Michelin-starred chef to land in Shanghai's culinary scene

Three Michelin-starred chef Esben Holmboe Bang is embarking on a quest for inspiration and challenge with his first restaurant outside Norway – EHB Shanghai is set to open at the end of May.

EHB is located at the villa on No 11 Dongping Road, Shanghai, which was built in 1921. The menu is designed to be a natural extension and exploration of Bang's cuisine with hints and reflections of the thousand-year-old food traditions of Chinese cuisine. Bang will seek to further develop the menu by adding hints of the rich and diverse flavors of China.

"We are fortunate to be able to create an experience within a building I believe will be a stunning and an incredibly comfortable universe in which our dreams and thoughts about a gastronomical experience can flourish and develop," Bang said.

EHB Shanghai  [Photo provided to China Daily]

Born in Copenhagen, Esben Holmboe Bang became interested in gourmet food when he was still a philosophy student while working part time at a local kitchen. He switched places in Copenhagen to train at many different restaurants to accumulate culinary skills and knowledge.

In 2010, he founded Maaemo in Oslo, a place that brings together his creative ideas and where he can freely translate his imagination about gourmet food into reality. In 2016, he became the first chef in the Nordics to receive three Michelin stars and is currently one of the youngest chefs in the world to hold Michelin's highest accolade.

Amazed by Shanghai's dynamic food culture, quality restaurants and fellow restaurateurs' endeavor to create gastronomic food, Bang feels excited to be given the chance to be a part of the city's culinary landscape while also hoping his team can add diversity to Shanghai's food culture.

"I feel incredibly excited and humbled to get the opportunity to have a new universe to explore. Food for me is the very essence of life. It nourishes and cultivates its roots in the spark that is created when people, cultures and emotions meet," he said.

Interior of Maaemo [Photo provided to China Daily]