IIIT! Cafe
The Summit Clubhouse
99 Wulumuqi Zhong Road, No 4
Shanghai, China
???–

I heard word that the oddly named IIIT! Cafe served up a great panini. It’s a tucked away cafe inside an expat housing complex, and is so catered for the expat crowd it’s laughable. It does have lovely, plush, sofas and friendly service, however the prices are SO FRIGGIN’ INSANE it’s almost amusing. I was amazed and disgusted at the “10? extra at lunchtime” rule. When I questioned the sanity of it (the cafe was completely empty, so no crap about being busy and thus commanding a higher price please), I was simply told “Umm.. because my boss said so” How very insightful. It’s basically just a sneaky way to try and make more money, despite the food there already being incredibly overpriced for pre-made, substandard sandwiches.

I opted for the Steak & Cheese panini at 48?, oh wait, I mean 58? because of the glorious “10? extra” rule. It came out a sizeable portion, which was good, but the meal was just average at best. NYC Deli’s Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich is half(!!!!) the price and 10x better – handsdown. The side salad with balsamic was lovely, however. The giant chocolate chip cookie is giant alright 😛 It was okay, a bit too sugary. However their strawberry orange smoothie was outstanding – a blissful concoction of fresh fruits that kept me very happy. If I were in the area again, I’d only get the smoothie. Everyone thing else is definitely worth a miss.

Steak & Cheese panini

Giant chocolate chip cookie and Strawberry orange smoothie

The lovely interior