Classic, fictional, movie musical, “Grease”, features a theme-park ride called “Shake Shack”, on which are John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John when they sing, “You’re the One that I Want”. Today, it’s not a ride, but it is a reality and a global retail icon. And it’s now in Nanjing.
Shake Shack has in fact two locations in the Southern Capital; The Nanjinger chose the southerly of the two for its visit as also a chance to check out the recently-opened MixC mall.
A product of China Resources (华润), which appears to own much of China (Suguo included), the new MixC is the second such mall in Nanjing, with the other on the north bank of the Yangtze, right beside the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.
We had always figured it was going to be pretty good; the motorbike spaces in the underground car park left us suitably impressed and were an inkling of the kind of quality to come.
So Shake Shack has rightfully chosen MixC on a long journey from its 2001 beginnings as a mere hot-dog cart in New York City’s Madison Square Park. The brainchild of celebrity restauranteur, Danny Meyer, the first Shake Shack was intended to be a temporary affair, in support of an art installation in the Park.
But Meyer’s dogs were so popular the cart was back open for business the following 2 summers. It was in 2004 that Shake Shack was finally granted a contract to create a permanent food kiosk. Today there are over 400 Shake Shacks world wide.
All this means a hot dog should the first thing on any would-be Shacker’s bucket list.
To a pair of those, The Nanjinger added a SmokeShack burger, ShackBurger, Chicken Bites, Crinkle Cut Fries, Chocolate Classic Shake, Christmas Cookie Holiday Shake and a Fifty/Fifty (lemonade with iced tea).
The standouts? The dogs, as you might suspect, qualify as the best in Nanjing, especially with a dollop or two of honey mustard and BBQ sauce. And the SmokeShack, topped with sliced piquillo peppers packs quite the punch.
The ShackBurger, on the other hand was by comparison, a little limp, but nothing can detract from the succulence of the patties utilised in all Shake Shack burgers.
Now, a word about those Crinkle Cut Fries. The New York Times was once quoted as writing, “You can get better fries just about anywhere”, something which caused execs at Shake Shack to spend US$1 million on experimenting with alternates, for patrons to only demand the original back. These are the fries you shall eat at Shake Shack in Nanjing today.
All said, done and doggy bagged, the ¥334 we had spent was a useful aide in forgetting that this nevertheless remains fast food. Reinforcing the point was the familiar, unsettling after taste that comes when dining on this type of fare.
Or, as Investopedia puts it, Shake Shack is a “gourmet fast-casual restaurant”. Except that it wasn’t that fast; it taking 8 minutes to get our order.
That, however, should not distract from the enthusiasm of staff, crying out, “Welcome to Shake Shack!”, even as you enter for the third time in the space of 10 minutes. Other than item detail on the menu, English at Shake Shack is also happily ubiquitous.
