The Picnic is a bright design-forward cafe across from Capella Hotel. During the day, they serve coffee, tea, and variations on milky, overly sweet dessert-in-a-cup beverages. At night, like many cafes trying to survive, it turns into a bar with cocktails, beers, and wines by the glass.
Their drinks menu is eclectic: in addition to coffees, they have fancied-up sweet drinks like red velvet lattes and Oolong “milk capped” teas. The red velvet latte (RMB40) might as well have been two parts evaporated milk, one part coloring, and a sprinkle of diabetes. It just tasted like extremely sweet milk. The coffee is a resounding meh, at least that’s what we gathered from the espresso (RMB22/single). Elsewhere, the scoop of spicy chocolate ice cream had enough chili to choke our counterpart into tears.
For food, they have mini sandwiches and a number of weird snack items served in cones. Ordered the mac and cheese cone (RMB28) because that’s what we do when we go to these kinds of places. Then we let sink in the immediate regret and disgust, a cycle that inevitably happens about every other week. The cone quickly becomes mushy. Also, boxed Kraft mac and cheese would have been a better filler.
There’s also a hidden kitchen tucked in the back of this space called Long She. It’s supposed to be an izakaya serving Asian fusion.
We could think of a hundred other people that could have done something way better with this space. If you’re lost in the FFC and need a place to take a selfie, this is it. We suggest walking across to La Boulangerie et Patisserie de Pierre Gagnaire for pastries instead.
Address: 1/F, 481-483 Jianguo Xi Lu (near Taiyuan Lu) 建国西路481-483号1楼 (近太原路)
