OCCUPATION: Marketing communication specialist
MY STYLE: Simple, but I favor good cut. At home, I love to wear just jeans and a t-shirt.
I LOVE SHANGHAI BECAUSE: It’s an international mega city that offers a great variety of choices for living and fun.
Club Baby
Echo Li depends on Club Baby for a “good start of the day for both baby and mom.” At the club, which is open exclusively for babies from 0-12 months old, you and your child can go swimming in natural aromatherapy bubbles and enjoy a personalized massage and shower at the spa. The staff there believes that regular swimming and massage exercises allow babies to grow healthier—swimming enhances stamina, blood circulation, and breathing—stronger, and even more confident and intelligent. And that’s not all! The combination of activities at Club Baby, most specifically the massage, will calm your little one down and perhaps even take some of the pressure off you to instigate naptime by lulling them into a deep sleep.
Din Tai Fung
In 1993, The New York Times ranked Din Tai Fung as one of the world’s top 10 restaurants. That’s basically enough said, but we can’t resist the urge to champion the soup dumplings. From the taste of this classic Japanese dish, you‘d never guess that the restaurant is actually a Taiwanese chain. Even more jarring is the fact that its based in a mall. Nevertheless, their dumplings, meticulously crafted and served in traditional bamboo containers, are truly world class. The pork is the safe and scrumptious choice, but if you really want to experience this crazy, Japanese/Taiwanese mall restaurant, try the dumplings stuffed with Shanghai’s famous “hairy crabs.” The name doesn’t lie.
Franck
With dishes like foie gras, terrine, and poulet roti written out on the chalkboard of a menu, Franck might have you forgetting what part of the world you’re in. The vintage maps, photos of Paris, and red leather booths lining the walls of the dimly lit bistro will only encourage your amnesiac experience. Franck also features a wine cellar called “la cave” with over 300 different varieties, some of which are exclusive to Franck. At “L’Epicerie,” yet another add-on to the restaurant, you can by sweets, liquor, mustard, and more, all made in and shipped from the homeland. The website declares, “Franck is not only an evocation of a Parisian bistrot, but a real one.”Good news for any Francophile.
MOCA Shanghai
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai is a giant glass gallery space conveniently located in People’s Park, where kids can run around outside after lengthy museum tours. Exhibitions in the museum are wide-ranging and have featured works from abstract Chinese art to Coco Chanel. The Art Lab on the third floor is a “living exhibition” where art, cuisine, music, and interior design are all combined, meaning that you can sip on a cup of coffee while sitting on a piece of art. During exhibition hours on the weekends, the museum hosts a “Kids’ Corner,” where children take art history lessons and participate in hands-on creative activities while their parents browse the galleries. And like with most museums, a stop in the gift shop before leaving is a must.
Lollipop
Lollipop is a stroller-friendly heaven for chic kids and their parents. With two floors filled to the brim with stuffed animals, clothing, toys, strollers, cribs, and more, it will not only be hard for you to get your kids to leave, but also difficult for you. For new parents, it’s truly a “one stop shop.” You can even download a checklist online so as not to forget anything. The store is quite popular; if you don’t want to brave the crowds, pick out what you want on the website and Lollipop will deliver it right to your door. What’s more, the workers will even assemble those tricky baby chairs, strollers, and furniture right in your home.