Chai Ze

Chai Ze
Address: Shi Men Yi Lu, next to the Four Seasons Hotel
Price: 20-40 RMB
Chinese Dining Lesson #1) Avoid lunch crowds, bring a book just in case, and also bring a camera to capture all the pretty food.

This cafe is next to where I worked. I came here on my first day of work for lunch. I honestly didn't know where any restaurants were, and so I tried the never-fail plan of following a large crowd to wherever they were going to lunch, which happened to be here.

The first impression was how lovely the cafe looked, with western small tables covered with white linen and lounge-styled chairs, and black marble walls. And best of all, they had Chinese rather than Western pop songs playing softly in the background. The size of the menu could give the Cheesecake Factory a run for their money. Unfortunately this restaurant did the one thing that I absolutely hate- seating someone else at my table. Now eating alone in restaurants is already quite uncomfortable with other people staring at you, but it's quite another level of awkwardness altogether when you have a man across the table from you who is either staring at you or determinedly looking anywhere but you. That day, I had forgotten to bring a book so I could only sit in silence with him while I waited for my food.

I got the curry fried rice with chicken (12 RMB) and a liang feng (8 RMB), or cold rice noodle cubes dish. The rice noodle dish was good, and the curry fried rice didn't quite have the curry taste, but the portions were both huge, and I also got complimentary soups and watermelon slices. So my huge lunch kept me happily occupied from having to look up at my across-the-table lunch partner. It all cost 23 RMB, or the equivalent of $3. Pretty nice.

I also came back here for dinner the next night, around 5pm when the restaurant was happily empty, and got their Beef with Onion on Stone Sizzler (36 RMB), plus a Cold Cucumber dish (8 RMB). Both were just ok, so overall I concluded that this restaurant is good if you're in the area and want a restaurant that's not too Chinese, but it's not a can't-miss Shanghai destination.