Shanghai Food and Restaurants
A cosmopolitan city full of unique charms, Shanghai not only has the glittering night view of the Bund and the bustling Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, but also mouth-watering food. The cuisine here is a fusion of Chinese and Western characteristics, bringing together flavors from all over the world, each carrying a unique culture and history. From back-street food stalls to upscale luxury restaurants, delicious Shanghai food is everywhere. Step into the world of Shanghai's culinary scene and explore local dishes and favorites on your Shanghai tour.
Shanghai Cuisine
Shanghai food, named as "Ben Bang Cuisine" (food of locality) by Shanghainese, is particular about selecting fresh stuff, putting high priority on living livestock and poultry. It has rich varieties, which are different in seasons. The best cuisine of the Shanghai food is the stir-fry slice and saut with starchy sauce. It is particularly good at the cuisine of river food in all seasons. It has splendidly robust soups and spicy delicacies with real succulence and flavor.
As an immigration destination in the past decades, what is known as the Shanghai Cuisine actually combines the characteristics of all kinds of local cuisines in the areas south of the Yangtze River. Through years of culinary practice and the assimilation of the art in other styles of cuisines, Shanghai chefs have also created a style of cuisine peculiar to the region. Shanghai dishes are usually characterized by the use of heavy and highly flavored sauce.
The use of sugar is another uniqueness found in Shanghainese cuisine and, especially when used proportionally with soy sauce, the taste created is not so much sweet but rather savory. It is said that this is mainly due to the fact that sugar neutralized the sourness found in soy source. Household in Shanghai would consume as much soy source as sugar.
>> Reommended China Food Tours to taste Shanghai cuisine:
Must-try Dishes of Shanghai Cuisine
Eight Treasures Duck
Eight Treasures Duck has been a famous court dish since the Qing Dynasty. It is made by opening the back of a duck with bones, filling it with ingredients, fastening it in a large bowl, and sealing it with cellophane for steaming. It is then topped with shrimp and green beans in the original steamed duck marinade.
The Eight Treasures Duck in Shanghai is best cooked at the Boss's Restaurant in the City God Temple of Shanghai.
In September 2018, Eight-Treasure Duck was rated as one of the top ten classic dishes of Shanghai in "Chinese Cuisine".
Braised Pork
First, select the five-layered pork belly. Heat the pan and stir-fry until the fat is released. Add rock sugar to create an amber caramel color. Use Shaoxing wine to remove the fishy smell and add aroma. Finally, mix dark soy sauce and red yeast rice to achieve a "ruby red" color. When you take a bite, the fat melts like cheese, and the lean meat is flavorful bit by bit. The balance of saltiness and sweetness conceals the mellow aroma of Shaoxing wine.
Deep-fried shrimp
The oil temperature rises to 220°C, and the shrimp are instantly “crackled” into the pan, separating the shell from the meat like a cicada shedding its shell. When the chef turns the pan upside down, the shrimp are covered in soy sauce, sugar and vinegar and combine at high temperatures to form a bright red glaze.
Zao Bo Dou
This dish is the "liquid gold" of Shanghai cuisine. A pickled wine is made from aged fragrant rice wine, Huadiao wine, rock sugar and salt. The skin of the pickled chicken is crispy and the meat is tender like white jade. The pickled edamame is emerald green like jade beads. The pickled pork tongue is chewy and flavorful.
Crystal Shrimp
Select river shrimp before the Qingming Festival and wrestle them repeatedly with salt, water and starch to make the shrimp meat as crystal as lamb's fat jade. When frying, the oil temperature is controlled at 120℃, so that the shrimp are full of flavor when they are ready to be cooked.
Crabmeat Tofu
This is a fall Shanghai dish. Crabmeat is removed from hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake and braised with tender tofu, with grated ginger to remove the fishy smell and rice vinegar to enhance the freshness.
>> Reommended 3-day Shanghai Highlights Tour
Most Popular Shanghai Street Food & Where to Eat
Xiao Long Bao (Small Cage Buns): Unlike the steamed buns in northern China, these buns are very small and easy to swallow. The buns are usually steamed in bamboo-made containers. The skin of the Xiao Long Bao is very thin, and the bun is very juicy inside. This Shanghai food is now popular and consumed widely throughout China as a Dim Sum. Nanxiang Xiaolongbao originated in Nanxiang Town, a suburb of Shanghai. First, carefully make a small bite to suck out the delicious soup. Then, taste the tender meat filling. With every bite, you can feel the exquisite craftsmanship.
