Scarpetta

Verdict

If you have been to Scarpetta once and left satisfied, a return visit will likely confirm what you already suspected: this is Shanghai's most serious Italian wine destination, the food has been sharpened to match. Under chef David Fricaud, the kitchen has found a cleaner register than earlier iterations of the brand, sommelier Diego Vásquez and Caleb Anderson now oversee one of the deeper Italian cellar programs in the city; 3,500 bottles, 470 selections, with particular strength in Piedmont and Tuscany. The Michelin Plate has been held in both 2024 and 2025, which tells you the fundamentals are consistent. At ¥¥¥ pricing (two courses typically ¥66 or more per person, not including wine), this is not a casual weeknight choice, but it earns its position for anyone who takes Italian wine seriously or wants a European dining room that does not feel like a hotel fallback.

Portrait

Scarpetta occupies a specific corner of Shanghai's dining market: Italian, wine-forward, formally staffed, positioned for the diner who wants depth in the glass rather than a scene. The address on Mengzi Road in Huangpu puts it slightly outside the highest-traffic restaurant corridors, which is both a practical and atmospheric advantage; the room tends to operate at a pace that allows proper attention from the floor.

The wine program is the clearest reason to return. A corkage fee of ¥350 (listed as $50) is high enough that it should push most diners toward the list rather than BYOB, with 470 selections across 3,500 bottles in inventory, that is a reasonable trade. The strength is Italian: Piedmont and Tuscany are singled out as the cellar's two pillars, which in practice means meaningful depth in Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, the major Super Tuscans. For a first visit, the list breadth is impressive; on a return visit, the value play is finding mid-tier Tuscan producers that do not appear at Shanghai's more generalist wine bars. If you are comparing wine programs across Shanghai's Italian options, 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana Shanghai has the prestige cellar and the trophies to match, but Scarpetta's list is more navigable and the corkage policy gives you a clear sense of where the restaurant wants you to spend. For regional Italian comparison further afield, 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong and cenci in Kyoto show what Italian fine dining looks like in this part of Asia at full stretch.

Chef David Fricaud runs the kitchen, a French-trained chef leading an Italian menu, which is a combination that appears more often than you would expect in Asia's leading Italian rooms. The relevant question for a returning guest is whether the food has evolved. The answer, based on the back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition, is that the technical level has held steady. The cuisine does not appear to have shifted toward a tasting menu format as its primary mode; dinner is the main event, running until 9 or 9:30 PM on most weeknights, extending to 10 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. General Manager Fabian Forlini adds to a floor team that is unusually complete for Shanghai's Italian dining tier, having a named GM and two named sommeliers on record signals an operation that is run as a serious hospitality business, not a concept.

For the Shanghai context, Mercato and Arva sit at different price points and serve different purposes: Mercato leans more casual and is easier to walk into, while Arva skews hotel-dependent. Frasca offers another point of comparison for Italian in the city. Scarpetta's clearest advantage over the mid-tier competition is the wine infrastructure, neither the depth of list nor the sommelier bench is easy to match. If wine is not your priority, Cellar to Table works for its wine-focused format at a different price anchor.

Lunch runs Monday through Friday from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Sunday from 11:30 AM to 3 PM, Saturday is dinner-only from 5 PM. For a return visit, Sunday lunch is a different experience from a Friday dinner: quieter, better paced for extended conversation, possibly more accessible for working through the wine list without the noise level climbing. Saturday dinner is the natural booking for someone who wants the full room and the kitchen at full intensity, but availability should be checked early in the week.

Beyond Shanghai, if you are tracking Italian programs across China and Asia, the Pearl network covers comparable fine dining at Xin Rong Ji in Beijing, Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu, and Ru Yuan in Hangzhou for regional Chinese alternatives. For high-end dining in Macau and Guangzhou, see Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau, Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou, and Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing.

See our full guides to Shanghai restaurants, Shanghai bars, Shanghai hotels, Shanghai wineries, and Shanghai experiences for broader planning.

Practical Details