There are now 78 restaurants at the HUB (Hongqiao Tiandi), with many of them combining the latest fashion and retro styles to appeal to visitors from all over the world.

Here foodies can tuck-in to some of the center’s top delicacies such as Italian pizza, German beer, Gabon’s chicken muamba, Iceland’s curried salmon, skewers of Japanese yakitori, as well as the taste bud challenging “dark cuisine” which uses molecular gastronomy to transform food into never before seen creations.

“In the beginning, there were not many tourists in the restaurants. However, if we want to provide good service to white-collar workers and achieve industry-city integration, the catering service is a must,” said Zhu Yinghua who works on the Business Development of Hongqiao Central Business District Administrative Committee. Last year the committee helped 37 restaurants attract new customers. “Now we can see that all restaurants have 70 to 80 percent attendance, and some even have queues.

“From Monday to Friday, guests here are mainly office workers. But during weekends, more people from neighboring districts show up,” said Zhu. According to the person in charge of the project, business at Hongqiao World had been lackluster during the weekends until the end of last year. But this year’s Spring Festival was a turning point. “We found more visitors arriving with backpacks and luggage. It is the trend of the future and we hope to attract more transit passengers.”