Where to eat in Shanghai

Restaurants, cafés and street food in Shanghai, China that locals actually go to — plus the local names for the chains you already know.

• Jia Jia Tang Bao — Soup dumplings, People's Square / Huangpu (1). Order the Pork + crab roe xiaolongbao. Xiaolongbao folded to order until the day's skins run out.
• Old Jesse (Jishi) — Shanghainese, Former French Concession (3). Order the Hongshao rou + scallion oil noodles. The hongshao rou benchmark in a room the size of a living room.
• Fu 1088 — Refined Shanghainese, Jing'an (4). Order the Braised pork + drunken chicken. Private-room Shanghainese in a 1930s villa.
• Shanghai Lao Zheng Xing — Benbang cuisine, Fuzhou Rd / Huangpu (3). Order the Braised river eel + smoked fish. Classic benbang cooking since 1862.
• Yang's Fried Dumplings — Shengjianbao, Huangpu (multiple) (1). Order the Shengjianbao (4 pc). Crisp-bottomed, soup-loaded shengjian — mind the first bite.
• Wei Xiang Zhai — Noodles, Former French Concession (1). Order the Ma jiang mian. Sesame-sauce noodles that have outlived every trend since the 1930s.

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