As an international metropolis and China’s the biggest city, Shanghai is an all-embracing city, including numerous famous dishes from many countries, such as American food, Japanese food, Italian food, Indian food, Korean food and Vietnamese food. Restaurants in Shanghai featuring various kinds of dishes, like Beijing food, Yangzhou food, Sichuan food, Cantonese food, Suzhou food and Hangzhou food. Shanghai food, of course is the highlights among those variety of food.

 

Shanghai dishes are usually characterized by the use of heavy and highly flavored sauce. Sugar is commonly used in Shanghai cuisine, especially when used in combination with soy sauce. Non-natives tend to have difficulty identifying this usage of sugar and are often surprised when told of the "secret ingredient". The most notable dish of this type of cooking is "sweet and sour spare ribs". "Red cooking" is a popular style of stewing meats and vegetables associated with Shanghai.

 

Facing the East China Sea, seafood in Shanghai is very popular. However, due to its location among the rivers, lakes, and canals of the Yangtze Delta, locals favor freshwater products just as much as saltwater products like crabs, oysters, and seaweed. The most notable local delicacy is Shanghai hairy crab.

 

Shanghainese people are known to eat in delicate portions, and hence the servings are usually quite small. For example, notable buns from Shanghai such as the Xiao Long Bao and the Shengjian Mantou are usually about four centimeters in diameter, much smaller than the typical Baozi or Mantou elsewhere.

 

Breakfast
Shanghainese people do not usually spend too much time on having breakfast, so breakfast in Shanghai is pretty simple. Shanghainese are used to grabbing some food in small snack stores or having a bowl of Pao fan (rice in soup or water) at home. The most well-known foods for breakfast are the“Four Heavenly Kings”, which include da bing (Chinese pancake), Youtiao (deep-fried dough stick), Ci fan tuan (steamed sticky rice ball) and soy milk.

 

Yummy local Snacks
Xiao Long Bao
A notable Shanghai delicacy is the Xiao Long Bao, sometimes known as Shanghai Dumplings in English-speaking countries. Xiao Long Bao, or "small steamer bun" is a type of steamed bun that is filled with pork (most commonly found) or minced crab, and soup. They are steamed in bamboo baskets and served with black vinegar and in some places, shredded ginger. A common way of eating the Xiao Long Bao is to bite the top off, suck all the soup, then dipping it in vinegar before eating.

 

Shanghai Fried Plain Bun
Shanghai Fried Plain Bun is another yummy snack with a history of over one hundred years. It is made of semi-fermented flour wrapped with secret filling, a mixture of lean meat, pork skin jelly and cooked chicken breast slices. Thereafter, they will be placed in rows in pan to be fried. During the process of frying, several times of leaching with cold water are needed, and finally the process ends by sprinkling with green onion and sesame seeds. Apart from the delicious soup the bun steamed, crisp bread at the underbody is also very important. The combination of the aroma of meat, scallion, oil and sesame will arouse your appetite most.

 

Palatable Shanghai Dishes
Da Zha Xie
Da Zha Xi, a kind of crab found in the Yangcheng Lake, is normally consumed in the winter (September & October in every year). The crabs are tied with ropes/strings, placed in bamboo containers, steamed and served.

 

Sour and Sweet Spare Ribs
It is a major traditional dish greatly loved by the public. Utilizing the fresh spare ribs as its raw materials, it tastes tender, yummy, fat but not greasy. Sugar which produces the sweet flavor can do good to your spleen and stomach as well as your skin. While, vinegar that produces the sour flavor is beneficial to your liver and gall. Moreover, spare ribs contain abundant protein, body fat, vitamin as well as sufficient calcium phosphate, ossein, osseomucoid etc. Thus the dish sour and sweet spare ribs is very suitable for the elderly and kids to enrich their calcium.

 

Crispy chicken
One of the local favorites in Shanghai is Shanghai crispy chicken. Crispy chicken is made by first boiling the body of a chicken until its flesh is tender and then roasting it for long periods of time or until the skin goes dry and crispy.

Congshao crucian carp
This is rather involved and complex preparation for the common crucian carp. The dish requires long hours for preparation since the fish needs to be soaked in vinegar, and then deep-fried, stewed for a long prolonged period, and cooled to make the fish tender enough to consume together with all its bones. Due to the complexity of its preparation and the difficulty in perfecting it, the dish is was sometimes used by families as a test when recruiting a cook.

Shanghai Featured Restaurants
Chinese Food Restaurants
Lubolang Restaurant
Tel : 8621- 63557509
Address: No. 131 Yuyuan road

Old Shanghai Restaurant
Tel : 021-63111777 63552275
Address: No. 242 Fuyou road Huangpu district

Lao zhengxing Restaurant
Tel 63222624
Add: 556, Fuzhou Road, Shanghai

Meilong Town Restaurant
Tel : 8621 - 2535353 / 2562718
Add: No. 22, 1081nong, West Nanjing Road
Tel: 8621 - 2172796 / 2173567
Add: No. 77, Jiangjing road