Shanghai snack streets

Shanghai cuisine features a range of snacks and pastries which can be found along certain food streets. Although delicious small street vendors may not always be the most hygienic places to eat. To avoid food poisoning watch the locals and go to the places that are popular. Also sit-down places are safer than street vendors and it's generally a good idea to avoid seafood at very small restaurants.

1. The City God Temple Snack Street

Located in the oldest quarters of Shanghai this snack street is near to Yuyuan Gardens and the Temple of the City God. It's also close to the Bund and an ideal place to eat within a busy sightseeing schedule.

The street deserves to be called 'Shanghai Snack Kingdom'. It is the largest and most long-standing snack street in the city featuring the most famous restaurants and eateries in Shanghai. In accordance with the architectural style of the nearby ancient Yuyuan Garden, restaurants in the Old Town Snack Street are all constructed following a style of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In addition, a snack plaza of thousands of square meters is included. You can find almost all the Shanghai snacks here, including authentic Xiaolong buns, Crab-Yellow Pastries, Fried Stuffed Buns, Chop Rice Cakes, Vegetable Stuffed Buns, and Cream Spiced Beans. Various snacks from other areas in China are also available.

Recommended Restaurants:

Shanghai Classical Hotel

Location: No.242, Fuyou Road, Huangpu District

Specialties: Authentic Shanghai Benbang cuisines.

Lu Bo Lang

Location: No. 131, Yuyuan Road, Huangpu District

Specialties: Shanghai Haipai cuisines and snacks.

Shanghai De Xing Guan

Location: No.18, Bailing Road, Huangpu District

Specialties: Shanghai Benbang cuisines; various kinds of nutritious and restorative soup.

Chunfeng Songyue Vegetarian Restaurant

Location: No.23, Bailing Road, Huangpu District

Specialties: Vegetable Stuffed Bun and various vegetarian cuisines.

Nanxiang Mantou Restaurant

Location: No. 85, Yuyuan Road, Huangpu District

Specialties: Nanxiang Steamed Stuffed Bun.

2. Old Stone Gate

3. Wujiang Road

Wujiang Road is the most popular snack street in Shanghai. Located in the southeast of Jing'an District it's very near Nanjing Road West metro station so it's a good place to go for a snack whilst shopping nearby.

Many old restaurants along this road are famous for authentic and delicious Shanghai snacks. Usually inexpensive they're popular with the locals and tourists. Recently some Western style restaurants and fashion stores have also opened here.

Recommended Restaurants:

Yang's Fry Dumpling

Location: No. 54 and No. 60, Wujiang Road, Jing'an District

Specialties: It boasts the most delicious Fried Stuffed Buns (Shengjian) in Shanghai.

Oriental Express Eatery

Location: No. 42, Wujiang Road, Jing'an District

Specialties: Meat Ball.

Sweeties

Location: No. 73 and No. 82, Wujiang Road, Jing'an District

Specialties: Sweeties of Hong Kong style.

Wuyue Renjia

Location: No. 200, Wujiang Road, Jing'an District

Specialties: noodles; cuisines of southern China.

Jin Shifu Won Ton Restaurant

Location: No. 102, Wujiang Road, Jing'an District

Berry Garden

Not only is variety the spice of life, it is also soul of Berry Garden. This restaurant is more than a simple dining locale; it is also a bakery and breakfast nook, offering fine pastries on the first floor, a bar on the second level and a cafe, with continental fare and a pleasing garden view, on the third floor.

Though the ambiance and friendly staff were both delightful, the dishes were hit or miss. We thoroughly enjoy the roasted salmon with caponata and torreya nut, and were wowed by the tangy tomato sauce and the tender, well-seasoned fish. In contrast, the dry, bland beef stroganoff disappointed.

Such a non-descript rice dish is out of place among the menu's other culinary treats.

Open: Daily 8am-11:00pm.

Location: 346 Hongfeng Road, by Biyun Road

Tel: 021-33821170

Supreme Thai

Mall restaurants often struggle with cookie-cutter spatial limitations and functional, if uninspiring, design. That said, Supreme Thai attempts to overcome these challenges with modern elements such as simple white tables and red privacy curtains.

In any case, the straightforward ambiance kept our attention focused on the menu. We enjoyed the fresh pomelo salad and a satisfactory green curry with chicken, which made up with freshness what it lacked in spice. The highlight of the meal was the minced pork with basil. Indeed, it seems the kitchen excels in delivering localized versions of Thai favorites.

Open: Daily 11am-2pm; 5-10pm.

Location: Infiniti Mall, 3/F, Room 303-304, 138 Huaihai Zhong Lu, by Longmen Lu

Tel: 021-63756694

Gui Hua Lou

With Chinese cuisine offering a plethora of styles to choose from, it can often be a tough proposition figuring out which region's fare to devour when dining out. Gui Hua Lou, the Pudong Shangri-La's Chinese dining outlet, makes the decision easier by serving Cantonese, Sichuan and, with a new chef on board, more Huaiyang dishes.

Huaiyang cuisine originates from Yangzhou and can be traced back to about 300 BC.

It is derived from the cooking styles of the region surrounding the lower reaches of the Huai and Yangtze rivers.

Bodies of water are important in propagating cuisine, and often a journey along such waterways reveals how such components are derived.

Another important factor in the development of food is royal patrons. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), founding Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang designated the style as the official imperial court kitchen in the then capital, Nanjing. When the capital was moved to Beijing by the third Ming Emperor Yongle, Huaiyang food and its chefs were taken up north as well.

Huaiyang's status as an imperial cuisine also suggests the origins of its focus on meticulous presentation.

Knife work, for example, is highly-prized, and many Huaiyang chefs are known to be able to slice delicate shapes out of everyday ingredients.

Some are also know to be able to slice noodles while blindfolded.

Huaiyang cuisine is often confused as being indicative of the entire Jiangsu Province's fare. While there are stylistic similarities between the various components, there are enough differences within the area to occupy separate categories.

Gui Hua Lou has brought many of these dishes to the forefront, starting with the variations on duck.

A popular choice is the fragrant chrysanthemum duck, while the salty water marinated option is just as good.

Another tasty appetizer is the lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice in osmathus caramel. The sweet apricot aroma gives a different flavor to the hardy root while retaining its intricate texture.

Huaiyang fare often involves meat with soft textures, yet not to the point where it falls off the bone. The stewed spare ribs in a sweet red Orange Brush sauce were in this vein, the meat peeling apart easily and delivering gravy onto the taste buds.

The meat was also rubbed with cloves, imparting it with a fragrant herbaceousness.

Chinese cooking is known for its health regulating properties, and some dishes are consumed for their functions other than filling the stomach. The hot and sour soup was a godsend in this cold weather, heating up the belly and warming the body from there. Not too spicy, it had just the right kick to get the spirits up.

Catches from the river are standard fare around these parts and shrimps are especially prized. The fried river shrimps were typically tiny, with each spoonful yielding ten or more of these little crustaceans into the mouth.

The quality of Gui Hua Low's ingredients was better than most local restaurants, and the lightly-fried way of cooking highlighted the freshness and crunchiness of the shrimp.

Most local diners are used to the ubiquitous xiaolongbao, but the Hauiyang version, known as the tangbao is a variation on this theme. This was much sweeter than the local favorite, and was already packed with ginger. As the skins were quite thick, it also served as a staple as opposed to the snack most are used to.

Address: 33 Fucheng Road

Tel: 021-6882-8888