The Top 6 Shanghai Dishes You Must Eat

These soup dumplings, which are a Shanghai classic, should be your first meal in Shanghai. When you bite into one of these thin-skinned dumplings filled with pork, vegetables, shrimp, or crab and served in a tasty hot broth, the flavours explode in your mouth.

​

• Chinese: 小笼包 xiǎolóngbāo /sshyaow-long-baow/ 'little-basket-buns';

• Recommended restaurant: Jia Jia Tang Bao

• Address: 90 Huanghe Road, Huangpu 黄河路90号， 近北京路

• Price: Starting at RMB 20 but overall very cheap

The famous steamed crab in Shanghai is made with a type of crab that lives in rivers. It is usually eaten in late fall and winter. The crabs are tied with ropes or strings, put in bamboo containers, steamed, and served. There aren't many other artificial things in the dish, but it tastes great. Most of the time, Da Zha Xie is eaten with vinegar.

​

• Chinese: 大闸蟹 dà zhá xiè /daa jaa sshyeah/ 'big sluice crab'

• Recommended restaurant: Xinguang Jiu Jia 新光酒家

• Address: 512 Tianjin Lu (by Guangxi Bei Lu) 天津路512号（近广西北路）

• Price: RMB 300-400 per person

"Smoked" fish slices from Shanghai are made with fresh fish that has been marinated and spiced to taste like smoked fish. This dish is great for people who like spicy food. Most of the time, the fish is a carp, and it is cooked so that it tastes smoked and good. Shanghai Shun Yu is another name for this. Thanks to all that deep frying, the outside is crispy and the meat inside is perfectly cooked and tender.

​

• Chinese: 熏鱼 xūn yú /sshyoon yoo/ 'smoked fish'

• Recommended restaurant: Fu 1039 福 1039

• Address:1039 Yuyuan Road, Changning District 長寧区愚園路1039號

• Price: RMB 300 per person approximately

This is a classic Shanghai dish: pork belly cooked in brown sauce until it gets sweet and caramelized. The brown sauce is made from sugar, Shaoxing sauce, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. It is often served with eggs that have been boiled hard. The meat will fall apart when you eat it. Our suggestion below has been a favourite of both locals and tourists for a long time, and we promise you will find the most authentic Hong Shao Rou in all of Shanghai.

​

• Chinese: 红烧肉 hóngshāo ròu /hongshaow roh/ 'red-cooked meat'

• Recommended restaurant: Old Jesse Restaurant 老吉士酒家

• Address: 41 Tianping Road 天平路41号

• Price: RMB 270 per person

Pan-fried pork buns have been eaten in Shanghai for more than 100 years. They are a type of fried dim sum. The dough is fried in a wok and sprayed with water several times while it is cooking. The bottom of this bun, which is fried, tastes great. A hot-fried pan-fried bun is best when it is still warm. The bottom is golden and crispy, while the rest is white and soft. The best part is the filling, which is fresh meat with sesame or scallion. Fried shengjianbao is a popular snack in Shanghai because of its beautiful colour, crispy skin, soft meat, and beautiful look.

​

• Chinese: 生煎包 shēngjiānbāo /shnng-jyen-baow/ 'raw-fried bun'

• Recommended restaurant: Xiao Yang Shen Jian 小杨生煎

• Address: 1601 Nanjing West Road/ 南京西路1601号

• Price: RMB 60-100 per person

You guessed right. This popular dish in Shanghai is a soup called Jiya Xuetang which is made mostly of solidified blood. In fact, the blood looks more like dark red tofu and doesn't taste much like anything. The broth is a clear, light, or slightly salty chicken broth to which spring onions have been added to give it a nice flavour. Overall, this traditional snack from Shanghai is pretty tasty. Don't be frightened. If the idea doesn't gross you out too much at first, you might like it. This dish comes from Nanjing, but Shanghai has changed it to make it its own.

​

• Chinese: 鸡鸭血汤 jī yā xuè tāng /jee yaa sshwhere tung/ 'chicken duck blood soup'

• Recommended restaurant: Zhouli Laoya Fensi 妯娌老鸭粉丝

• Address: 379 Xietu Road 斜土路2379号

• Price: under RMB 50-60 per person