Milan Meets Shanghai

In the heart of Shanghai, the arched front doors of Rong Zhai lead into a foyer with ornate cherry wood-framed mirrors inspired by Italian bakeries, reflecting a display case of re-imagined tiramisu, cassata cake, and delizia al limone. The pastry shop is just one part of a home-turned-new-culinary experience created by Prada and Wong Kar-wai. Titled Mi Shang Prada Rong Zhai, it reflects the visuals of both the Italian fashion house and the celebrated Chinese director.

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The next room in the 1918 western-style home features a café. Its decadent velvet furnishings and a locally crafted bar counter made of cherry wood are an ode to early 1900s Shanghai. At the heart of the estate lies the dining doom. Vibrant pink, green, and yellow interiors allude to Kar-wai’s famous neon-lit scenes. Pink velvet booths accompany black marble tables in a contrast of soft and utilitarian materials that are reminiscent of Prada’s recent Fall/Winter 2025 collection. The menu also echoes the cultural fusion with Italian classics like ravioli and vitello tonnato combined with Chinese citrus and duck breast.

There are spaces of serenity, too. The library, the study, and the terrace offer diners moments to explore curated books from both Prada and Rong Zhai’s collections, including tomes on Chinese craftsmanship and Italian art and design. In the study, there is delicately displayed porcelain. And on the terrace, visitors can take a breath of fresh air surrounded by Chinese palms and Italian bamboo tables and chairs.

This is Prada and Kar-wai’s first collaboration, yet it marks the second time the Italian brand tapped a filmmaker to transform a space. In 2015, filmmaker Wes Anderson recreated a classic Milanese cafe inside the Fondazione Prada in Milan. Now, for the restaurant and interactive rooms of the Rong Zhai house, Kar-wai expands on tête-bêche, the artistic technique where two postage stamps are reflected and inverted. Mi Shang Prada Rong Zhai is a cultural stage, too. There will be two annual art exhibitions along with a permanent presentation of tête-bêche woodblock print works by Kar-wai, created in partnership with the historic Duo Yun Xuan auction house. The space is more than a restaurant: it is somewhere to reflect, find inspiration, and enter a world of Kar-wai’s own, all in the midst of the bustling city.

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Mi Shang Prada Rhong Zhai is now open at 186 Shanxi Rd (N), Jing'An, Shanghai, China.