The Legendary Villa Le Bec in Shanghai Closes, and Now on to Le Bec Bund

by Ian D’Agata

Villa Le Bec

321 Xinhua Road

Changning district

Shanghai, China

Tel. +862162419100

The dishes

Six crispy frog legs, with herb cream (Les 6 Cuisses de Grenouilles Croustillantes, Bouillon d’Herbes)

Scallop and Tuna Tartare with Dill (Tartare de Thon et Coquilles St.Jacques à l’aneth)

1 Kg Lobster, Lobster sauce and Basil (Homard Bleu 1 kg Cuit Minutes, Jus de Homard, Basilic)

Le Bec Mashed potatoes with Yunnan black truffles (La Purée Le Bec with Yunnan Black Truffles)

Chocolate cake (Gateau au Chocolat)

Villa Le Bec (also known as Bistro 321 Le Bec) was arguably Shanghai’s best restaurant: certainly it was its most beautiful, ensconced in a an extremely elegant 1924 French colonial style villa, with smaller discreet upstairs rooms, bigger downstairs salons and a truly dreamy outside garden that was absolute magic in spring and fall. Entire families celebrated birthdays, wedding proposals, and major life events at the Villa, which was really the soundtrack of many Shanghai lives. Mine too, actually.

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Ian D’Agata
Ian D’Agata

Ian D’Agata is an internationally famous, multi-award winning author who has been speaking and writing about wine for thirty years. His latest books (Native Wine Grapes of Italy, Italy’s Native Wine Grape Terroirs, Italy’s Grapes and Wines: The definitive Compendium Region by Region and the most recent, Barolo Terroir) are considered the bibles of Italian wine and have received numerous prestigious awards such as the Louis Roederer International Wine Awards “Book of the Year” title, the Gourmand World Book Awards “Best European Wine Book” and being named to the “Best Wine Books of the Year” lists of newspapers and magazines such as the NY Times, the Financial Times and Food & Wine. For eight years, Ian has also been the co-author of the Italy section in Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Book of Wine, the world’s best- selling wine guide with 46 editions to date and over 12 Million copies sold all over the world; he has since been also put in charge of the Alsace and Malta sections.
He is the is currently the President of Ian D’Agata Wine Culture, one of China’s wine education platforms, that includes the Ian D’Agata Wine Review and the Ian D’Agata Wine Academy. Ian is a former staff writer at Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar, Contributing Editor of Decanter, and Senior Editor of Vinous. His writings have always focused on the wines of Italy, France, China and Canada, for which he has won numerous international awards and accolades, including the Comitato Grandi Cru d’Italia “Best Youngest Wine Journalist of Italy” and the “Best Wine Journalist of Italy” awards, as well as Canada’s 2018 VQA award (Out of Ontario section) and 2017 Cuvée Award of Excellence.
Intensely devoted to the research and study of native wine grapes, Ian was officially named in 2015 to Italy’s prestigious Accademia della Vite e del Vino (Italy’s official association of wine academicians, researchers, and university professors) and is currently the Vice President of the Association Internationale des Terroirs.

Contacts: Instagram: @ian_dagata

Email: ian.dagata@iandagatawine.com

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