Pan-fried steamed buns: One of the signature street food in Shanghai. The bottom of its outer skin is fried until golden and crispy, while the top is sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions. The fully fermented dough sheets of Dahuchun are pan-fried, with a thick and chewy texture. Xiaoyang Shengjian is renowned for its thin skin and abundant juice.
Crab shell yellow: A traditional snack food in Shanghai. The shape of the crab shell yellow is very similar to that of a crab shell, hence its name. There are various flavors such as scallion oil and sesame. In the old streets of Shanghai, one can often smell the aroma of yellow crab shells.
Scallion oil noodles: One of the most famous Chinese noodles. Fry the scallions until they turn dark brown and simmer to extract a rich and fragrant scallion oil. Then mix it with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and other seasonings, and pour it over the chewy alkaline water while it's still hot. After being stirred evenly, each noodle was coated with the aroma of scallion oil. You can also add some side dishes according to your personal taste, such as crispy and tender shredded cucumbers and delicious Chinese cabbage.
>> Explore 16 Best Chinese Noodle Restaurants in Shanghai
Chou Dou Fu (Smelly Tofu): When first smelled, one would naturally hold their nose, not to mention give it a try and eat a piece. The smelly tofu is a popular local food mainly found on Shanghai streets. The tofu is fermented with many ingredients before fried. Old ladies usually serve them on their little trolley. Despite their odor, most foreigners love it after tasting it. It is dirty cheap too!
Da Zha Xie (Hairy Crab): Da Zha Xie is a special type of crab found in lakes, and is normally consumed in the winter. The crabs are tied with ropes or strings, placed in bamboo containers, steamed and served. There is little artificial ingredient added to the dish yet it tastes fantastically good. Da Zha Xie is usually consumed with vinegar. Locals are also quite fussy about when to consume male crabs and when to consume female crabs.
Popular Shanghai food streets: Yuyuan Bazaar, Yunnan South Road, Huanghe Road, Huaihai Road, Zhapu Road, Xianxia Road.
>> Reommended Shanghai Evening Food Tour by Tuk Tuk
Shanghai Breakfast Food
Head to Shanghai's alleys early in the morning and you'll be greeted by the aroma of a variety of local breakfasts. Pan-fried dumplings, xiao long bao, doughnuts wrapped in big pancakes, scallion pancakes, sticky rice balls, egg pancakes and tiger's foot claws are all standard Shanghai breakfast foods. One of the most popular Chinese breakfast, doughnuts with soy milk, is also a favorite among Shanghainese. And on cold winter days, wontons with soup are one of the best choices.
>> Related reading: Eat Like a Local in Shanghai: 8 Traditional Breakfast Shops
Recommended Chinese Food Restaurants
We sum up the most popular Chinese food restaurants in Shanghai, recommended by local Shanghainese, to taste authentic Shanghai cuisine, dim sum snacks, as well as Cantonese cuisine and other Chinese foods.
Dexing Restaurant
Established in the ninth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1883 AD), it is regarded as the birthplace of Shanghai cuisine. The exterior of the store is ancient and elegant, brimming with the charm of old Shanghai. The famous dishes include shrimp and large black ginseng, Chicken bone sauce, chicken ring meat, and Eight-treasure Chili Sauce, etc. Among them, the shrimp and large black ginseng is the most distinctive and is the representative dish of Dexing Restaurant. In terms of snacks, the soup dumpling is a must-try, and has thin wrapper, generous filling and delicious soup.
Lubolang Restaurant
One of the signature restaurants in Shanghai, it was built in 1912 during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It is renowned both at home and abroad for hosting many political leaders and state guests from around the world. The must-order dishes are "Grass Head Circle" and "Oil-Fried River Shrimp".
Old Shanghai Restaurant
Lao zhengxing Restaurant
Meilong Town Restaurant
Zao Zi Shu
Folk Restaurant
Shanghai Ren Jia
Recommended Vegetarian Restaurants in Shanghai
Shanghai is one of the best destinations in China for vegetarian tours. Vegans will find no difficulty traveling in Shanghai. There are very nice restaurants offering best vegan foods.
>> 7-day Essence of China tour for Vegetarians
Chunfeng Songyue Lou
Gong De Lin
Jade Buddha Vegetarian
New Age Veggie
Tian Ran Natural Health Vegetarian
Recommended Western Restaurants
Shanghai is known as "the New York in China", with the ultimate modern convenience and many high-grade Western Restaurants.
