When Illinois-native Mark Huetsch began making his grandmother’s small-batch pies and cakes for friends and family in Beijing, few would have placed bets that it would eventually turn into a sweet little empire. This year alone, Pantry’s Best has opened two outposts in Shanghai, the newest one in the basement of the swanky all-white Arabesque luxury mall, L’Avenue designed by architect Jun Aoki. While the other Pantry’s Best at K11 mall is basically a concession stall with no seating, L’Avenue offers seating and cake for shopaholics taking a break from retail therapy at Prada and Louis Vuitton upstairs. The interior design - by local firm Luk Studio - anchored by mismatched Eames-like chairs and blonde wood tables, is unapologetically frothy whimsy, but in a good way. The space opens towards the mall on three sides, with the fourth taken up by the counter display of radiantly hued cupcakes, chocolate glazed confections and other sugar-loaded treats. Rising from the centre of the room is a stylized tree, its ribbed trunks made of individual rods that float up towards a ceiling of waves that, depending on who you ask, resemble either soft-serve ice-cream or cupcake icing. Depending on the menu’s seasonality, a decadent mocha coffee cake might be found amongst a classic apple pie, a bacon and maple bourbon cupcake and a salted caramel pumpkin cake. It is all, literally, a real treat.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Second lower ground floor
L'Avenue
99 Xianxia Lu
Changning District
TELEPHONE
86.21 400 831 4159
PHOTOGRAPHY
Peter Dixie
-
In Shanghai, Hermès conjures a ‘cosmopolitan explorer’ for its one-off show on the Huangpu RiverNadège Vanhée, artistic director of Hermès’ womenswear collections, presented ‘The Second Chapter’ of her A/W 2025 collection earlier this evening (13 June 2025) against the futuristic skyline of Shanghai
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Peugeot brings back a classic performance badge for the electric era: meet the E-208 GTiPeugeot has unveiled the new E-208 GTi, a performance EV designed to hark back to a golden age of compact sports cars
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Prada and Wong Kar-wai dream up a cinematic restaurant in ShanghaiPrada partners with Wong Kar-wai to bring Mi Shang Rong Zhai to life, a dining experience influenced by the arthouse director’s seminal oeuvre
-
Enjoy heritage views and contemporary brews at a new Beijing caféJM Café, White Pagoda Temple by B.L.U.E. Architecture Studio nods to the history of the Xicheng District while injecting a shot of vitality
-
Must-visit cinemas with award-worthy designThere’s more magic to the movies at these design-led cinemas, from Busan Cinema Centre’s ‘flying’ roof to The Gem Cinema Jaipur’s art deco allure
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
