The Cheesecake Factory has actually been “in” Shanghai since June 2016, but you had to endure Shanghai Disney Resort to eat there. As avid readers of this blog (are there any?) may recall, we went to Shanghai Disney Resort a few years back but only stayed a few hours there. It was hot, crowded, and the in-laws didn’t have a lot of stamina.

But somehow, without my knowledge, they managed to open another restaurant just this past June 2021 and right next door to Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery. I really don’t know how they snuck under my ever-watchful eye for US establishments. But my wife, in one of her often late night insomnia sessions (she sleeps way too much during the day), stumbled upon them, somehow, while trying to find the Latina South American steakhouse in the Jing’an district (yeah, not sure how you can mistaken ‘steak’ or ‘Latin’ with ‘Cheesecake’ and do that, but we’re really happy she did!)

The NEW Cheesecake Factory is located in the Hkri Taikoo Hui Shopping center on the 2nd floor, and is rather small compared to those in the states (not sure how it compares to the one at Shanghai Disney Resort). We arrived at 11:30 am on a Tuesday just before the lunch rush to find it looking exactly like the ones in the states: same décor, flooring, cheesecake display, dress-code, lighting, everything.

And the menu was exactly the same, well.. except it also included Chinese and the prices were in RMB. But everything appeared to be there, from the lunch menu items, hamburgers, steaks, pasta, salads, soups, drinks, and CHEESECAKE!!

We ordered off the lunch menu, for small portions, so we’d have enough room for CHEESECAKE. HAAAHAHAHAHAA!!!

Yeah, its the same as in the States. Even lunch portions are huge and we couldn’t finish it.

I wanted something just not found in China and I remembered their Meat Loaf was soo delicious. I was not disappointed!

My wife loves seafood and so chose the Salmon. It was HUGE! And also very good. There was also the complimentary bread and butter.

And as my wife just wanted water instead of Tea or Coffee, they substituted a very beautiful and tasty salad. I got the Latte (also very good).

Having eaten as much of the lunch meal as possible, we boxed the rest and proceeded onto the CHEEESECAKE. My wife ordered the Original Cheesecake, while I got their 30th Anniversary Chocolate Cheesecake. Again, no disappointments – only sheer delight! Dear Lord it was good, and OMG we were soooo full.

The total bill of 465¥ ($71USD) was by Chinese standards, rather high, but right in line with what you’d expect to pay in the States. Given that this was all ‘American’ food, exactly the same taste and quality, most of the staff spoke English, and as is not typical in a Chinese restaurant: very attentive, there was the typical US Gratuity (only 10%) tacked on – which we were happy to pay. With most restaurants in China, even the foreign imports, gratuity is not payed and often rejected. It’s just not done. But The Cheesecake Factory was different. I was like walking through a Star Trek Transporter and getting beamed 8,000 miles away to the other side of the planet.

My wife returns to The States in just a few weeks, and she encourages me to eat there whenever I want. I can’t do that. Not alone. I’m OK with eating fast-food alone, but not in a nice restaurant. I just feels wrong. I have nothing to say over a meal to anyone else here that I know, so it would still be just like eating alone. So, until she returns once again, it’ll be CHEESECAKE takeout every month or so…