Shanghai Food

Chinese Food Map › Shanghai Food

Shanghai Food (上海美食) includes the city's dishes, breakfast and street foods, noodles, seasonal ingredients, preserved foods, drinks, and food crafts. Benbang cuisine (本帮菜) is the Shanghai-style cuisine within this broader food culture. The term is associated with local Jiangnan cooking and a sweet-savory balance often described as “thick oil, red sauce” (浓油赤酱); Shanghai's everyday food also reflects its surrounding region and the city's long history of migration and trade.

Shanghai Food by District and Food Area

The groupings below point to food traditions and documented specialties associated with localities; they are not exclusive origins. Shanghai has 16 districts, from the historic urban core to coastal, river, and island communities.

• Huangpu and the old city: Old City God Temple and surrounding streets are associated with snack shops, sweets, pastries, and long-established local restaurants. Recorded specialties include Nanxiang xiaolong, pear syrup candy (梨膏糖), osmanthus cakes, radish-pastry puffs, and traditional dim sum. Shanghai Classical Restaurant is also associated with the inheritance of local cooking techniques.
• Jiading — Nanxiang: Nanxiang is closely associated with xiaolongbao (小笼包), also called Nanxiang xiaolong mantou (南翔小笼馒头). The steamed dumplings are served with a thin wrapper and hot savory filling; local sources record the specialty as a long-established Shanghai snack.
• Central neighborhoods: Breakfast counters and neighborhood shops sell shengjianbao, scallion oil noodles, wontons, soy milk, and baked or fried wheat snacks. These foods are eaten across the city rather than belonging to one district.
• Jinshan and Fengjing: Local food references include Fengjing Dingti (枫泾丁蹄), a braised pork hock specialty, Shanghai traditional huangjiu production, and pickled vegetables associated with local food craft.
• Chongming and the outer districts: Outer districts and island communities are also represented in municipal food events, which feature village markets, local ingredients, and heritage foods in places such as Chongming, Jinshan, and Songjiang.

Benbang Cuisine (Shanghai-Style Cuisine)

Benbang cuisine is one branch of Shanghai Food. It draws on Jiangnan ingredients and cooking, with local restaurant traditions that favor fresh seasonal produce, soy-seasoned braising, and a gently sweet-savory profile. Recipes differ between households and restaurants; the listed dishes are representative examples rather than a fixed menu.

• Hong shao rou (红烧肉) — pork belly slowly braised with soy sauce and sugar until tender and glossy.
• Yanduxian (腌笃鲜) — a spring soup combining fresh and cured pork with bamboo shoots.
• Babaoya (八宝鸭, eight-treasure duck) — duck filled with sticky rice and other ingredients, served as a banquet dish.
• Xunyu (熏鱼, Shanghai-style smoked fish) — fish pieces seasoned and cooked, then coated with a sweet-savory sauce; versions vary.
• Baizhanji (白斩鸡, sliced cold chicken) and zui ji (醉鸡, drunken chicken) — chilled poultry dishes served with a dipping sauce or wine-seasoned marinade.
• Kaofu (烤麸) — wheat-gluten pieces braised with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and peanuts; often served cold as a Shanghai-style appetizer.
• Seasonal and banquet dishes include crab meat with tofu, braised pork ribs, braised fish, and vegetable dishes prepared with local greens.

Breakfast, Street Food and Snacks

Shanghai breakfast shops serve a mix of griddled, steamed, fried, and filled foods. The “Four Heavenly Kings” (四大金刚) are dabing (大饼), youtiao (油条), cifantuan (粢饭团), and doujiang (豆浆); shops commonly pair them in different combinations.

• Shengjianbao (生煎包) — yeast-raised pork buns pan-fried in a covered shallow pan, with browned bases and a juicy filling.
• Xiaolongbao (小笼包) — small steamed soup dumplings; Nanxiang is a well-known local style.
• Cifantuan (粢饭团) — glutinous rice rolled around fillings such as youtiao, pickled vegetables, pork floss, or egg.
• Wonton (馄饨) — pork or pork-and-shrimp dumplings served in broth or, in summer, chilled with sauce.
• Dabing and youtiao — griddled flatbread and fried dough, eaten with soy milk or wrapped together.
• Cong you bing (葱油饼, scallion pancake), fried pork chop (炸猪排), and spring onion pancakes sold by neighborhood snack shops.
• Qingtuan (青团) — green glutinous-rice cakes associated with the Qingming season; fillings include sweet bean paste and savory mixtures.
• Tanggao (糖糕), pear syrup candy, osmanthus cake, radish pastry, and other pastries from bakeries and old-city snack shops.

