Add comment

7 seriously pink cafés in Shanghai

Prepared to be tickled pink...

By Beverly Shen Posted: Thursday July 12 2018

Photograph: Beverly Shen (L.Fish)
The 2018 Pantone colour of the year may be ultraviolet, but there’s no denying the power of pink. From millennial pink to hot pink, Barbie pink, cotton candy and beyond, there's just no escaping it. You might be able to get cheap coffee at every corner of the city, but here are Shanghai's most playful, bold and photo-friendly pink-themed cafés for when you're chasing a pink fix with some caffeine on the side. Pinkies up!

Pink not your colour? Take a look at Shanghai's most Instagrammable cafés or explore the city's best themed coffee shops and teahouses.
Blink Cake

Blink Cake

Though this café may give off Illuminati vibes, there is nothing conspirative about this spot. The shop’s muted pink and grey theme is juxtaposed with a blazing neon magenta eye on the café’s main wall.

Once you get over the initial slight discomfort caused by 3D eyes fixated on pink planet wall art scattered throughout the café – if you’re lucky you might even catch them blinking – settle in for a number of pink drinks and desserts. For a summer refresh, pair the strawberry Mille crepe cake, a fluffy dessert served on a beautiful plate decorated with rose petals bits, with a bubbly raspberry soda.

Read more
1398 Yuyuan Lu
Chic Pink Café

Chic Pink Café

A slice of colour in the outskirts of the city, this café lives up to its name ticking all the 'chic' boxes. Drenched in pink from floor to ceiling, Chic Pink Café’s modest first floor is only a preface to its playground-like mezzanine, where you’ll find a mini tent and an ocean ball pit – all in cotton candy hues. Even the restroom here is prepped for pictures with sleek baby-pink tiled walls and a backlit mirror. The café also has a mini-mart where you can purchase a selection of random items – think stuffed animals to fragrance diffusers – though it seems to serve more for aesthetic purposes than convenience. 

The spotlight here is definitely on the café’s saccharine sweet decor, as there is little variety foodwise. However, there is a pink lemonade in a cute cup with the shop’s signature unicorn logo. 

Read more
Lane 958, No. 956 Xiukang Lu
L.Fish

L.Fish

If a few cafés on this list seem too frilly for you, L.Fish might be your cup of tea. With its black and pink theme and edgy decor, it’s more like the home of Barbie’s badass sister. Plastic fish enclosed in neon pink cubes and satirical artworks adorn the interior, creating a striking visual impression that’ll make you look twice. The café also has a mezzanine with a pink metal fence – great for an Insta-friendly aerial view of the chic café. 

Though the menu seems to cover everything from milk teas and cocktails to burgers and seafood bowls, most come for the creative small cakes. Take a stab at the somewhat bitterly named 'Ex-boyfriend’s Black Heart' with hints of chocolate and banana. Or, if you’re not feeling particularly vindictive, try the 'Lonely Planets' handcrafted galaxy mousses that come in all kinds of flavours and colours. 

Read more
102 Yuyuan Lu
Love Drink

Love Drink

Barbie fans, live out your childhood fantasies inside this pastel pink wonderland bedecked with doll figurines. Fitting its name, this incredibly cutesy café emanates love from all corners – from the ‘When Love Is Not Madness It’s Not Love’ emblazoned on the wall in neon coral to tiny pink hearts dotted throughout.

Arguably the cutest part, the food highlights include a strawberry milkshake – a blend of strawberry ice cream, topped with a layer of cream and dotted with fluffy macarons, marshmallows, and small cones – and a gooey rainbow grilled cheese. 

Read more
70 Yongkang Lu
Pearlosophy

Pearlosophy

An elegant combo of delicate sweets and all things pink, Shanghai-based skincare brand Pearlosophy offers afternoon tea enthusiasts an elegant dining area with blush banquettes and dusty pink vintage French-inspired chairs. Neon lights in brilliant shades of pastel pink illuminate the café’s camera-ready walls, and a well-lit powder room is a great Insta-prop – along with flamingo statues, bubble chairs and a bathtub.

The menu gets with the theme too, offering exquisite pink(ish) desserts served on dainty tableware. The café also sells the Pearlosophy’s skincare products, displayed on minimalist, gold-lined shelves and a sleek pink marble counter.

Read more
688 Shenchang Lu
Why Tea & Juice

Why Tea & Juice

With stores all across Shanghai, Why Tea & Juice successfully marries food and fun. Tucked in a brick wall on Fengxian Lu, this branch’s arcade-styled bright pink facade is hard to miss. Once you finish ordering at the counter – resembling a claw machine – head in to the partially covered patio enclosed by pink brick walls and decked out with stuffed animals, trendy neon lights and a few claw machines nestled in the corner.

The menu features an eclectic and colourful mix of whimsical offerings, including the on-trend 'Unicorn', a blue and deep-magenta fusion of dragon fruit, banana and blue chamomile. But if you’re feeling adventurous, go for a 'Three-color Cheese' with a swirl of magenta, blue, and white cream (which looks better than it sounds).

Read more
238 Fengxian Lu
Ziinlife café

Ziinlife café

The brainchild of furniture company Ziinlife, this café is a library, coffeehouse and showroom all-in-one. The entrance is a flashy (and seemingly endless) millennial-pink tunnel, inspired by Ziinlife’s 'No More Macaron' sofa. And the rest of the multistory space is equally eye-catching, studded with the company’s own modern furniture and flush with windows that allow in lots of natural light – it could be easily mistaken for an art museum over a space that sells coffee.

That's not to say the place doesn't hold it's own as a cafe. The menu is just as appealing as the decor, with decent coffee and cake. Order the lemon cake, a mousse dessert injected with lemon pulp that nicely balances sweet and sour, and is also very photogenic – it's shaped to look like a lemon.

Read more
88 Jinjia Lu

More to fill your Insta-feed

Comments