El Patio Shanghai

Dining out in Shanghai is fun for the now because of the space available. It's always an experience to see where a restaurant is set and how the interiors have been crafted for a particular sort of vibe. Rather exciting. They always say it's easier to dine early in winter since our body clocks adjust to the darkness that sets in earlier. Not for us. The bff's body clock has never learnt to eat at 5.30pm or 6.30pm. Mine neither. We prefer to eat late. Luckily for us, the friends share the preference too. Lunch is never before 2pm and dinner is never before 7.30pm.

Our lovely friends (new and old) took us out to El Patio for dinner. The smart-casual two-storey restaurant is set amidst rather lush gardens in a refurbished residential house. Love the cosy homey vibes in rich wood hues. It's like chilling out in someone's lovingly decorated welcoming dining room.

The food is a mix of Spanish fare with some nouvelle creations.  I understand that sometimes the flavors are a hit and miss with the Shanghai crowd, but whatever we had that night was excellent. Half the table couldn't resist the steak tartare. The maître d' came over with a trolley and huge bowls to mix the meat. "From Australia," he said. At the table's request, he made it spicy.

Very good steak tartare. (Apparently)

There were plenty of assorted tapas, and roasted suckling pig on bone. I wasn't impressed with the tapas. More misses than hits. The mains fared much better. We couldn't resist the lobster rice on the menu. Really, it had me at 'lobster'. When it arrived, we were glad to have only ordered one portion which possessed sufficient carbs to go round the table for six persons! Our lobster rice wasn't quite the traditional paella. It was more like rice soaked in bisque. Very good.

We had so many jugs of sangria. Sangria isn't difficult to make, but of course the wine chosen and the fruits comprise of the flavors. El Patio's version is rounded and fruity. Lethal combination. Needless to say, it totally put me in the mood for sangria, and I recklessly drank loads of it. I wasn't driving! Oof.

By the time all the food was devoured and we were contemplating another jug of sangria as dessert, we were tempted by easy chocolate truffles. Okay. So we made it to dessert! Mmmm. I most certainly didn't reject mine. Then, it was necessary to take a very long, slow walk home in order to burn off the calories.