Midnight Shanghai Restaurant, Christchurch - Neat Places

In such a short time, Mia Zhao and Andy Shiau brought the city Eightgrains, Sushi Soldier, TOM, Ramen Ria, Dose Diner, Gelato and Tea and more. Midnight Shanghai, a “a grown up version” of some of their earlier concepts, offers the city elevated, modern Chinese fare in a sleek, exciting space. With karaoke, handcrafted cocktails and a menu designed for sharing, Midnight Shanghai visitors often stay til well, midnight.

Inspired by their travels to China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and beyond, Mia and Andy designed Midnight Shanghai with the same level of care and dedication evident in all of their restaurants. The menu for starters, is spectacular.

Sharing platters feature a bit of everything in a portion large enough to pass around the table. The ‘all roasted’ platter comes heaped with sliced duck, honey BBQ pork and crispy pork belly while the steamed dimsum platter offers six different types to try. Another, the Peking duck platter, comes served with pickled cucumber, spring onion, hoisin sauce and thin pancakes.

Smaller plates are also packed with flavour and offer diners a chance to try new things like grilled Canterbury Wagyu beef tongue slow cooked in Wagyu fat and served with sichuan pepper, pickled apple and coriander. The meat is slow cooked for 36 hours to activate all of its rich flavours. And if you're not sure what to order, try the "trust the chef" menu where they experiment with new flavours and ideas.

A full bar offers plenty of tasty drinks to choose from but Midnight Shanghai's specialty cocktail menu certainly steals the show. The lychee sake cocktail features Finlandia vodka, lychee, Kyoto Sake and raspberry. Another is constructed with Chinese Baijiu, Apricot Brandy, Lemongrass Vodka, Cinnamon, Grapefruit, Lemon, Ginger Beer and served in panda’s cup and aptly named Panda’s Punch Pretty Cute Cocktail.

The wide windows, plush booth seating and vaulted ceiling certainly capture a bit of China’s biggest city’s sleepless nights and two karaoke booths located upstairs only add to this. Each room can fit up to15 people and can be hired for events and private dining. So grab a few friends, experience authentic Chinese fare, treat yourself to a cocktail or two and maybe even sing your hearts out.

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