Madison
3/F, 18 Dongping Lu (???18?3?)
Shanghai, China
PRICE: ???
RATING:

We had a pretty impressive brunch at Madison, a tucked away restaurant in the French Concession area. After our pretty sub-par brunch at Azul Viva next door, we were very pleased with the superior quality and fine ingredients of Madison’s brunch. The restaurant is casual ambience and despite having large glass windows, the tables at the opposite end are actually quite dark. I would recommend requesting for the “booth seats” if you’re going – they’re a lot more spacious, comfortable and sunlit.

Madison

The service was attentive, polite and friendly. They’re obviously used to the foreigner crowd, as all staff spoke English, and they even have a French waitress there who was very sweet. We were a little confused at the start when an assorted bread basket was brought out for us to select whatever breads/pastries we wanted. They then took the whole basket away, instead of placing our selection on our bread plate. Then they came back with plates of the breads and served us. It was only afterwards that we realised it was not a complimentary bread selection (even though it was presented as one) but rather you pay for whatever breads you choose. They need to be more clear about this up-front.

The menu is ala-carte style which we liked, because it gave us more variety to mix-and-match. We kicked off with the Scones, which was actually one large disc of scone, sliced into 2. Surprising, but it was very very tasty. Shame the (delicious) cream it came with was so little, we used it up on 1/4 of the scone! I’m not sure if we just eat a LOT more cream than normal people, or if the amount they gave was unreasonable?

Scone

The Scrambled eggs with mushrooms on French puff pastry was a winner. Often, scrambled eggs aren’t done perfect, but Madison’s was. Creamy, buttery, and perfectly soft-cooked, it came studded with whole mushrooms and sitting atop a disc of buttery pastry. So good, and one of their star dishes IMHO.

Scrambled eggs with mushrooms on French puff pastry

We’ve never had Scotch duck eggs before, so ordered some out of curiosity. I’m glad we did, because they were fabulous! It was flash-fried minced duck, topped with a wedge of hard-boiled egg and a dollop of mustard. The saltiness of the duck was paired very well with the smooth subtleness of the egg and kick of mustard. I’d recommend this dish to share as it’s very tasty, so you don’t want to power your way through the whole dish.

Scotch duck eggs

Dessert was Beignets with dipping sauces. Fluffy, warm donuts dusted with cinnamon sugar, and served with Chocolate, Strawberry, and (more) cinnamon sugar. Simply, yet delicious. A fabulous way to cap off a relaxed brunch.

Beignets with dipping sauces

My iced coffee

Food….. GONE!