How do you review a restaurant with two separate dining rooms and a half-French, half-Chinese menu? Very carefully.

Hai Pai (Chinese for “Shanghai spirit”) is a restaurant split in two. One side is dressed up like a French bistro with warm, dark wood everywhere and bottles of wine lining the walls; the other is a much more open, atrium-like space. Both have open kitchens and the same split-personality menu that sits Shanghainese and Cantonese fare (like salted chicken and barbecue platters) beside French companions (pâtés, mussels and charcuterie). Luckily, there’s no fusion here.

On our trip, we dined in the main dining area. It’s breezy and open but there’s something not quite right about the interior—same goes for the boxy-neon service staff uniforms. Still, it’s a refined experience, with service and prices to match.

We ordered a bit from both menus. Their best item is the croque madame, a traditional ham and cheese sandwich served on tall slices of fluffy gratinated toast with a sunny-side-up egg on top (RMB90). It’s huge, filling and not so decadent as to scare off dieters. The succulent stacks of hongshao rou (RMB95) are a different story though, as naughtily fatty and saccharine sweet as any we’ve had in Shanghai. The crispy eel with rice wine sauce (RMB38) and the warm goat cheese salad with white wine vinaigrette were also winners, while the spicy gongbao chicken (RMB50) and smoked salmon rillettes (RMB110) were solid but ultimately forgettable. The hearty kebabs (roujiamo, RMB48) were cumin-packed but lacked the streetside grease we’ve come to expect from this snack.

As far as hotel Xintiandi restaurants go, you could do a lot worse, though at these prices there’s lots of competition around town.

Our rating: 3.5/5

DETAILS

What: Hai Pai

Where: 1/F, Andaz Shanghai, 88 Songshan Lu 嵩山路88号上海安达仕酒店1楼

Tel: 2310-1700

City Weekend is the only online magazine in Shanghai to review restaurants according to a transparent process vetted by local food & beverage professionals. Check our Restaurant Review Process here.