Colombian Food & Cocktails at LatinLand Restaurant Bar Lounge Shanghai (Closed)

This venue has closed. For more restaurants in Shanghai, click here.

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LatinLand is a new restaurant, lounge and club in Jing’an. Get this—heavy hitting Latin food, namely, Colombian food, coming your way!

The Concept: LatinLand Restaurant-Lounge-Club

You might have heard of LatinLand. Before the restaurant/lounge/club opened, the name was (and still is!) associated with the recurring Latin food, music and culture festival. The founders wanted to give their community a permanent destination, and have teamed up with The Bourbon Group (Shanghai Brew House, Bourbon Cookhouse, etc.) to make it happen.

LatinLand Restaurant-Lounge-Club resides on the second floor of Wheelock Square, above Shanghai Brew House, Jing’an. It’s a restaurant during the day, lounge as the evening comes, and then turns into a club (playing mainly Latin music) that goes into the early hours of the morning.

The powers that be have invested heavily in the space, namely on the sound system and some top-of-the-line projectors at the entrance. Those projectors are actually really cool—they emulate the incoming ocean tide.

The Food: Colombian Specialties & Grill

The food is Latin, but mostly Colombian. It’s heavy stuff, but oh so good. Colombian-native and LatinLand head chef Hugo Sazón loads up meat platters with house made chorizo and blood sausage, alongside festive plates of beef, beans, and yuca fries.

Supplementing those dishes is a selection from the grill—steaks, sausages, seafood and vegetables. And while they do have tacos on the menu, the Colombian specialties like the Bandeja Paisa, Picada, patacones, and Colombian empanadas are the things to eat. Other dishes from Latin America like ceviche, quesadillas, and seafood rice also pepper the menu. Bring friends, and an appetite.

Here are the highlights:

Yuca Frita (¥48) – 200g of deep-fried cassava chips. Cassava is very starch and can be quite filling. These are cut thick (appropriately thick according to chef) and served with a fiery chili dip.

Chicharron de Cerdo (¥58) – Deep-fried pork belly with crispy skin served with sweet potato purée and pico de gallo. Apparently "chicharron" (meaning "fried") differs based on country. This is the Colombian version, thick cut and crisped.

Patacones (¥52/four pieces) – Plaintains that are fried, flattened into disks, and fried again. Served with a mildly spicy, aromatic Hogao sauce. It's an addictive fried snack.

LatinLand Ceviche (¥78) – Seabass quick cured in leche de tigre with fried calamari, sweet potato purée, and corn. The spice and lime in the leche de tigre packs a punch! Just how I like my ceviche.

Empanada de Colombia, Chicken (¥62) – Four golden brown corn empanadas filled with marinated chicken and potato, served with chili sauce. Crisped exterior, juicy, and not as heavy as it looks. These are absolutely amazing. Beef (¥68) also available.

Quesadillas, chicken (¥62) or beef (¥68), served with sour cream and pico de gallo. A standard.

Arroz con Mariscos (¥108) – A hefty serving of juicy seafood rice loaded with diced shrimp, calamari, snapper, and clams, and a scoop of a light aioli. Thoroughly enjoyable and great value!

Picada (¥188) – Now we're talking. A meat platter to share that includes house made chorizo and blood sausage, chicken, grilled picanha, smashed potatoes, arepas, corn, chicharron and house sauces.

The highlight for me is the chorizo (¥35/a la carte). These are sausages with a snap, cased with a desirable mix of meat and fat, lightly seasoned and are mildly spicy.

A close second is the blood sausage (¥32/a la carte). I love trying things like these. Blood mixed with rice and peas. It has a creamy texture, packed and is dense. It's tasty, but I still prefer the chorizo.

Crispy skinned roasted chicken and picanha beef cut.

Bandeja Paisa (¥138) – Colombian Paisa tray loaded with the best of Colombian food, including Chicharron, ground beef (to replace the steak), red beans, rice, plantain, fried egg, and an arepa. It really comes across like breakfast plate, a hearty one. If there was a hangover cure dish, it would be this.

The cheese-filled, golden brown arepas are to die for. You can also get the Arepas (¥35) a la carte, too.

As for the cocktails, they're as expected—fun, fruity, and colorful—20 signature cocktails by bartender Artem Zuev. Most of the drinks are rum-based, but they have a bunch with whisky and gin as well; and they do lean on the sweet side. Cocktails are ¥68-88, reasonably priced.

L: Super spicy Mamacita (¥78) with chili pepper infused Altos tequila and Joven mezcal.
R: Cucumba (¥68), a refreshing, easy drinking cooler with Beefeater gin.

Piña Kinda Colada (¥68) - Coconut oil infused Havana 3yr with malibu, coconut water, and pineapple juice. Easy sipping.

Michelada (¥68) - The Bloody Mary's lighter bodied sister. Beer, tomato juice, hot sauce, Worchestershire, Maggi sauce, and lime, and a Tajin rim.

Overseeing the operation is group chef Hugo Rodriguez. He's working on some really cool things for LatinLand, namely a list of frozen products and ready-to-eat foods. Those amazing empanadas? You'll be able to buy them to stock your fridge and fry them up whenever.For more updates on this, follow them on WeChat!

Brunch/lunch hours will start after their grand opening, June 5.

Favorite dishes: Patacones, empanadas, Bandeja Paisa, chorizo, seafood rice.

Nomfluence Readers Deals

Get 20% off your bill at LatinLand when you book via the link below. Valid until June 30, 2021.

Deal is not applicable in conjunction with other promotions; happy hours, lunch sets, etc.

Click here to BOOK NOW!

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LatinLand Restaurant Lounge Club
Address: 2/F, Wheelock Square, 1717 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Huashan Lu 南京西路1717号2楼, 近华山路
Tel: 62153076
Soft Opening Hours: Sun-Thu, 5pm-2am; Fri-Sat, 5pm-3:30am
Grand Opening is June 5, after which hours will be Sun-Thu, 11am-2am; Fri-Sat 11am-4am.
Last order for food is 10:30pm; late night menu available until 1am.