The Experience
Polux opened in Xintiandi in 2019 as Paul Pairet's most relaxed restaurant — a conscious counterweight to the ceremonial theatre of Ultraviolet (three Michelin stars, ten-seat single-seating tasting menu), the serious sophistication of Mr & Mrs Bund, and the experimental edge of Chop Chop Club. Pairet has said, characteristically, that Polux is where he goes to eat when he is not working. The concept is all-day French bistro — breakfast from eggs and avocado toast, a lunch of steak frites and onion soup, an evening that leans into country-style cooking drawn from the menus Pairet has been refining across the Shanghai portfolio for twenty years.
The room is the quiet star. Natural wood, leather banquettes, a zinc bar, brass rail, scalloped tile, and a collection of Gallic retro details — from tramway lampshades to vintage Pernod signage — that together produce one of the most legitimately charming spaces in Xintiandi. Drinks on tap: lemonade, cider, and a short, carefully-chosen wine list that leans into under-¥600 bottles and serious by-the-glass options. The bar pours cocktails that feel Parisian rather than Chinese-Parisian. There is no ceremonial dining room, no maître d' with a clipboard, no dress code beyond good manners.
The menu does some clever quoting. Several dishes — the seabass vierge, the coquilettes, the onion soup — are explicit homages to signatures at Mr & Mrs Bund, re-scaled into bistro format at a fraction of the price. The pork burger (¥110) is one of the best in the city. Avocado toast (¥90) is unusually well-composed. Mushroom cheese toast is the comfort-food dish that regulars order on bad-week evenings. Dinner runs more country-French: duck confit, coq au vin, a short steak menu, simple desserts (chocolate mousse, tarte aux pommes, Paris-Brest) executed beautifully.
Polux earned its Michelin Bib Gourmand — the guide's award for "exceptional food at moderate prices" — in its opening year and has kept it since. Dinner with a bottle of wine lands in the ¥400–700 per-person range. It is the single best value in the Pairet universe, and one of the most reliably well-made bistros in Shanghai.
Why It's Perfect for a First Date
First dates are a calibration problem. Too ambitious and you look like you're trying; too casual and you look like you don't care. Polux is the near-perfect middle. The room is romantic without being performative, the menu is approachable enough not to intimidate but interesting enough to talk about, the price point signals effort without setting up a financial awkwardness at the bill, and the Xintiandi location is walkable from half a dozen follow-up bars. The Pairet pedigree is legible to anyone who cares about Shanghai restaurants without being so loud it becomes the evening's subject. For more calibrated date rooms, see our best first date restaurants.
Why It's Perfect for Solo Dining
The zinc bar is one of the most pleasant bar-dining counters in the city — long enough to never feel crowded, placed opposite the open prep area, staffed by bartenders who know how to keep a solo diner in conversation without imposing on them. Order the steak frites, a glass of Crozes-Hermitage, and spend an hour watching Xintiandi pass through the window. This is one of Shanghai's best weeknight solo dinners.
Signature Dishes & What to Order
The Polux Burger is the signature — a pink-centred patty, crispy bacon, a thick slice of cheese, in a bottom bun slightly hollowed to cradle the juice. Steak frites is reliably excellent and cooked to order with real seasoning discipline. The grilled seabass vierge is the Mr & Mrs Bund reference you should order if you have never eaten the original. The mushroom cheese toast is the comfort dish that regulars return for. The onion soup is among the best in Shanghai. Finish with the Paris-Brest — classical choux pastry, hazelnut praline cream, dusted sugar — and a digestif from the short cognac list.