Ladies, let the lunching begin! Sept 28, 2011

Loosen your belt, renew your gym membership and match those heels to your handbag, it's lunching season again! I started it in style (is there any other way?) with a luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria, hosted by the American Women's Club of Shanghai (AWCS). 

The Waldorf building has an illustrious history. Formerly the Shanghai Club, a private British gentlemen's club, it opened in 1910. Yes, only men, so I think it very fitting that the AWCS kicked off their 2011 season with a lunch at this location. 

The entrance hall

Wait for me!

Leading me to the lunch venue

My destination, the Grande Brasserie.

A little closer...

From the other end...

(can't say I don't show you everything!)

View from my table

Endive salad with walnuts and blue cheese

Chicken Chasseur

Dessert, the best part!

Chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

The Reluctant Relocator 

(the dress has a strategic wrap waist)

The Waldorf's famous Long Bar from one end...

...to the other end.

A bit of history, thank you CNN

When the Shanghai Club opened in the early 1900s, it reportedly housed the world’s longest bar, which measured 39 feet, and was carved out of raw mahogany. It was a hub for the city’s aristocratic elite with a US$125 membership fee and US$9 monthly dues. 

But entry into the club just wasn’t good enough for some.

It was one thing to be a member of the Shanghai Club, but it was an entirely different thing to sit on the coveted east end of the fabled Long Bar. The bar was a measure of social status among the influential Shanghailanders.

“While newcomers were relegated to the back end of the bar, the crème de la crème of Shanghai enjoyed the privilege of sitting on the east end of the bar, which accorded a view of the Huangpu," explains June Seah, director of marketing communications for the hotel. “Moving from one end of the Long Bar to the other signified an elevation of status.”

While the view from those desirable seats has drastically changed since the 1900s, the bar itself was rebuilt according to photos of the original. 

The original bar was taken out, piece by piece, when the space was converted into a KFC in the 1990s.

Although the original was sacrificed to the KFC gods, the newest incarnation offers the same historic Shanghai feel.

I think this will have to be my destination the next time I come to the Waldorf.