✂ instant escapes CUT-OUT-AND-GO GUIDE I HIGH-SPEED SHANGHAI SEE & DO entertainment complex, but for now l Shooting up faster than it feels like a time capsule. Built in the bamboo, the skyscrapers sizzle. Take 1870s, its old red-brick villas (all Juliet the new serpentine Shanghai Tower DRINK WITH balconies, mahogany staircases and A VIEW (Lujiazui, Pudong; £21; 1 on map). Face For dramatic, checkerboard floors) sit beside former against the glass on its 118th-floor looming views dance parlours, Chinese opera houses observation deck, you’ll look down of the Shanghai and theatres. It doesn’t cost a bean to Tower and its on the 101-storey Shanghai World mega-tall amble around the courtyards and Financial Centre (it’s the one that looks neighbours, head alleys: look for the Taixing Lu entrance. like a bottle opener); the snaking up to Flair Bar on Huangpu river; and the historic Bund, the 58th storey l Get your fashion fix in the former of the adjacent Shanghai’s famed sweep of riverside Ritz-Carlton hotel French Concession, with its sycamore- Art Deco and Neo-Classical buildings, (cocktails £14 lined boulevards, Art Deco facades and as dinky as Toytown from up here. — but worth it!) lanes of laundry. Bijou boutiques and courtyard cafes are revealed, among l The architecture is a mad, mad whirl Art Deco gems and Russian mansions, — witness the new Shanghai Natural on a guided walk in search of well- History Museum (snhm.org.cn; £3.50; RAINY-DAY hidden city secrets, with Bespoke TOP TIP 2 ), shaped like a giant nautilus shell. Shanghai is Shanghai (bespoketravelcompany. Marvel at huge English-language packed with com; £165 for two people). video-screen walls, innovative lots of brilliant museums. Try the interactive displays and fantastic l Time tight? Here’s your fast track Power Station of replicas, such as a house-sized Art (powerstation to the slickest bars along the Bund: glyptodon dinosaur. Mountains of dino ofart.com; free), start with sundowners at the rooftop bones discovered in China include the the Jewish Waterhouse (waterhouseshanghai. Refugee Museum 4 ankylosaurus, a four-tonne beast from (shanghaijews. com; cocktails about £11; ). Moving on, the Cretaceous period, with armoured org.cn; £6), or shimmy behind the crystal curtain and skin and a scary-looking club for a tail. the somewhat onto the terrace at Glam bar, housed gruesome at No. 5 The Bund, in a Neo-Classical Museum of Public l Drinking’s a mad, mad swirl… Security (2-4/F, former bank (m-onthebund.com; £11; From Ningxa Riesling to biodynamic 518 Ruijin South 5 ). A few blocks on is Bar Rouge, Cabernet Gernischt from Inner Rd; free) where Quentin Tarantino, Scarlett Mongolia, China is revolutionising its Johansson and Tom Cruise have wine industry. Find out on Untour’s danced outdoors under billowing night-market and wine-pairing tour, Communist flags (bar-rouge- 6 sampling porky dumplings with Sino Spaghetti junction: shanghai.com; £12; ). vino in the streets around People’s intersection in instant Square (untourfoodtours.com; £72pp). Downtown l Need a break? Pick up a picnic of Shanghai; below, freshly baked galettes and chocolate People’s Square, l escapes Hurry before it changes. Plans are Renmin; the A-list strawberry tarts from Baker and Spice afoot to turn Zhang Garden 3 into an Bar Rouge (bakerandspice.com.cn; sandwiches about £6; 7 ) to take to nearby Fuxing Park 8 , in the French Concession. Here pension-age lovers bring their stereos and speakers to dance under the branches of weeping willow trees. High-speed Shanghai l There’s just time to shop before you Whizz through China’s dynamic metropolis at a fittingly thrilling pace hop — so seek out the city’s best indie designers. Eye-catching housecoats, coasters and cushion covers come in Nothing stays still for long in China’s sexiest city — be it the ever-taller classic blue-and-white print fabrics thrusting architecture, the sizzling fast food, the buzzing fashion scene at the Blue Nankeen Museum shop or the ‘grape leap forward’ in revolutionary local wine. Chances are, (637 Changle Rd; items from £7; 9 ). At Annabel Lee (annabel-lee.com; 10 ) you’ll only have a day or so here on your bucket-list grand tour, so here’s you’ll find silk purses from £10, how to get a heady inhalation of the place, lightning fast! By Lee Cobaj traditional high-collared pyjamas for £50 and jade-studded jewellery at £300. Or stop at Culture Matters (15 Dongping Rd; from £9; 11 ) to buy some Feiyue Kung fu trainers.