Weekend street bazaar features exotic dining and drinking options
Visitors patron the bazaar in Huangpu District.
Barbecues, seasonal specialty drinks, exotic dishes and many more leisure activities will lighten up the summer time in the city with the latest 2024 Shanghai Global Gourmet Festival opening over the weekend.
As part of the 5th Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival, summer food bazaar, seasonal special menus are offered by caterers and food and beverage vendors under three major themes including "City Walk", "City Taste" and "City Drink".
The weekend street bazaar at the Bund Finance Center in Huangpu District is hosting nearly 100 types of exotic dining and drinking options from more than two dozens of countries and regions.
The street bazaar at the Bund Finance Center.
A total of 13 catering service providers and restaurants that have partnered with the Heinz Selection program also presented over two dozens of dishes at the fair, and diners can collect discount coupons and gift packs through interactive games and lucky draws.
The diversity of tastes of local food lovers have attracted a wide range of catering service providers and restaurants in the city, which is known as a capital of global gourmet.
Shanghai has the most number of top ranking restaurants with 144 inclusions on the recently unveiled "Must Eat List" by food review and lifestyle site Dianping.
The downtown Jing'an Temple area is the top commercial district with the highest number of top ranking restaurants, according to the listing.
Nearly 40 percent of restaurants are newly included this year with more city specialty offerings, local tastes that reflect consumers' preference for great tastes at their nearby community neighborhoods.
Food products conglomerate Bright Food Group is launching a "Bright Select" campaign during the gourmet festival to offer summer specialty items and gift sets.
A pop-up bazaar from nearly ten local trendy bars is also staged to allow visitors taste their popular drinks and snacks.
Lavazza's summer limited specialty drinks have a touch of tropical flavor with special mixed mango and pineapple flavored coffee.
Lavazza's summer limited specialty drinks have been warmly embraced by customers.
Teadrink and beverage brands like Heytea, Chagee, Naixue also took the opportunity to promote the latest Nutri-Grade labels for drinks under the guidance of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Under the one-year trial program started in March, a four-tier grading system was intruded to indicate the non-milk extrinsic sugar and saturated fat content in tea and dairy drinks.
Government agencies will collect suggestions during the trial period to improve the grading standards and formulate a mechanism to promote healthy dietary habits.
The "Experience Shanghai Carnival" held at the Yangpu riverside also coincides with the onset of summer holiday.
At the same time, the "Experience Shanghai Carnival" at the Yangpu riverside coincided with the onset of summer holiday, which is the city's latest drive to boost service consumption.
The vitality index for Shanghai's service consumption stood at 124.05 points in 2023, which is the first of its kind around the country. Compiled by Fudan University, it tracks consumption sentiment, innovative service format and openness level of the overall market.
Both the "Experience Shanghai Carnival" and the Shanghai Global Gourmet Festival will run through August to bring together commercial service with tourism, sports and entertainment events to offer colorful and iconic summer experience.
Shanghai Commerce Commission aims for the city to become a word-class benchmark destination for service consumption to contribute to more half of the city's total retail size by 2027.
Various service consumption scenario will be further integrated with food and gourmet, tourism, sports, education and revitalization of rural development, according to the commission.
