[Shanghai Girl Eats] Flask & The Press
Flask & The Press | Dianping
Address: 432 Shanxi Nan Lu near Fuxing Zhong Lu / 陕西南路432号(近复兴中路)
Date visited: 2015.09 for drinks
Price: RMB55-80 per sandwich; drink prices vary
Will return: Yes
Update: this venue has closed
Whiskey speakeasy Flask has been open for about a year now and has added a sandwich counterpart The Press, which refers to the area just outside of the infamous Coke fridge door. In the name of research, business partners Kevin Yu and Jackson Cheng tested and ate a lot of combinations to come up with this list of eclectic grilled sandwiches.
The Press is open starting at lunchtime serving sandwiches and beer; once Flask opens at 7:00pm, sandwiches can enjoyed alongside drinks inside the bar until it closes at 2:00am.
For those who don’t know yet, one of the best looking bartenders in Shanghai is here. Enjoy the view, ladies.
Robin Hood Roy (RMB90) with blended scotch, Mancino sweet vermouth, infused lemongrass because we can’t be at a bar called Flask without having a drink that contains a flask.
You get a book with a flask inside and pour the drink out yourself. And it comes with a piece of sweet burnt eel for a bit of contrast.
On with the sandwiches. For the sake of variety, the two of us ate five sandwiches – for market research purposes, of course.
Flask Melt (RMB55) three cheese melt with bourbon-honey glazed bacon on white toast
Recommend: yes
Grilled cheese with yellow cheddar, white cheddar, and gouda with the bonus of bacon. Just yum.
French Butter (RMB80) pan seared foie gras, caramelized mango on sourdough
Recommend: yes
No cheese on but just as indulgent are slices of foie gras and mango sandwiched between sourdough.
Nacho cheese (RMB65) avocado, aged cheddar, boiled egg, jalapeño, mayo, sriracha sauce on white toast
Recommend: yes
This is the favorite of the sandwiches we tried. Pleasant spiciness from the jalapeño and sriracha. More sriracha is always welcome.
K-Town (RMB55) house-made kimchi, BBQ pork belly, aged cheddar, pickled garlic on white toast
Recommend: yes
Korean BBQ in sandwich form with well-flavored kimchi, pork belly, and garlic. On the more flavor-heavy side due to the kimchi and garlic pieces in the sandwich so save this for last!
S’mores (RMB45) nutella chocolate, hazelnut crumble, marshmallows
Recommend: yes
Like foie gras, anything with Nutella is also an automatic order for me. I think this would make a great open faced sandwich – less bread to nutella and marshmallow ratio. And an option to add bananas would make it even better.
There are so many more sandwiches I need to try next time…
