ÉTAT HER CATEGORY
Food
Corn Silk, Corn Cobs, All Kept: How One Shirokanetakanawa Restaurant Turns Scraps Into a Soup
At Japanese restaurant "Watanabe," the owner roasts corn until fragrant, then simmers it whole—silk, cob, and all—drawing out flavor with nothing but premium Rishiri kelp. The result is a suringashi drink, served hot or cold, that shows how food-saving can still be refined cuisine.
She Doesn't Stand in a Kitchen: How Chisato Maruyama Redefined "Chef" with One Bowl of Matcha Ramen
Chisato Maruyama, winner of the RED U-35 2025 runner-up prize, is the first-ever laureate with no restaurant background. Her weapon: a crab and citrus matcha ramen. Her answer to critics: "My background isn't a mentor—it's the ingredients themselves."
Shanghai Dining Monthly: Green & Safe Shuts Down, Le Bec Relocates to the Bund and Reopens
Six new spots opened in Shanghai this March, while Green & Safe closed after 26 years and Bistro 321 Le Bec relocated to the Bund when its lease expired. This month in Shanghai's dining scene, it's the lease—not the flavor—that decides who stays.
From $12 Street Stalls to $360 Crab Roe Noodles: Two Ways to Live a Bowl of Noodles in Shanghai
NOMFLUENCE rounds up 13 must-try Shanghai noodle bowls, from late-night fried noodle carts to Crab House's golden crab noodles—a 30x price gap, yet the same city's appetite.
Nine Bangkok Tables Where the Real Competition Isn't Plating—It's Whose Memory Cuts Deeper
From the Sühring brothers' memories of a Berlin farmhouse to Potong's tales of a Chinatown herbal pharmacy, nine of Bangkok's landmark restaurants each speak their own language—Cantonese, Korean, German—to answer the same question: beyond good food, what makes you, you.
Bangkok's Wasteland Bar Waited Five Years for One Ingredient: Here, "Waste" Is Just Value Nobody's Noticed Yet
Upstairs from Bangkok's experimental bar Wasteland sits a hidden fermentation lab. Founders Tot and Gov are rewriting the logic of cocktail menus with a three-tier ingredient system, and their latest BROWSE project rolls out twelve experimental drink series over three months.
FISH BAR 250° Opens in Taipei's East District! VG Redefines "Grilled Fish" with Charcoal Fire and Fruit Sauces
VG Restaurant Group's new Western-style grilled fish restaurant weaves charcoal fire, fruit, and Western-style sauces into fish dishes—and takes better care of "dining alone" than you'd expect.
From Disco Manager to Dai Pai Dong Boss: How Robby Cheung Built Tung Po Kitchen on Speakers
Why is the beer served in bowls, and why does the music matter more than the food? The answer, according to Tung Po Kitchen owner Robby Cheung, lies in his decade-plus stint as a disco manager and Western restaurant waiter.
Phuket's Italian Food Map: From Beach to Lagoon, Five Restaurants Each Define Flavor Through Setting
From freshly grilled seafood platters on Patong Beach to a lagoon-side restaurant only reachable by golf cart, five Italian restaurants in Phuket each define their own version of "authentic" through location—and their chefs' backgrounds couldn't be more different.
The Bund's Newest Rooftop Recalibrates "Old Shanghai Glamour" for Grown-Ups
Skyline Dome sits six floors above The Dome, the Bund's newest outpost at the corner of Yan'an East Road. Cigars, shisha, sashimi leftover from a tuna butchery show—this feels less like a rager and more like nightlife for grown-ups who know better.
Upstairs FLAIR Steals the Spotlight, Downstairs AURA Quietly Holds Its Own with an 888RMB Seafood Tower
On the 52nd floor of The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, AURA Lounge lives in the shadow of its sister bar FLAIR—but carves out its own presence with a seafood tower, champagne pairings, and live jazz.
Mermaid Shows, Mughal Tents, Century-Old Houses: Six Phuket Restaurants Turn Setting Into the Main Course
Phuket's top-tier dining isn't just about sea views and ingredients—it's about how far a restaurant is willing to take its story. From underwater mermaid shows to Mughal-inspired rooftop tents, six restaurants each commit fully to a single concept and let the menu follow suit.
