Every street food spot we've listed in Shanghai — with the Chinese name you can copy straight into Amap or Didi, and what locals actually order.
Editor's pick
Near On South Yunnan Road food street; easy to miss
Metro Line 8, Dashijie Station, Exit 2, ~500m walk
Shanghai's "dry-style" shengjian bao house — no aspic in the filling, so less soup but a deeply crisp bottom. The local order is 「二两鲜肉生煎」 (100g pork buns) wi...
Read the entry →
Easy first stop
Near In the People's Square / Nanjing Road area; look for the yellow sign
Metro Line 1/2/8, People's Square Station, Exit 8, ~290m walk
The "soup-filled" school — aspic mixed into the pork filling bursts when you bite. First-timers: take a small bite first or you'll wear the soup. Locals pair...
Read the entry →
Since 1921
Near Beside the South Yunnan Road food street, near Dashijie
Metro Line 8, Dashijie Station, Exit 1, ~20m walk
One dish made this shop famous: 排骨年糕 — a fried pork chop on chewy rice cakes, doused in sweet-and-sour sauce. Eat it with a bowl of 单档汤 (tofu- skin and glute...
Read the entry →
Open all hours
Near On Chongqing North Road near Dagu Road
Metro Line 14, Site of the First CPC Congress Station, Exit 4, ~490m walk
A 24-hour 生煎 (pan-fried pork bun) shop. The 特色生煎 has a crisp bottom and a juicy filling; add 开洋葱油拌面 (scallion-oil noodles) for the full old-Shanghai breakfast.
Read the entry →
Pork chop rice cake
Near On Yandang Road near Middle Huaihai Road
Metro Line 1, Site of the First CPC Congress Station, Exit 1, ~320m walk
A no-frills 排骨年糕 (pork chop with rice cakes) shop on Yandang Road. Order the set with 双档汤 (double-ingredient soup) — it is the same old-Shanghai craving as t...
Read the entry →
Shengjian king
Near On Zhejiang Middle Road near Nanjing East Road
Metro Line 1/2/8, People's Square Station, Exit 19, ~650m walk
A 生煎 (pan-fried bun) specialist within walking distance of Nanjing Road but away from the worst crowds. The 鲜肉生煎 is the baseline; the 蟹黄鲜肉生煎 is the richer ve...
Read the entry →
Opens at 5am
Near On Wanhangdu Road near Wuding Road
Metro Line 14, Wuding Road Station, Exit 2, ~470m walk
A neighbourhood 锅贴 (potsticker) shop that opens at 5am for breakfast. The 锅贴 have a crisp browned base; pair them with 咖喱牛肉粉丝汤 (curry beef vermicelli).
Read the entry →
Big buns, cheap
Near B2 of the SML Center, Taikang section
Metro Line 9, Dapuqiao Station, ~300m walk
Known for oversized 大肉包 (pork buns) and 大烧卖 (big shumai) at low prices. A quick, filling snack stop in the SML Center food basement near Dapuqiao.
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
