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Shanghai's Mardi Gras -- a bistro with everything but the beads
Bistro. Cigar bar. Japanese cocktail lounge. In the French Concession, the new Mardi Gras lounge covers a lot of territory
Precision cocktails, a tapas bar, French bistro bites and a bit of old New Orleans all under one roof -- that's Ko Yamazaki's idea of global harmony.We stumbled upon this place on a Saturday afternoon and never looked back.— Greg Hallahan, Mardi Gras patron
All Tokyo native and petrochemicals executive Ko Yamazaki wanted was a place to smoke cigars and read the paper on weekends.
But when an 80-year-old Spanish-style villa in the former French Concession became available, he and his Shanghainese wife and business partner saw an even greater opportunity. Executive Yamazaki became club impresario Yamazaki and Mardi Gras bistro and bar was born.
Attention to detail infuses the Mardi Gras. The back wall of the upstairs cocktail lounge, for example, is made of complicated brickwork that can rightly be described as 'hypnotic.' And perfect. Yamazaki built up and tore down the entire wall three times before being satisfied with the result.
After Yamazaki signed off on the ambience, he persuaded a European-trained Japanese chef to join the team from Nice, France.
At the bar, Keisuke Kurihara mixes drinks that are as mesmerizing as the brickwork behind it.
The stand-up tapas bar in the entryway is a place to "have a quick beer, snack and chat with colleagues after work before heading out for the night." Up a beautifully restored wooden staircase is a "well-behaved members only" lounge where ace bartender Keisuke Kurihara mixes cocktails with reliable precision.
Kurihara returned to Shanghai after a long stint surfing in Bali to help Yamazaki assemble a Murderer's Row of the city's top booze alchemists.
So far, the reviews are as strong as the drinks.
"We stumbled upon this place on a Saturday afternoon and never looked back," says devoted patron and Shanghai-based risk consultant Greg Hallahan. "Mardi Gras is a place you can bring your boss, your girlfriend or your mates and be totally confident that everyone will have a great experience."
