JEAN GEORGES
Level 4, No 3 The Bund
Shanghai, PRC 200020
W www.threeonthebund.com
E JGreservation@on-the-bund.com
T +86 21 6321 7733
F +86 21 6329 1002
OPEN 7 days, lunch 11.30 am till 2.30 pm, dinner 6.00 pm till 11.00 pm

FOOD Jean Georges is magical, a dramatic restaurant space that is unrivalled by anything else in the world. The theatrical impact of the black–wood parquet, the long entrance flanked with a beautiful old fashioned bar, the whole restaurant seems filled with the ghosts and perfume of days long since gone. One almost expects to hear rustling silks and see exquisitely dressed women, richly adorned with precious jewels gathered in clusters to be admired by equally beautiful men in superbly cut dinner suits with real patent leather dancing shoes. Tinkling ice and popping champagne corks this is the home of people comfortable with wealth and power and the best things of life. The music is thirties and couples would be gliding through the room their bodies pressed together dancing the tango. The architects for this superb restoration Neri and Hu have captured to soul of the old Shanghai that fascinates all of us.
Jean Georges is a restaurant that delivers on all levels from the second you walk into the restaurant. Service is brilliant, food modern French, delicious innovative and perfected and the wine list long and seductive. Their fabulous selection of champagnes might be the way to start the Jean Georges experience, but we start at the bar with one of their famous Green Ginger Margueritas and recommend finishing with a half bottle of Krug and enjoying some very fine wines in between. American chef Eric Johnson has a passion for produce and whilst many chefs complain about the lack of good produce he has managed to source better and better produce. Johnson’s exemplary classical French technique is unchallenged in Shanghai but it is the clever twists and his obsession with sourcing produce (to the extent of starting his own garden) that makes his food so enjoyable. Johnson more than any other western chef in Shanghai has learned to deal with the shortcomings of local and imported produce and make the best of it His food has a lightness and freshness in combination with refined cooking skills and an interest in modern techniques that he approaches with a restrained and intelligent hand. When Johnson puts a dish on his menu, it is complete, finished and superb.
A sublime starter of crouton with Salted egg yolk and Beluga caviar was exquisite and again clever incorporation of what is basically a Chinese ingredient into a classical French dish. King Fish with apple and cucumber incredibly was so understated, embellished with tiny pearls of wasabi sorbet with apple and cucumber it was stunning. Japanese in essence, this was an inspiring dish bursting with tiny explosions of individual tastes. Crab salad with asparagus, again exhibiting wise choice of local produce the dish was light and flavoursome and perfectly balanced with the sweet fresh crabmeat. The entire meal of seven courses was perfect; each dish restrained but perfect, each dish divine to look at, a work of art and right to the end of the meal their signature Chocolate Fondant pudding and Petit Fours it never faltered. We have eaten at Jean Georges four times and never left without having eating something so surprising, so brilliant that we have not been back in our kitchen trying to figure out how Johnson does it.
Their degustation is the very best way to see what Johnson is doing and opting for the matched wines is very good value for money. At lunch time like most Shanghai restaurants they have a special lunch card which is generous for the price. Jean Georges presents a total experience in every sense. All 3–On–The–Bund venues have amazing night and day views across to the Pudong and the Pearl Tower.

WINE The wine list at Jean Georges is one of the most diverse and seductive in Shanghai and they are one of the very few restaurants with a dedicated sommelier. There are ample choices by the glass and bottles are opened at random by the sommelier. It has to be said, sommelier or not corked wines frequently come to the table in Shanghai, but in the upper echelons, which of course Jean Georges is a great deal of money is being invested in staff training which has equated in vast improvements in the wine experience in Shanghai.

FOOD EDITOR’S NOTES

Jean Georges and the wonderful inspirational cooking of Eric Johnson is always a dining destination for us in Shanghai and is a must do for us.

Three on the Bund is a magnificent venue with a standard of elegance and style throughout their restaurant and retail area that is unmatched in Shanghai, however, whilst New Heights might have one of Shanghai’s better open air dining areas we do not recommend the venue for anything more than drinks.