Shanghai eats in layers: benbang cuisine's soy-and-rock-sugar braises, Ningbo and Suzhou imports, and a street-snack canon of scallion pancakes and pan-fried buns. Three days of markets, old kitchens and late bars, away from the tour-bus counters.
Xuhui's covered market: live river eel and hairy crab tanks, sheets of tofu skin, forty kinds of pickled vegetable. Stalls open 06:00, and the cooked-food counters sell cong you bing and rice-flour gao until they run out around 10:00.
A thirty-seat benbang canteen running since the 1980s: hongshao rou braised four hours in soy and rock sugar, smoked fish, drunken chicken and oil-braised bamboo shoots. No English menu, no bookings — the queue starts on the pavement at 11:30.
A 1956 institution with two queues: one inside for roast meats and cold dishes at the deli counter, one snaking down the pavement for xianrou yuebing — flaky fresh-pork mooncakes baked in batches through the afternoon.
A 300m lane behind People's Square where Xiao Shaoxing has served white-cut chicken with chicken-fat congee since 1943 and Da Hu Chun fries thick-skinned shengjianbao. Most kitchens shut by 21:00; the crayfish stalls run later.
Shengjianbao the Shanghai way: pork-and-aspic buns packed into a cast-iron pan, lidded to steam, then crisped to a lacquered brown base and scattered with sesame and spring onion. Eaten standing at the window counter.
The oldest benbang kitchen in the city, opened 1862 and largely credited with codifying the style: eight-treasure duck, oil-braised bamboo shoots, and you bao shan — river eel flash-fried in hot oil with garlic and white pepper.
A three-floor 1930s lane house stocking Chinese greens, aged pu'er and French blends, sold in blue Mao-era tins. The upstairs room pours a proper gongfu service with several infusions; open 10:00–19:00 daily.
Twelve tables cooking the benbang canon at full intensity: cong kao da pai, scallion-smothered braised pork ribs, and a crab-roe tofu that arrives orange with oil. Book two to three weeks out — walk-ins are turned away nightly.
The old city's surviving snack street, a few blocks south of the bazaar crowds: charcoal-grilled squid, tang zong zi, pai gu nian gao — fried pork chop with griddled sticky-rice cake — and cong you bing stalls firing from 07:00.
A 1930s noodle house known for exactly one bowl: ma jiang mian, alkaline noodles tossed in thick sesame paste with soy and chilli oil, about ¥18. Add braised beef on the side or a bowl of curried beef soup.
A 1926 food hall over four floors: dried scallops and abalone sold by weight, White Rabbit milk sweets, pork-floss buns, and a counter turning out warm butter-and-lard hai tang gao. Open 09:30–22:00.
Ocho's bar-tool shop hides a four-floor speakeasy behind a shelf of bitters — push the bookcase and climb to the second bar for Shanghai-tea-infused rye and shochu builds. Doors at 18:00, cocktails ¥110-160.