Noodles, Rice and Wheat Foods

• Scallion oil noodles (葱油拌面, cong you ban mian) — wheat noodles tossed with scallion-infused oil and soy-based seasoning; a familiar Shanghai home-style dish.
• Shanghai cold noodles (冷面) — cooked noodles cooled and served with sesame or peanut sauce and assorted toppings in summer.
• Nian gao (年糕) — rice cakes stir-fried with pork, vegetables, or crab; sweet preparations are also eaten around festivals.
• Cifantuan and ci fan gao (粢饭糕) — filled glutinous-rice rolls and pan-fried rice cakes.
• Ba bao fan (八宝饭) — sticky rice with sweet bean paste, nuts, and preserved fruit, served as a festive dessert.
• Shaomai (烧卖), steamed buns, baked sesame breads, and wontons are other common breakfast and snack foods.

Seafood, Seasonal Foods and Ingredients

Shanghai food draws on the region's rice, vegetables, freshwater fish, river shrimp, crab, pork, poultry, and wheat foods. Seasonal dishes often appear for limited periods, and restaurant preparations vary.

• Spring: yanduxian with bamboo shoots; qingtuan around Qingming.
• Summer: cold noodles, chilled wontons, soy milk, mung bean soup, and chilled sweet soups.
• Autumn: hairy crab and crab-meat dishes; seasonal river fish and shellfish.
• Winter and festival tables: preserved vegetables, cured meats, rice cakes, eight-treasure duck, and eight-treasure rice.
• Shanghai pantry ingredients: light and dark soy sauce, Shaoxing-style cooking wine, sugar, scallions, ginger, sesame oil, fermented rice wine, and pickled vegetables. Seasoning choices vary by dish.

Tea, Drinks and Alcohol

• Doujiang (豆浆, soy milk) — a common breakfast drink, served sweet or unsweetened.
• Jiuniang (酒酿) — lightly fermented glutinous rice, served as a dessert or with sweet soups.
• Green bean soup (绿豆汤), sour plum drink (酸梅汤), and red-bean fermented-rice drinks are served cold in warm weather.
• Tea is served in teahouses and restaurants; tea choices reflect Shanghai's wider Jiangnan and port-city connections rather than a single local tea-growing tradition.
• Huangjiu (黄酒) — rice wine used for cooking and drinking. Shanghai's traditional huangjiu brewing is listed as intangible cultural heritage; Jinshan and Fengjing are among the associated local areas.
• Beer, spirits, and imported wines are also widely consumed in Shanghai. They belong to the city's broader dining and commercial culture, not exclusively to Benbang cuisine.

Food Craft, Techniques and Heritage

• Red-braising (红烧): soy-based braising with sugar develops color, a glossy sauce, and a sweet-savory flavor in dishes such as hong shao rou.
• Pan-frying (生煎): buns are browned in oil, steamed under a lid, and finished until the base is crisp.
• Xiaolongbao making: skilled shaping and steaming keep the wrapper thin while holding the hot filling inside.
• Traditional local cuisine cooking: Shanghai Classical Restaurant is identified by the municipal government as a bearer of traditional Shanghai local-cuisine cooking techniques.
• Fermentation and preservation: huangjiu brewing and the preparation of pickled vegetables, fermented rice, and wine-marinated foods are part of Shanghai's food craft traditions.

Food Brands and Long-Established Shops

Shanghai's food shops span restaurants, pastry makers, snack counters, condiment makers, and beverage producers. The municipal government publishes an official Shanghai time-honored brand list; individual products and ownership can change, so the list below is a selection of documented food names rather than a complete register.

• Nanxiang Mantou Dian (南翔馒头店) — known for Nanxiang-style xiaolongbao.
• Wang Jia Sha (王家沙) and Shen Dacheng (沈大成) — pastry and dim sum names associated with Shanghai snacks and seasonal cakes.
• Shao Wan Sheng (邵万生) — associated with wine-marinated foods and local preserved-food traditions.
• Shanghai Classical Restaurant (上海老饭店) — associated with traditional Benbang dishes and local cooking techniques.
• Jinfeng (金枫) — Shanghai huangjiu producer linked to traditional brewing craft in Jinshan.
• Guanshengyuan (冠生园), Shanghai Meilin (上海梅林), and Yutang (玉棠) — Shanghai food and pantry brands appearing in municipal food and heritage materials.

See Also

• Shanghai-style cuisine (this page)
• Xiaolongbao, Shengjianbao, Cifantuan, Hong Shao Rou, Qingtuan, Scallion Oil Noodles, Drunk Chicken, Drunk Crab, Drunk Shrimp, Kaofu, Ba Bao Fan, Stir-fried Nian Gao, Osmanthus Cake, Braised Pork Ribs in Soy Sauce
• Nearby regional food pages: Jiangsu Food, Zhejiang Food
• Chinese Snack
• Chinese Food Map