> 136 SUNDAY TIMES TRAVEL June 2017 June 2017 SUNDAY TIMES TRAVEL 137 ✂ instant escapes CUT-OUT-AND-GO GUIDE I HIGH-SPEED SHANGHAI EAT BARS l Super seafood l Beer buddy LIttlE CatcH POKE CAFE HEADING THE HOP PROJEct OUT? (Dishes about £6) English isn’t Because: Sample the latest craft beer Because: It’s the place for the latest widely spoken in blends, including Worker’s Pale Ale global food trend from Hawaii — poke China, so make and Flying Fist at this new ale house. (pronounced pok-ay), fresh raw sure your next Travel’s tip: The Project’s gooey grilled destination is seafood with fish seasoning, seaweed, written down in cheese sandwich (£6) is the perfect cashews and scallions. Travel’s tip: Chinese before accompaniment to your brew. 372 Personalise your own dish — throw you set off. Most Dagu Rd; camelhospitality.com; 16 . hotels will also in an avocado for just £1 more. provide address 2B, 89 Taixing Lu; 00 86 21 6272 5788, cards so you can l Fashionista’s fuel littlecatchshanghai.com; 12 . find your way THE NEst home again Because: Well-heeled locals and l Divine dumplings in-the-know visitors vie to see and be NanjING TANG BAO’S SOUP seen at this shimmering bar, lounge DUmplINGS (Basket of steamed and restaurant in the cool Rock Bund dumplings £8) neighbourhood. Travel’s tip: On Because: This hole in the wall, serving Sunday and Monday evenings, you can up the city’s best soup dumplings, get a dozen half-price Fine de Claire has been sizzling for decades — and oysters for £11. 130 Beijing East Rd; 17 . a basket of eight costs just £8. Travel’s tip: Ask for a zingy side dip of ginger l After-dark debauchery FIND vinegar. 641 Jianguo West Rd; 13 . A WAY LE BARON Due to internet Because: If you love Old-School disco, l French fare censorship in rooftop gardens and karaoke suites China, few bars LE BOrdElaIS (Mains about £10) and restaurants with bathtubs and double beds, then Because: This courtyard restaurant, are listed on the Le Baron is for you. Travel’s tip: Look with its baguettes, cheeseboards and World Wide Web; conspicuously cool if you want download extensive wine selection, feels as if it WeChat, China’s to get in. Go glam or go home. 7F, 20 could be in Paris. Travel’s tip: Pick up social media and Donghu Rd; lebaronshanghai.com; 18 . a decent Cabernet here to enjoy in your search app for room later (from £16). Yifeng Galleria, addresses 99 Beijing East Rd; 00 86 21 6333 9156, StAY panther wearing a diamond collar. The Go green: clockwise l Contemporary Shanghai chic GET ME THERE from top left, le-bordelais.com; 14 . ASK THE l Bargain beauty bamboo-lined terrace, serene pool and MandarIN ORIEntal (Doubles GO IndEPEndEnt vegetarian cuisine LOCAL CacHET (Doubles from £114, B&B) Zen rooms almost make you forget at Fu He Hui; slip back from £196, room only) Virgin Atlantic (virgin-atlantic.com), l Bund-view brunch Shanghai-born Yvonne Li Because: It’s a push to find a room for you’re in the heart of the city. Travel’s to the ‘20s at Cachet; Because: This is one of those times BA (ba.com) and Air China (airchina. M ON THE BUnd (Two-course is a financial analyst with less than £150 in Shanghai, but these tip: Nip next door to Jing An Park at blow the budget at when staying at a business hotel pays co.uk) operate direct return flights from a love of online shopping brunch and a cocktail £31) ’20s designer digs deliver with a central about 7am to see the city’s elderly the Peninsula; forget off. Rooms are luxurious, facilities Heathrow to Shanghai from £476. The you’re in the heart Because: Bubbly Mimosas, creamy location, helpful staff and stylish rooms. residents practising tai chi by the of the city at the Puli; abound, dining is world-class — so what 230kph Maglev train from Shanghai eggs Benedict, and a showstopping Travel’s tip: Cachet doesn’t have a goldfish pond — they’re happy for you the Mandarin if you have to spend an extra 15 minutes Pudong airport to Downtown Puxi takes waterfront view — M on the Bund I can’t imagine having no restaurant, but Wujiang Road, round to join in. 1 ChangDe Rd, Jing An; 00 86 Oriental in the getting into town? Travel’s tip: Don’t eight minutes and costs £9 return. business district delivers the goods with its Sunday wi-fi. In Shanghai, every the corner, is stuffed with street food. 21 3203 9999, thepuli.com; 22. bother with the £70-a-day lounge brunch. Travel’s tip: Book a spot on the mall, restaurant, cafe and even the 931 Nanjing West Rd, Jing An; 00 86 21 access unless you plan to stay in and GO pacKAGED terrace for a full-frontal of the Lujiazui Metro system has complimentary 6217 9000, cachethotels.com; 20.