Peruvian brunch, lobster Wellington and White Rabbit's ambitious venture
Peruvian-style brunch
Colca, Shanghai’s best-loved Peruvian restaurant, has a beautiful new brunch menu for weekends and holidays, crafted by executive chef Abel Matos.
The 150-yuan (US$21.67), two-course brunch — one starter and one main course — offers a wide selection of breakfast dishes and house specials.
Don ceviche, the classic dish composed of fresh sea bass cured in leche de tigre, or tiger’s milk (lime juice, sliced onion, chile, salt and pepper), sweet potato and crunchy toasted kernels of Peruvian corn, features chunks of tender fish in a very sour sauce that can cheer up any appetite. The light starter is a simpler version of the ceviche de Colca (118 yuan a la carte), one of the most popular items on Colca’s menu, a must-have especially in this season.
Colca's ceviche features sea bass cured in tiger's milk, with sweet potato and crunchy corn.
The Nikkei salmon poke featuring cured salmon, acevichado sauce, cucumber, avocado, sesame seeds and seaweed comes out of Peru’s large Japanese population and unique sushi culture.
Pancakes with maple butter and whipped cream and mango coconut served with maple ice cream are two starters for those who stomach maybe isn’t up to raw fish first thing.
Eggs are key to a good brunch, and the Abel Colca breakfast – a platter of egg, potatoes, bread, Argentine sausage, pork ribs, beans and onion salad, is everything a hungry belly needs.
If you are planning to eat healthy, the superfood breakfast (poached egg, quinoa stew, avocado, kale “saltado” and crisp nuts), the kale spinach salad and chicken salad are great options.
Adding 88 yuan to the brunch set can upgrade the main course to a steak and eggs a lo Pobre – grilled steak, two eggs fried in olive oil, roast potatoes, onion salsa and fried banana.
If you wish to order a few more dishes to share, don’t miss out on the halibut grilled on a Josper, which is a 500-gram whole halibut seasoned with chili garlic sauce (198 yuan). The dish can serve three to four people.
In addition, the cheesecake (58 yuan) served with ice cream is an amazing dessert to conclude the brunch.
A mere 150 yuan secures free-flow cava for two hours.
Address: 199 Hengshan Rd
Tel: 5401-5366
Grilled halibut
Childhood favorites return as wanghong
White Rabbit, a time-honored Shanghai confectionery brand known for soft milk-flavored candy, has teamed up with milk tea franchise Happy Lemon and opened a pop-up milk tea shop that had people queuing for five-hours.
The 19-yuan milk tea, said to taste like White Rabbit candy, also attracted many scalpers, reselling the exalted beverage for a much higher price outside the mall.
Traditional brands with decades of history seem to want nothing more than to find ways to connect with young consumers and White Rabbit is among the most aggressive in this regard.
In 2018, White Rabbit teamed up with Maxam, another time-honored brand, this time in skincare, and came up with a candy flavored lip balm, but the actual product didn’t live up to the hype. Unabashed, White Rabbit recently launched a line of candy scented body care products with Scent Library.
Hype is hype, but tea is tea. While people’s taste in milk tea differs greatly, many of those with no more pressing commitments than to wait in line for hours commented that the beverage didn’t taste any different from any other more prosaic milk tea.
So successful is the White Rabbit and Happy Lemon concept that snack brand Want Want are working with wanghong milk tea franchise Nayuki to create snack inspired beverages and desserts, featuring Want Want’s classic soft candy and sweet milk drink.
White Rabbit and Happy Lemon created a candy flavored milk tea.
Lobster Wellington
Beef Wellington has been a hit in Shanghai’s restaurants since it popped up in the 2016 TV drama “To Be A Better Man.”
Chefs at Light & Salt have put their own spin on this all-time classic with a lobster Wellington for the summer menu, a quite appropriate dish for the light eating trends of summer.
The lobster tail is freshly grilled on charcoal with special sauce, while the rest of the lobster is made into a stock, which is used to make a wheat kernel risotto with cheese, shrimp and in-house air-dried tomatoes which is then baked inside baked inside a puff pastry case.
Also new to the menu, glazed duck breast with foie gras, apple and caramelized orange sauce balance the greasiness of the duck.
A staple on the new menu is the jamon Iberico pappardelle, featuring a cream sauce seasoned with sherry vinegar and soy sauce.
The restaurant offers set menus for dinner, two courses for 257 yuan and three for 297 yuan. Wine pairings including a glass of bubbly, a glass of white and a glass of red are available for 157 yuan per person.
Address: 407 Shanxi Rd N.
Tel: 5266-0930
Lobster Wellington
