PALLADIO
Portman Ritz Carlton
1376, Nanjing Xi Lu
Shanghai PRC 200040
W PALLADIO
E PALLADIO
T +86 21 6279 8888
F +86 21 6279 8800
OPEN Open 7 days lunch and dinner

FOOD This is an unashamedly old-style Italian restaurant and a safe haven for diners who might not take to the streets. Palladio may not have spectacular Bund views but it does have a classical Italian environment where attention to every detail is well attended. Good Italian cuisine with absolutely no quarter given to unpleasant modernisation, very good service, quality glassware and a wine list stuffed with so many Super Tuscans it can lead to recklessness.
We have eaten at Palladio, twice as paying guests and once as the guest of their Marketing Manager (and personal friend) Ivy Kwan. The appointment of Maurizio Moncalvo as restaurant manager and sommelier was a huge step forward for Palladio and significantly raised the standard from our first visit in 04. His passion for wine in combination with his food knowledge delivers the total package right through to one of the best coffees to be found in Shanghai.
We have eaten at a lot of Italian restaurants in Shanghai and find most of them treat pasta as they might Chinese noodles; way to mushy and way too wet and saucy.
One of the things we love most about Shanghai is that you get a generous portion of foie gras, so we find it hard to go past anything that mentions foie gras at Palladio. We also like the fact that their menu is not so long it would be impossible to keep the food fresh without freezing. This is the essence of Italian cooking, taking two or three perfect ingredients and cooking them well. We have also eaten pasta twice and were well pleased that it came al dente and sparingly sauced just as it should be.
Food is Italian, no muddle of ingredients and no nasty surprises, portions are large in the Italian manner but if you take it slowly and enjoy the wine it is possible to manage three courses.
Good coffee is so hard to find in Shanghai the notion of getting a thermos filled at Palladio has often occurred to us. We have resolved this traveling dilemma learned to travel with our own coffee and electric Bailetti.
Like most good restaurants they offer a special lunch set menu card that is very affordable (until you hit their fabulous wine list!).

WINE This is the type of wine list that will maker a lover of Italian wines tremble in anticipation at the joy that can be found within. Knowledgeable or not the pleasure is there for the taking as restaurant manager and sommelier Maurizio Moncalvo is happy to share his passion and knowledge of Italian wine. In fact we suspect he loves the uninitiated more than the aficionado who often deprive him of the pleasure of matching the customers’ food choices to wine.

OWNERS — Ritz Carlton Group
CHEF — Francesco Greco
RESTAURANT MANAGER AND SOMMELIER — Maurizio Moncalvo