When City Diner opened earlier in 2006, many expats were ecstatic with the thought of Shanghai’s first 24 hour diner. Even better was the fact that City Diner was within stumbling distance of the Tongren Lu complex of nightclubs and bars.
Unfortunately, soon after opening, numerous complaints of poor service began appearing on blogs and message boards. So Shanghai Eats was off to investigate – albeit at 4:30am on a Thursday night/Friday morning. What we found was a mostly empty restaurant – but the food and service were pretty darn good.
After waking up at 4am from severe jet lag, there is nothing that soothes the soul and warms the gullet like a freshly brewed cup of (bottomless) coffee and a made to order Denver omelette (40 RMB) – even if you’re 7,000 or so miles outside of the Mile High City.
And after wolfing down our main course, we could think of nothing better than a slice of the New York Cheesecake (40 RMB) to finish off the meal– although the cheesecake was a bit thicker and fluffier than we’re used to. Nevertheless, the huge piece of early morning sunshine was gone in a few milliseconds.
For serious eaters, try the City Breakfast (65 RMB) which is a whole lot of eggs, meats, potatoes, and your choice of bread or bagel. It is more than enough for one seriously hungry party animal or can be shared by two people who aren’t looking for a full plate to call their own.
If eggs aren't your thing, City Diner's menu also includes burgers, burritos, sandwiches and dinner platters. They even deliver within a 10 minute radius (but we've heard that middle of the night delivery service might not always be available).
Although we didn’t visit at the lunch or dinner “rush”, we were more than satisfied with the food and service at City Diner and will definitely be back when sleepwalking just doesn’t suffice.