Hidden in plain sight: a secret terrace near Shanghai’s Yu Garden

While wandering around on my bike this Sunday I came across a little Japanese restaurant, Miyako No Mori, tucked away in Yu Garden Park (not actually in Yu Garden, which you must pay to enter, but just east of it towards the Bund promenade).Didn’t try the food there, (I stood there for 10 minutes and none of the staff even talked to me—so it’s not like I didn’t try!) but there is a rooftop terrace open to the public which leads to a walkway gently descending into the park behind it. As you can see from the pictures below, there are some really nice views to be had from the terrace, and it was, improbably, practically deserted. What’s more, there is a little café occupying the first floor of the building. Although the park security guards were blowing their whistles and ushering people out of the park for the 8:30 p.m. closing, the staff at Easom Restaurant on the ground floor (Miyako No Mori ison the second) told me that if I phoned them, they would come open the gate in front of the restaurant for me as they are open until 2:00 a.m. The restaurant has its own little outdoor terrace situated on a pond with a little fountain in it. It is very quiet and peaceful and there were only three tables there when I went, so if you’re looking for a totally secret chill-out spot in the middle of a park (though you can still see the top of the Westin Bund Center Shanghai—not the worst reminder that concrete-obsessed Shanghai is just beyond the trees), this little place should definitely make your list. How to get there: Go to Yu Garden via Renmin Lu heading east towards the Huangpu River and Bund promenade. The gate for the restaurant is about 50 meters north of the park’s Fuyou Lu entrance. See the pictures below for a preview, and a Google map locating it exactly.