The retail space housing longtime dim sum hot spot M Shanghai at 292 Grand Street is for sale. According to the listing, which has been active for a few months on LoopNet through the Corcoran Group, there are 875 square feet of retail space up for grabs for a 5-to-10-year lease term.
Jonathan Tager, the broker handling the sale, confirmed that it will most likely result in an eventual closure of the Williamsburg Shanghainese restaurant, which has been operating since 2002 under May Liu, who based the menu off of her grandmother’s cooking.
Describing the restaurant ethos in a 2020 profile in Industry Magazine, Liu said the plan was to “open a place where creative and artistic people in the Williamsburg neighborhood can meet and eat,” especially in what was a vastly different Williamsburg than the one many are familiar with today, over 20 years later.
M Shanghai has long been lauded for its soup dumplings and other favorites like double-pan-fried noodles, sesame pancakes, and Awesome Beef (which was at the center of a 2015 lawsuit against Liu’s former cook Wei Wang — who went on to open Wei Williamsburg — for allegedly stealing Liu’s recipes to create Wei’s “awesome chicken” and “fabulous mu shu pork”).
The listing is described as turnkey, and comes ready equipped with a liquor license, utilities, walk-in fridge, fully built-out restaurant (as we already know), and back patio for the right buyer. Tager also noted that the space boasts below-market rent and an amicable landlord for any aspiring restaurateurs out there.
The sale is still active, and no plans for M Shanghai’s closing anytime soon have been revealed, but if you’re concerned about your access to soup dumplings, have no fear — they’re available to purchase frozen if you’d like to stock up. M Noodle Shop, Liu’s other venture at 549 Metropolitan Ave, will continue to operate as usual.