One Year Of Shanghai Me And Why London Is Buying Into Dubai-Born Luxury

Shanghai Me London aft dark, wherever the 28th-floor Bund Lounge takes the edifice from meal into late-night Mayfair and reflects the Dubai-born brand’s accent connected creating an full evening nether 1 roof.

Shanghai Me London

There was a clip erstwhile the guidance of recreation successful luxury hospitality felt reasonably predictable. London, Paris and New York created the restaurants, hotels and manner brands; Dubai imported them.

How quickly things change.

On 23 July, Shanghai Me London celebrated its first anniversary, marking 12 months successful 1 of the capital’s astir competitory hospitality markets. Sitting 28 floors supra Park Lane successful the London Hilton, looking crossed Hyde Park towards Buckingham Palace and beyond, it has taken complete an reside that London diners of a definite vintage will retrieve arsenic Galvin astatine Windows.

The erstwhile caretaker represented a peculiar era of London good dining: formal, European and reassuringly traditional. Shanghai Me has filled the aforesaid bonzer portion of existent property pinch thing altogether different - 1930s Shanghai glamour, Chinese and East Asian cooking, heavy reds and golds, late-night cocktails and the unmistakable assurance of modern Dubai hospitality.

And London appears to person approved.

Earlier this year, Time Out named Shanghai Me the champion London edifice pinch a view, praising not simply its bonzer vantage constituent but the food, work and alternatively fabulous people-watching that accompanies it.

Yet aft its first year, I’m progressively willing successful what Shanghai Me represents beyond the 28th floor.

Because this isn’t simply the communicative of different successful Mayfair restaurant. It’s grounds of a reversal taking spot successful world hospitality, pinch Dubai becoming the successful export.

From Imported Luxury To Made In Dubai

Shanghai Me belongs to Fundamental Hospitality, the Dubai-headquartered group founded by Evgeny Kuzin pinch cook and co-founder Izu Ani among the imaginative forces down its edifice portfolio.

Its London footprint already includes GAIA successful Mayfair and La Maison Ani successful Knightsbridge, meaning Shanghai Me didn’t get arsenic an isolated experiment, much of a deliberate world description of hospitality brands conceived and proven successful the Middle East.

For years, Dubai’s edifice scenery was built partially astir importing celebrated world names. A successful conception from London, Paris, New York aliases Milan could find different lucrative assemblage successful the Gulf. Fundamental Hospitality has inverted the model.

Build successful Dubai. Prove it successful 1 of the world’s astir demanding luxury markets. Then export it.

And the money down that ambition is substantial. Fundamental Hospitality is pursuing a $200 cardinal world description programme, pinch plans reported earlier this twelvemonth to unfastened astir 15 restaurants during 2026 crossed the GCC, Europe and the United States. Its venues welcomed much than 5 cardinal guests globally successful 2025, pinch the group forecasting that fig could transcend 10 cardinal during 2026.

Selling The Whole Evening

Fundamental Hospitality besides understands thing progressively important astir today’s premium consumer: meal doesn’t needfully request to extremity pinch dessert.

Shanghai Me has been designed astir the full evening.

Chef Izu Ani’s paper combines Chinese and East Asian influences pinch Japanese precision, taking recognisable dishes and ingredients into overmuch much indulgent territory. The surroundings are deliberately theatrical alternatively than fashionably restrained, pinch designer Richard Saunders leaning into lacquer, velvet, melodramatic lighting and Art Deco references.

The Bund Lounge offers an adjoining cocktail space, retaining some the customer and their discretionary walk for considerably longer.

When the astir costly portion of hospitality is often acquiring the customer successful the first place, allowing them to time off aft 2 hours intends surrendering their adjacent transaction to personification else, yet The Bund Lounge offers reliable ‘after dinner’ offer.

Its Chinese Zodiac-inspired marque world, cocktails and late-night power move the edifice into thing person to a contained manner experience. It besides reflects a wider alteration crossed premium hospitality, wherever consumers progressively expect restaurants to present theatre, intermezo and societal rate alongside fantabulous food.

Why Mayfair, Why Now?

Mayfair and the wider West End are undergoing 1 of their astir important periods of reinvestment successful decades. Oxford Street, instantly to the north, is moving towards pedestrianisation, pinch the first occidental conception expected to adjacent to postulation by the extremity of August 2026. The recently established Oxford Street Development Corporation has been explicitly tasked pinch turning the territory into a stronger destination for shopping, leisure and events.

The economics progressive are enormous. Oxford Street unsocial is estimated to lend astir £25 cardinal annually to London’s economy, while accommodation and nutrient services relationship for astir 12% of employment crossed the wider West End.

The early of London’s astir valuable shopping districts isn’t going to beryllium built done unit alone. Consumers request reasons to enactment longer: restaurants, hotels, culture, nationalist spaces and experiences that move a shopping travel into half a day, aliases an evening.

It’s why the translator taking spot astir Oxford Street, Bond Street and Mayfair should liking edifice groups conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic spot developers and retailers. London City Hall itself has acknowledged that Oxford Street whitethorn request to diversify further into leisure and hospitality arsenic portion of its adjacent chapter.

Perhaps that is the existent communicative of Shanghai Me’s first year. It has successfully brought a Dubai-born hospitality conception into 1 of the world’s astir competitory eating markets, captured London’s appetite for a much energetic and experiential type of luxury, and demonstrated that the accepted travel of hospitality power is changing.

As Mayfair itself evolves, Shanghai Me is simply a beardown illustration of what the adjacent procreation of premium eating whitethorn look like: international, highly social, experience-led and designed astir acold much than what arrives connected the plate.