French dinner
I think this was the first real Western meal I've eaten since I've been here (apart from the occasional dish I make for myself, that is). I've sampled a number of French loaves and baguettes from the local bakeries, the vast majority of which would probably be declared unfit even for the birds and tossed into the Seine were they to make an appearance in Paris. There are one or two that are decent, but in general, regular sandwich loaves are less disappointing. So I wasn't sure what to expect from a French restaurant in Shanghai, particularly one that wasn't located in the French Concession (history lesson: in the 1840s Shanghai was opened up/invaded/conquered (depending on your viewpoint) by foreigners and divided into 4 sections -- the Chinese City, the British and American Settlements, and the French Concession, whose governments ruled their respective areas. Of these, the French Concession retains its name as a neighborhood and is still the most Western part of Shanghai, at least west of the river; the Chinese City is now the Old City, and I think most people would be hard pressed to define the boundaries of the old English and American (also sometimes referred to as International?) territories). I will say that the restaurant was far, far, FAR better than any bread I have had here, though I note that the bread they served was not what I think of as a French loaf. :)
Caesar salad

I think this salad looked somewhat more impressive in person. It was stuffed with large whole leaves of romaine (though as a unit, the salad was cut into thick slices), as one would expect, and topped with dark mushrooms (not a traditional Caesar ingredient, no). The foam on the side is the dressing. The really intriguing part, though, was the wrapper -- it looked approximately the same texture as an eggroll skin pre-frying, but according to the eater to whom this salad belonged, it was made of mushroom! I won't vouch for that myself, but I would think that they know what they're talking about.
Poisson

I believe the menu called this baked cod in a "miso, lemon, and ginger butter sauce." I could have done with a different fish -- after years of living in Massachusetts (state fish - Atlantic cod), cod does not usually thrill me -- but the sauce was too tantalizing to pass up, even for something wacky like foie gras dumplings. Lemon and ginger butter... it sounded like such a great combination (so much more intriguing than ginger and lemon butter, incidentally -- something to think about for any budding menu planners); I just hoped the miso wasn't going to make everything too salty for my tastes.
I was not disappointed. Both the fish and the sauce were fabulous -- the fish managed to be both flaky and moist -- succulent, even! -- and the sauce was amazing, not the least bit oversalted. In fact, I didn't really get any miso flavor at all. Instead, the sauce was actually just a bit sweet -- not in an off-putting way; it just had an extra little tanginess, and I do love tangy. After I had devoured the fish, I took another piece of bread just so I could mop up the remaining sauce. I would totally order that again, except that they apparently change the menu entrees every couple days, so there'd be no guarantee of it being there to satisfy my gluttony. Alas.
Dessert

Strawberry millefeuille. I only sampled a bit of the pastry, so I don't have much to say about it; it's mostly here for your drooling pleasure. I thought the cream inside the millefeuille could have looked a little more appetizing, and frankly, that's not the pastry I usually associate with a millefeuille -- where are the thousand layers? My dining partners quite enjoyed it, though, for what that's worth.

Apple tart. Sadly, this uses almonds in the baking, so I didn't eat this either (I did, however, get some delicious mango-passionfruit ice cream, so don't feel bad for me!), but it seems to be their most popular dessert. It's clearly not your average tart -- more like a thin apple crepe that's been crisped up. It smelled great, too. Blasted allergies.