Shanghai food recommendations for one person?

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I am going to be by myself in Shanghai for two days, during a weekend. What would be some of the recommendations that you will give to a solo traveler? I can manage some Mandarin, though I don’t speak Shanghainese, and I am quite familiar with Shanghai-nese food as well, and in fact eat a few dishes every week, so please guide me not for the novelty but for the quality.

I don’t mind high end for one person either, so long they don’t mind that I take up a table. Though I don’t know the local ‘rules’. But obviously I can’t eat that much or with a lot of variety just by myself. I don’t mind eating low end either, so long its great in what they do.

I don’t mind eating early either to avoid the crowds, since I will be quite jetlagged having just arrived.

Where would you guide me to get good version of the following?

I think hairy crab season is beginning, so that’d be nice.

I’d love to eat, even multiple times, the river shrimp dish.

Yangmei season is here. The last time I was in Shanghai I was still a kid. Do I just get them from markets?

I eat sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pork belly, scallion oil noodles quite regularly so I don’t necessarily need to eat these while I am there, unless someone knows of versions that would blow my mind.

I love, love, love drunken chicken, and would love to try the best renditions in Shanghai.

Where are good places to buy good huadiao?

I also would love to try a good, contemporary version of smoked fish, since its hard to get that dish, made with proper fish, in the States.

I have never had a version of lion’s head that I really like. Long time ago I had a version at Tasting Court in Hong Kong. They are obviously not Shanghai-nese. Its supposed to be a relatively fancy version but still didn’t find it too special. I also had a rendition from a Shanghai local who knows how to cook, now and then and felt the same. Perhaps someone can enlighten me if I haven’t seen a good rendition yet.

XLB / SJB would be a good choice so long I don’t have to eat 10 of them by myself.

Glutinous rice cake- any recommendations?

What else is worth eating, considering I have limited stomach space in two days, and where should I eat them? Not very interested in cuisines from other provinces, unless, again, its mindblowing. I will be in Suzhou and Hangzhou later so I will save specialties from those area when I get there.

What’s a good place to get food related souvenirs? Especially good dragon well tea? I probably can’t afford not do I need the superb Before Ming leaves, but certainly don’t mind lesser Before Ming or Before Rain.

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Used to travel there for business a lot, but it’s been a long time since I was last in Shanghai, my personal recs would be outdated. Here are some recent ones per the Michelin Guide Shanghai 2025:

140 restaurants are listed in their online guide:

Fu 1088, YongFoo Elite and Fu 1039 - all 1-Michelin-starred, date back about two decades each, so they must be doing something right. Each one holds fond memories for me - they serve really, really good Shanghainese cuisine in wonderfully salubrious surroundings. Classy, but never too loud nor over-opulent as luxe Shanghainese restaurants can be. I’d go back to each of them at the drop of a hat if I’m ever in Shanghai again.

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Only saw this thread now… maybe it’s too late already?

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Just came back yesterday. I did have a very good meal at 甬府小鲜. Its certainly not designed for one person, especially for Saturday lunch. But I got around it by showing up early. That 18 cut (十八斩) crab dish was quite something.

I tried to grab a late lunch at 荣小馆, but they have a numbering system that one has to show up early to grab a number. So no luck there.

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I would have just told you to go grab XLB and shengjianbao to your heart’s content, because that’s what I would do alone in Shanghai. The other options for solo fine dining would probably be Fu 1015 or Fu He Hui wit single-portion tasting menus.

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I did grab XLB and SJB for breakfast a number of times. Jia Jia, Lai Lai, Xiao Yang. I just thought I wouldn’t do Jiangnan cuisine justice if I just ate XLB/ SJB because its so much broader.

And ate some Shen DaCheng for today’s breakfast, back home.

I think the biggest impediment to me getting into good restaurants is not having a working phone line to call them and inquire about availability. I still haven’t figured out how people make reservations besides calling. I did want to go to Fu*, but ended up didn’t because I couldn’t call and didn’t have sightseeing planned in the neighborhood.

The second impediment is during peak hours they just don’t have tables for single diner. Didn’t get into Cheng Long Hang for example.

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I got it in multiple forms- raw, male cooked, already integrated into dishes, etc. I think raw is the way to go.

Available everywhere, including sold to tourists by street vendors.

Ended up getting some Gu Yue Long Shan 20 years. There were 30 years, but I didn’t get them. If one is willing to pay for storage costs at the distillery, even older versions are available.

I think I had it two or three times, and all of them were good to very good. Obviously I had been eating Lion’s head in the wrong places before.

I ate 12 XLBs for my last breakfast before the flight so its not that big of a deal. I am a bigger glutton than I thought.

Eating through Shanghainese, Zhejiang and Suzhou specialties, I ended up gravitating to Zhejiang food much more.

I am a sucker for good teas so while I didn’t get the first first first pick of Before Ming, I got some very nearly first first first pick of Before Ming, mostly from a wholesale vendor with a retail storefront, and some from a tea place at Long Jing village. I think I got a total of 8-10 cans of this stuff, with some waiting to be given away as gifts.

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Sounds like you ate well!

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Lion’s Head is like a porky matzoh ball. It can be great eating, but I’d say it’s a question of synergy and combining it with other tastes.

I do have a cherished meal at a place called Nanjing Bistro near where I live in Virginia, and I go crazy for the combination of lion’s head, cabbage with fermented shrimp, and tofu with 1,000 year egg draped with a pungent chili sauce.

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I wonder if other provinces like to re-interpret the Lion’s Head dish for the local palates. because I think Shanghai people don’t really much use some of these ingredients.

Does the joint chop the meat real good?

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The folks of Nanjing Bistro really are from Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, which is next door to Shanghai, and the cuisine would be pretty close to Shanghainese. Of course, that doesn’t mean that everything they serve is correct for Nanjing

The Lions Head is large but light. Yes. it is fine like a really big matzoh ball. It makes for very easy eating, and the flavor is delicate.