By Hien (smartshanghai.com)
Updated: 2007-08-29 09:41

For a snappy little intro to this restaurant review, I was going to reword the lyrics to Radiohead's "Creep," but this was too lame even for me, and would have been an injustice to the Blue Chair café as the song is ultra negative and depressing even when reworded with a crepe theme. But anyways...

Shanghai is a funny place. When something new comes to town or someone comes up with a fresh idea, it seems almost instantaneous that someone else comes along offering the same thing. Although perhaps the competitive atmosphere of Shanghai often compels people to outright copy what they perceive is a lucrative concept, I've always subscribed to the notion that "collective consciousness" has something to do with it as well. Ideas are abundantly available but when a given social and commercial climate comes into being, several different people will come up the same idea all on their own in response to this shared environment. At any rate, it seems that many restaurateurs around Shanghai are thinking "Crepes" which is, of course, a great coincidence for Crepe lovers. Crepes and wine is Shanghai's new muse for this season.

Blue Chair, as you have already gathered, is dedicated mainly to the crepe, a paper-thin pancake of French origin served as a desert or main, sweet or savory. Apart from crepes, Blue Chair also houses furniture that is on display and for sale. The restaurant is thoughtfully decorated, particularly the balustrades which makes use of recycled bed-heads.

The menu at first glance is quite large with some interesting dishes, some resembling pizzas, while others are a modern take of the traditional crepe. I tried the scallop crepe which turned out to be a great choice; the ingredients were fresh and overall very satisfying (even though the dish was a costly 88rmb). My partner tried the lunch set (100rmb, lunch sets are from 65rmb-120rmb), which on the day was the pizza inspired crepe, with olives and anchovies for the main and a pineapple and custard cream crepe for the desert. These were both good, but for the desert I was not a big fan of the whipped cream they used. To me it spoilt the crepe and I would have preferred a scoop of vanilla ice-cream especially on a hot day.

The prices range between 50-90rmb per crepe dish and, together with a drink, you can easily pay 100rmb plus per person. While most single dishes feature cream and Gruyere cheese (which is considerably heavy) they won't sate your appetite, especially if you're a big eater. There are daily lunch sets available (ranging from 65rmb-120rmb) which is good value and is the best way to eat economically and get you fill; you get two crepe dishes (one savory and one desert crepe). On the downside, however, the sets are quite restrictive, as there is only one choice from the menu available at any one time. Perhaps it would be good if customers could choose from a selection of dishes of same value or less. It so happened that on the day I visited, the set lunch featured one dish I could not eat and it was not possible to exchange that dish for another, even though I was willing to choose a lesser value dish in its place.

Moving on from my only gripe apart from the whipped cream on my desert, most of the crepes on the menu looked quite enticing and I would definitely be back to try some of them out. Desert crepes range between 35rmb and 65rmb from simple crepes with whipped cream to crepes which feature dark chocolate, apple compote and almonds.

The service was not spectacular but was efficient and up to standard. Actually I would like to rephrase this part, the service was great, especially when the waitress ran across the road to return the phone I had left behind. This gave me a very good lasting impression - - that's the kind if customer consideration that brings people back.

Overall Blue Chair was missing that WOW factor that makes a restaurant stand apart but is worthy of revisiting when the urge for crepes comes again. I still believe, however, for what you get it's a little on the pricey side.

Blue Chair
Address: 228 South Xiang Yang Rd, near Fuxing Zhong Lu