Shanghai Bistro: not made in China

Forget everything you think you know about Chinese cuisine. At Shanghai Bistro in Amsterdam’s De Pijp, they’ve reinvented everything while retaining the Asian comfort flavors I love oh so much.

Concept restaurants with affordable food, Asian flavors and dishes to share seem to multiply daily. In my view, these kinds of restaurants often try to do too much, resulting in a lack of focus and disappointing flavors. That’s why I usually enter them enthusiastically but also somewhat apprehensively. Fortunately, at Shanghai Bistro that feeling turned into pure enthusiasm after the first minute.

Shrimp buns

It’s a small place where, when the weather is nice, you can sit wonderfully in the courtyard. The walls are covered with posters featuring funny texts like “I want buns of steel, but I also want buns with shrimp”. A truth like no other. The buns with fried shrimp and XO sauce that we are served will always win out over my desire for a toned rear end.

Street food

The menu is packed with even more fantastic street food dishes inspired by Chinese cuisine. Inspired, but absolutely not authentic. The window therefore prominently reads: “Not made in China”. In every dish, I recognize flavors from China and Hong Kong, yet all I taste is something new. Chef Francis Tavares, formerly sous-chef at Bord’Eau**, is preparing dumplings by the window, surrounded by bamboo steamers.

Juicy dumplings

As an avid dumpling lover and maker, I’m very pleasantly surprised by the xiao long bao (a Shanghai dumpling filled with soup) and the perfectly fried gyoza. The pork-filled ones are my favorite: juicy and just spicy enough. The fried soft-shell crab with black pepper sauce and the fried chicken are delicious too. Acids are used well; lime and lemon zest are grated over almost every dish. As a result, the dishes never taste too greasy or too sweet. The hot and sour soup is perfectly balanced as well. The 65-degree egg, marinated tofu and char siu pork go wonderfully with the broth.

We already knew that Asian food pairs wonderfully with beer, but a great deal of attention has also been paid to the wine list. The Verdejo we drink—although served slightly too cold—goes well with all the dishes. You can order all the dishes separately, but you can also choose the chef’s menu. Good news: that menu costs just € 27,- and gets you six dishes. As you can imagine, this is my new favorite restaurant.

Shanghai Bistro
Van Woustraat 110
Amsterdam

Wednesday through Sunday from 16:00 until late. Reservations can be made until 19:00; after that, it’s walk-in only.