LOCATION: at 455 Shaanxi Bei Lu (Click on LOCATION to go to full City Weekend Listing)

CITY WEEKEND GOURMET WEEK MENU

available april 16-23

PRICE: RMB99/person

TIMES: All Day

Oh My Cod!

• Cod and Chips & Glass of White Wine

OR

BlooMoo

• Delicious Homemade Burger with Bleu Cheese Sauce & Choice of Fruit Smoothie

GOURMET WEEK EDITORIAL REVIEW

STEPPING INTO Gourmet Café, I experience something close to deja vu. I don't feel as though I've been to this warm, yet sophisticated diner cum café, but I do feel as if another place or image has evoked a similar feeling of calm invite. Where before has food met art? Diner met class? Then it hits me. I've walked into a 21 st century incarnation of Edward Hopper's Night Hawks. But instead of the slender woman in red, the Gourmet Café is its own leading lady; the soft chairs are aglow in an eye-pleasing, appetite-inducing orange. And owner William Bray is the perfect sophisticated gentleman, sans the 1940s fedora.

"_The concept is simple, fresh, gourmet_", explains Bray. "The food is handled as little as possible to create gourmet versions of simple meals like burgers and fish n' chips. It's gourmet food in a relaxing café-style environment." Fortunately City Weekend readers can sample said burger and fish n' chips as part of The Gourmet Café's Gourmet Week set menu. For a mere 99 kuai, diners can try the Oh My Cod! The main course of this set is a beer-battered Atlantic cod served with, of course, chips. I'm not British but I hear the key to fish n' chips is in the batter; it must be light, perfectly crisp, and pull away from the meat. If that's the truth, then bravo to Gourmet Café. Served with a glass of Australian white wine, the superb meal brought back fond memories of sun-drenched, fish-filled days in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Also for 99 kuai, you can opt for the Blue Moon Burger. The juicy burger of Australian sirloin and "secret" spices is served with additional servings of mouth-watering blue cheese sauce. I'd have to say it's one of the best burgers I've had in Shanghai yet. You also have your choice of smoothie to wash it all down.

Both meals come with your choice of dessert. The carrot-cake, delivered daily from House of Flour, is the perfect way to top off your decadent experience. It's simple, fresh, and, of course, gourmet.