If the classic cocktails with an inventive twist are not enough to get lure you into Apothecary, then perhaps the American southern inspired Creole cuisine will. Apothecary came down to jazz up Shanghai from its original location in Beijing with its in-house-made touches and quadruple distilled ice cubes. It made its home in Sinan Mansions and is not to be confused with the nearby Alchemist, which specializes in molecular gastronomic drinks. Apothecary tries to make everything that can possibly be made in-house from its breads (still in works) down to the bitters used in its drinks. The front entrance displays bitters and tequila batches (for its Mi Amante cocktails) curing in jars that indicate when it was made. Just in its soft opening, Apothecary already started its Sunday dinner featuring fried chicken, biscuits, and coleslaw. The menu claimed in writing that the kitchen at Apothecary will remain open until 01:00. That guarantees you can get your fill of bar bites while enjoying one of their several concoctions.The service staff is still in training, but at least eager to please and not afraid to ask the managers for advice on bettering their work (as witnessed). The managers were also apologetic about the current state of their service and were eager to ensure that they aim to improve service significantly in the near future. After ordering a dirty vodka martini and receiving a delicious gin and tonic in return, management gave the gin and tonic as a complimentary drink and reason for pardon while the dirty vodka martini was being prepared. Their consideration also guaranteed that waste was not made!
The dinner that was supposed to be centered on country fried chicken became a dinner sandwiched by bacon, which is cut and cured in-house. Greens with poached egg and maple bacon (50RMB) included the description of "mash the egg on top and leer at the runny yolk oozing out of the fried poached egg melting into the baconified greens. It's rather obscene...obscenely good." It was pretty good. The greens had a bit of stalk in them, a tad leafy, and cut into bite-sized portions. It remained crunchy and light to balance the saltiness of the thickly-sliced bacon. After puncturing the lightly poached egg and letting the yolk run out, the egg was tossed with the greens and bacon, almost visibly disappearing in the dish. The combination was excellent: salty, thick bacon you can really chew on, crunchy cooked greens for a fresh bite, and a luscious coating from the yolk. If only there was more bacon...
The reason for dining at Apothecary on a Sunday evening is the fried chicken special only available on Sundays. Currently, half a chicken with 2 biscuits and coleslaw is priced at 100RMB while a whole chicken with 4 biscuits and coleslaw comes at 200RMB. A whole, large organic chicken arrived on a massive plate, though pre-cut to fry appropriately, and on a second plate the biscuits and red cabbage coleslaw. The chicken is prepared by brining in advance before battering and frying. From the look of the chicken cuts on the plate, the deeply brown whole chicken was there, but cut in pairs of wing, breast, and drumstick pieces so it was easy to share and divide the bird in half. It is encouraged to eat the fried chicken with your hands instead of being polite about it with a fork and knife. The batter was simply seasoned with generous amounts of black and white pepper to allow the natural flavors of the chicken to come through. It was light not weighing down the exterior of the chicken yet incredibly crunchy and, at times, you would get bites of pure, crispy, delicious fried batter. The meat is cooked all the way to the bone and moist throughout with particularly supple and plump breasts. There was enough chicken to easily satisfy four diners or leave two absolutely stuffed. Management informed us that they will be soon switching to a new supplier of organic chicken that apparently gives its birds a special wheat feed that imparts a slightly sweeter taste to the chicken meat. This new bird will tack on 50RMB to the current price of the whole chicken dinner.The biscuits had a texture more of a popover than a buttermilk biscuit. It looked like batter was dropped in small muffin tins and allowed to "pop over" giving the biscuit an airy, though somewhat chewy texture. It was incredibly buttery, but being more of a popover, throwing some fresh herbs in the batter would have helped balance out the peppery taste of the fried chicken. The red cabbage coleslaw was not mayonnaise-based and tasted very sweet.
The end of the dinner sandwiched with bacon was a dessert of candied maple bacon. The idea is thrilling as candied bacon implies both sweet and salty in one meaty bite. Or maybe it was from watching too many episodes of Epic Meal Time that the excitement of bacon became paramount. The thick-cut candied bacon was served on a plate roughly chopped to bite-sized chunks. There was a thin layer of what seemed to be granulated sugar on the bacon, as if freshly fried bacon was dredged in a vat of granulated sugar to candy. Whatever sugar clung to the bacon pieces were probably there from absorbing all that pork fat. The texture from this felt a bit gritty in your mouth. For some reason, my expectation was that the candied portion would basically be cooked bacon covered in a layer of sugar heated at least to a low-ball stage so the bacon would shine from the sugaring and not grease. Regardless, it tasted wonderfully salty, sweet, and smoky.Just as the drink menu provokes exploration, the Creole-style food should also not be ignored. It will be interesting to see what in-house creations are made as this dining trend is also getting attention from Austin Hu at Madison. Summer should also be favorable to Apothecary as patrons can enjoy their drinks on the small fourth floor patio overlooking Sinan Mansions.
Apothecary. Bldg 2, 4/F, Sinan Mansions, Lane 507 Fuxing Zhong Lu (by Chongqing Lu), 复兴中路507弄2号4楼 (近重庆路), Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
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