Experience French Bistro in Shanghai

French cuisine is often compared to Chinese food in its variety, long history, and deliciousness. There's just one problem .... experiencing french food often translates to travelling to Puxi (the urban city center of Shanghai) and dedicating yourself to a few hours of pretending like you know all of the words on the menu. Its often critiques as being too pretnetious. La Petite Chase at Kerry Parkside offers a less stressful and more cozy bistro experience for their lunch set menu.

Restaurant Design

Unlike the recently popularized, glass-window or open kitchens, La Petite Chase has a small opening where servers get dishes from the head chef directly. There's privacy for chefs and peace-of-mind for the customers that don't have to see every single thing going on in the kitchen.

With the ambient hue of orange lights and soft French music playing in the background, the cozy setting with turquoise-colored doorways and marble tables fit very nicely.

Dishes:

A lunch set menu, the best option at La Petite Chase, provides bread, an appetizer, a main course, and a final desert (prices range from 98 rmb to 200 rmb depending on the main course chosen). The dinner course-menu option comes at a price of 888rmb/2 people.

Toasted bread with butter

If its a French restaurant, it better have good baguettes. La Petite Chase does not disappoint (tempting to ask for another bucket).

Salad - included within lunch set menu as an appetizer

The in-season mangos work really well with bacon. The greens and vegetables were fresh, but it wasn't too remarkable on its own. The salad was a little too tangy and salty. The mushroom soup, which is an alternative appetizer option, is preferable. It was light without the heaviness of cream and preserved the strong aroma of mushroom.

Duck Leg Confit with Lentils - part of the 134 rmb course menu

Confit is meat that is cooked under low temperatures and stored in its own fat. The duck leg was moist and the skin was crispy. The warm broth at the bottom with the lentil hash took the edge off of the saltiness of the duck. Portion size(which is always important) was also reasonable. Try it out!

Linguini with Clams - part of the 98rmb course menu

Although the pasta isn't homemade (it's not an Italian restaurant afterall), it seems to come from a reputable artisan brand. It's slightly less al-dente than you'd expect, but it's still pleasently chewy. In a tradeoff for the al-dente texture, it absorbed a lot of white-wine and clam sauce, making it extremely flavorful.

Seabass with Peas and Relish - part of the 134 rmb course menu

How do you get a fish skin that crispy? The onion/mango/chili relish cuts through the rich and fatty seabass. Even the coriandor garnish serves a purpose to brighten up the dish. Snap peas are a great addition as a staple to the dish. This might be the only fusion(Asian-French) dish they have on the meal. I usually don't enjoy fish, but the seabass was really good.

The following two images are the "desert" options that you can choose from:

Pistacchio icecream with candied nuts

Cafe Latte

Overall Review

If you want French Food without the prententious hassle, try out La Petite Chase at Kerry Parkside. Its an especially great spot for lunch with its relatively great-value-for-money course menu. If you're going for La Petite Chase's more sophisticated menu options, try dinner. A tranquil environment, friendly and professional staff, and great French cuisine is rare to find in Pudong. Just cause I liked the interior so much, here are some extra shots of the restaurant design:

Address:

Kerry Parkside, Shanghai Pudong. (1st floor)