting staff is actually promised on a placard out front. Is this Prague?
Enemy At The Gates
A strong young Brit cast – Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes – lead the way in the most expensive European film ever made, a war epic about the siege of Stalingrad.