From 280 Bottles to a 450-Bottle Wall: Juniper Turns a Warehouse Into Shanghai's Biggest Gin Den
Banu left the corporate world and moved her 280-bottle gin collection into an old Suzhou Creek warehouse. Now Juniper's bottle wall has grown to 450, making it Shanghai's largest gin bar and a global-flavor restaurant to boot.
Durian Youtiao's Revenge: TonAri, the Bar in a Jing'an Alley That Doesn't Want to Steal the Spotlight
Tucked away on Wuding Road in Jing'an, TonAri is a French-Chinese fusion bar built by the original team behind Voisine. Owner Zita Hu is on a mission to hold ground in a shrinking natural wine market. But the biggest surprise on the menu? A durian and cheese youtiao.
Shanghai's Natural Wine Landmark SOiF Shuts Down: This Isn't the Death of Natural Wine — It's the Bubble Bursting
SOiF on Wuding Road quietly closed its doors in late June, marking the end of an era for Shanghai's natural wine wave. But global data shows the natural wine market is still growing — the real issue is that China skipped straight past understanding and went right to consuming the symbolism.
How to Eat Your Way Through Shanghai in 30 Dishes: From Crab Roe Devotion to the Great Sheng Jian vs. Guo Tie Debate
A local food writer has put together a definitive 30-dish must-eat list for Shanghai, complete with specific restaurant picks for crab roe noodles, sheng jian bao, and scallion oil noodles — and even walked food YouTuber Joshua Weissman through two of the stops in person.
Shanghai Lawry's Launches BBQ Brunch, But the Real Star Is That Crispy Pork Belly
Lawry's Shanghai has rolled out a new summer BBQ brunch — ¥398 gets you unlimited grilled bites and a salad bar, plus a four-hour ¥188 free-flow option. But the signature dish ended up getting upstaged by the roasted pork belly.
The Sign Says French, But the First Bite Says Asia: Pepite's Unguarded Seafood on Donghu Road
Alexandre Marchon, head chef of the Blaz and Babar team, has opened a new spot called Pepite on Donghu Road, billed as French coastal seafood — yet it opens its story with a raw tuna dish, a move more intriguing than the signage suggests.
The Shanghai Napoli Pizza Joint That Sands Down Its Crust With a Power Tool Now Has a Huangpu Location
Uncle Beam started out as a home operation in Minhang, building a following on fermented dough and near-obsessive quality checks fresh out of the oven. Now it's opened its first downtown location in Huangpu, focused on delivery and takeout.
Bangkok Bars' New Gimmick Is Class: Seven Bars Where You Sip While You Learn
From Bar Thakatha's red-neon lecture nights to Wasteland's sustainability R&D lab, seven Bangkok bars are pairing their cocktail menus with lecture themes. Here's a rundown of each one's signature topics, drinks, and addresses.
Using Spaghetti for Pad Kra Pao Pad Thai, This Thai Restaurant Tucked in a Changning Alley Is Not Playing Around
Akanee swaps out the rice noodles in Pad Thai for orecchiette. Chef May Phannita, a Le Cordon Bleu grad, is bringing Bangkok's hottest Modern Thai trend to life inside an old house in Changning—charcoal grilling and plating included, no shortcuts taken.
"I'm Back": Chef Carlos Sotomayor Returns to Shanghai, Taking on Two New Kitchens at VICE and Pony Up
After some time off, Chef Carlos Sotomayor is stepping into the kitchens of both VICE and the new Pony Up bar at the same time—while, in that very same month, the 18-year-old Maya and all Xiao Nan Guo locations quietly shut their doors for good.
Two-Michelin-Star 102 House Goes Dark, Leaving the Bund to Small Shops This Month
Shanghai Bund institution 102 House has closed after its lease expired, with Soif and EPIC shutting down the same month. Taking their place: sourdough bread, thick-cut popcorn, and French-Chinese fusion wine bars.
Tom Holland Was Interviewed Making Pizza, But Ended Up Endorsing This Kingston Thai Pub Instead
To promote "The Odyssey," Tom Holland and Matt Damon made pizza on camera for The New York Times, but the conversation shifted to his go-to restaurant back home—The Cocoanut, a Thai pub in Kingston upon Thames that's been open for over a decade.