Futures Trading

It's full steam ahead for Shanghai's drinking and dining scene these days—and should visitors be unaware of the fact, the name of the city's newest fashionable eatery, a FuturePerfect, blazes from its backlit signboard in a cheerful boast. The brainchild of Frank Steffen, who also owns Shanghai's trendy Arch bar, a FuturePerfect is located down an alley off Huashan Road, where old men in pajamas squat against shikumen walls. The restaurant comprises a tastefully understated dining room—staffed by servers in gray bloomers—or courtyard seating. Choose the latter and you'll be dining beneath centuries-old camphor trees while gazing at the stars (smog...