I really wasn’t going to have western food, I had a Chinese restaurant called Lost Heaven planned out for the evening. I even booked a table, not leaving anything to chance, and cached the map on my phone for easy access without data roaming. Of course the location in Foursquare was all wrong, and even the scammy tricycle driver wasn’t able to find the place. He still managed to cheat us out of 60 RMB, charging the ride per person. I was hungry, desperately so. So we went in to this expensive-looking western restaurant, which my friend Medea highly recommended.

Mr. and Mrs. Bund got its name from the glorious, futuristic location, the Bund in Shanghai. It looks like a city from the future, which is why the city line was used as a backdrop for the movie Her. I guess it also means there will be still pimps peddling “lady massage” at every street corner in the future!

The restaurant’s interior design is interesting, with comically oversized chairs, eclectic furniture and lights, and Chinese-style lush reds and metallic surfaces. The service staff wears jeans and sneakers, I think it works well to offset the expensive-looking surroundings. The kitchen is fully visible through tinted windows along the side, and it’s a very pleasant view!

Here’s how my evening went down! Even before the starters, we received a fat and foie gras based paté, with an excellent bread basket.

For starters, I ordered Duck Foie Gras Terrine and Vanilla Corn Soup as I couldn’t decide between the two. The foie gras was excellent, with a rich taste. I also tried my friend Darren’s escargot with an excellent green sauce.

The Vanilla and Corn Soup was just fantastic. The waitress brought it out in a thermos, and served it into a mug, with a side dish containing corn flakes. After mixing the soup and the corn flakes, it was a hot, crunchy, sweet and savoury experience with a very strong corn flavour. I’ll try to make this soup at home for sure.

Next up I tried the Jumbo Shrimp in Citrus Jar. It kind of looked like a weird science experiment. After opening the steaming jar, it had a lovely fragrant smell. The taste was interesting but a little bit underwhelming.

As my main dish, I had a very nice shrimp risotto, it had a very smooth texture, and very strong taste. Too bad I couldn’t finish it!

As with the appetizers, I couldn’t just pick one dessert: first I had the Mango Liquorice Sablé, with a surprising dash of dill on it. It worked fantastically. I’m very new to the taste of mango, just started to get to know it over the last few months, and I’m still very much in love with it. The second dessert was a Créme Caramel, which had loads of caramel on it, but it paled in comparison to the Mango dish. Still, it was a very competent Créme Caramel.

By this time I was really full, so I needed the help of a great Grappa. I have to admit, I also had a smoke after all this, right at the table! It seems shocking to be able to smoke in a restaurant nowadays, but it certainly added to the pleasure. If I’m staying in the region, I’ll probably pop in to Mr. and Mrs. Bund at least once a year. What a treat!