Every tourist heavy spot we've listed in Shanghai — with the Chinese name you can copy straight into Amap or Didi, and what locals actually order.
Stay downstairs
Near Inside Yuyuan Garden Mall, next to the Zigzag Bridge
Metro Lines 10/14, Yuyuan Garden Station, Exit 1, ~400m walk
Two dining areas share the building: the ground-floor takeaway counter (cheap, standing, locals queue here) and the upstairs restaurant (3-5x pricier, servic...
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Benbang since 1875
Near Inside the Yu Garden / City God Temple area
Metro Line 14, Yu Garden Station, Exit 7, ~420m walk
A proper benbang dining room for the classics: 八宝鸭 (eight-treasure duck), 油爆虾 (flash-fried river shrimp) and 清炒鳝糊 (stir-fried eel). Book ahead for dinner; th...
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State-banquet dim sum
Near Beside the Zigzag Bridge inside Yu Garden
Metro Line 14, Yu Garden Station, Exit 7, ~680m walk
Famous for hosting world leaders over dim sum — go upstairs for the view of the Zigzag Bridge. Order the 桂花拉糕 (osmanthus rice cake) and 蟹粉小笼 (crab- and-pork ...
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Top-rated benbang
Near Near Tianzifang and Jianyeli
Metro Line 9, Jiashan Road Station, Exit 5, ~220m walk
One of the highest-rated benbang rooms in the city. The 招牌红烧肉 (braised pork belly) and 蟹粉捞饭 (crab-roe rice) are the reasons to book — it fills up, so reserve...
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Crab xiaolong
Near 1F of Siyuan Mansion on Tibet Middle Road, by People's Square
Metro Line 1/2/8, People's Square Station, ~410m walk
Crab-roe soup dumplings, made to order. The 头牌蟹粉小笼 is the reason to come; add 蟹粉拌面 (crab-roe noodles) if you want both in one sitting.
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The Bund view
Near 2F of Bund 22, facing the river and the Pudong skyline
Metro Line 14, Yu Garden Station, Exit 7, ~430m walk
A benbang dining room with a river view — 桂花红烧肉 (osmanthus braised pork) and 松鼠鲈鱼 (sweet-and-sour perch) are the showpieces. Come for the view as much as the...
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From the TV drama
Near On Tianjin Road by Nanjing East Road station
Metro Line 2/10, Nanjing East Road Station, Exit 3, ~70m walk
A century-old noodle house that got a second life from the TV drama 'Blossoms'. The 蟹黄金捞面 (crab-roe noodles) and 纯蟹粉小笼 are the orders — rich and very Shanghai.
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Mall benbang
Near 4F of Shimao Plaza East, on Nanjing East Road
Metro Line 1/2/8, People's Square Station, Exit 14, ~320m walk
Convenient benbang inside a mall on Nanjing East Road. The 响油鳝丝 and 红烧肉配菜饭 are the orders; the menu is broad and easier for groups than the old dining rooms.
Read the entry →The long version — what to eat, when to go, and how to order it.
Food
The Bund's own restaurants speak fluent English and take every card. Walk fifteen minutes inland and you're in a different Shanghai: older, cheaper, better. A walking loop with five stops and a total budget under ¥150.
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Food
Nothing at an old-school Shanghai shop is sold by "a portion". Noodles come in liang, buns come in liang, dumplings come in long, pancakes come in zhang. The unit system nobody translates — decoded.
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Food
Hard noodles or soft. Soup on the side or in the bowl. Scallions held back or doubled. The words that change what arrives at your table — and the ones that just get you fed.
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Food
Not the ten fanciest, not the ten most famous — the ten places where the food is genuinely good, the price is genuinely small, and the experience is genuinely Shanghai. Ranked, mapped, and ordered in Chinese.
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Food
Yu Garden Bazaar is where the invention of the soup dumpling is genuinely worth seeing — and where the worst meal of your trip is genuinely possible to buy. Telling the two apart requires exactly one rule: look at who is eating.
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How-to
You don't need to speak Chinese. You need to copy, paste and point. The exact five moves that get food in front of you — plus the sentences that fix things when it goes wrong.
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Food
One bursts with scalding soup. One has almost none. Locals have been arguing about which is correct for a century — and most visitors only ever meet the wrong one.
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Food
Four breakfasts, four street windows you would walk straight past. What locals eat before nine, what it costs, and the Chinese words that get it in front of you.
Read the guide →Copyable Chinese names, address cards, and what to order — downloadable to your phone.
