[Shanghai] Beef & Liberty

Beef & Liberty | www.beef-liberty.com | Dianping
Address: 南京西路1376号 – 1376 West Nanjing Road, in 上海商城 Shanghai Centre next to The Portman Ritz-Carlton
Date visited: 2013.05 (1st visit)
Total bill: RMB¥150 for one person
Will return: Definitely

It is so hard for find a good burger in Asia. When my friend recommended a burger place in Shanghai, I said this better be a damn good burger. And a damn good burger it was.

Beef & Liberty is located in Shanghai Centre right by Din Tai Fung and was formerly known as Gourmet Cafe. I believe their menu is more simple now than before. My server told me the owner wanted to showcase the taste of the beef rather than have a million different toppings as distraction. Quality over quantity.

There is indoor and outdoor patio seating, which is super nice to sit on when the weather is nice. I went around 12 noon before the office lunch rush began. It was pretty quiet at first and the food was prepared very quickly for the few customers that were in the restaurant. However, 20 minutes later, the office lunch pack arrived and the place filled up completely. The staff became a little frazzled and was bringing drinks to the wrong tables and was much slower in taking orders.

The staff is mostly Shanghainese and can all speak English pretty well. The hostess/possibly manager was a very well put together Asian lady who spoke fluent English. For once, someone in Shanghai looked at me and spoke to me in English at first sight. Bonus points for you lady! While there were minor glitches in the service, overall it was good and very typical of restaurants where you would find a lot of expats and foreigners.

Bacon Cheese Burger (RMB¥85) – Add Avocado (RMB¥20) with beef, American cheese, smoked bacon, baconnaise, bacon jam, iceberg, pickles, house bbq sauce.
They use 100% Certified Australian Black Angus beef, which is ground in-house twice a day. I could definitely taste the freshness of the beef; it was so tender, loose and came apart easily with each bite, and had that special smokey flavor. The bread was soft. Very nice indeed. I was impressed.

I got my burger medium, which was still pink inside. It was perfect for me. Make sure to always ask restaurants what they consider medium or medium rare because there are very different interpretations.

Macaroni & Cheese (RMB¥45)
The macaroni was al dente, a little harder than I would have preferred. The cheese was the creamy, not gooey/stringy type. It was good but I could have done without it.

Date visited: 2013.05 (2nd visit, literally two days later because my friend saw my previous post on my instagram @shanghaigirleats and wanted to come)
Total bill: RMB¥115 for my portion

Chicken Burger (RMB¥70) – Add Avocado (RMB¥20) with breaded chicken breast, cabbage slaw, cajun aioli
I hope I don’t get Avian flu but if I do, it was well worth it. This was great–crispy crust outside and juicy chicken inside. A very good alternative to beef if you are in the mood for chicken.

Pomme Frites (RMB¥25)
Pretty standard but who doesn’t like fries with their burger?

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