The restaurant industry in Shanghai is a fierce battleground, where eateries rise and fall in the blink of an eye. Today, you might have to wait five hours to get a table at this place, but two months later, it could be yesterday’s news, like the first Popeyes on Huaihai Road. I saw it build a mansion high, I saw it host a swanky do, I saw its mansion go kaboom.
But there is a stabilizing force in Shanghai’s culinary world, and that is the old restaurants in Shanghai that have been around for ages. These are the places where people are willing to die for a bite, literally.
Unlike the old restaurants in Hangzhou, which are gradually fading away (some even disgracefully, but I won’t name names), the old restaurants in Shanghai are still shining bright after a decade or more. Guan Ming Cun on Huaihai Road is the best proof of that, even on a stormy day with thunder and lightning, you can still see aunties and uncles lining up under their umbrellas.
Last week, I ate at several of the best old restaurants in Shanghai, and my daily routine was just waiting and eating. In these restaurants, I experienced the exquisite charm of Shanghai’s local cuisine and culture, which was totally different from the trendy spots on Wukang Road. The aunties and uncles who eat at old restaurants have a sense of ritual and respect.
In this article, I will introduce you to seven old restaurants that offer dine-in service, some of which date back to the Qing Dynasty. Many of them are snack shops, friendly for solo diners, but even better for group gatherings. They are the kind of places that won’t let you down, and will also impress your guests!
Table of Contents
Guang Ming Cun Restaurant: The Ultimate “Thick Oil Red Sauce” Experience
Serving Since: 1956
Cost: Around ¥30+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Soy sauce duck, crispy eel shreds, fried shrimp
Chinese name: 光明邨大酒家
You can’t get a seat here without lining up. Their meat mooncakes are unbeatable in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, and they make Guang Ming Cun the most popular spot in town.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is long gone, but people are still buying mooncakes like crazy. I see aunties and uncles walking away with several boxes each. I had them before in a mooncake review, and they were amazing, with thin crusts and generous fillings, and still dripping with juice when they arrived. You can also get some cooked food and pastries from the shop next door.
Inside Guang Ming Cun, there’s another line for the dine-in service, stretching from the second floor to the first. It’s mostly older folks eating here, and a lot of them are on their own.
They have partitions between the tables, so it’s not too bad for privacy, even though it’s loud and busy. It feels like a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant.
The essence of Shanghai local cuisine is 浓油赤酱 (thick oil red sauce), which refers to the Shanghai-style cooking that is heavy on oil, soy sauce, and sugar, giving the dishes a dark red or brown color plus a sweet and savory explosion in your mouth.
Their soy sauce duck is the perfect example of thick oil red sauce. It’s a cold dish, but it doesn’t smell fishy at all. The meat is tender and sweet. The only downside is that there’s not enough sauce, and the duck meat gets a bit bitter at the end without it.
Another classic Shanghai dish with thick oil red sauce is crispy eel shreds, which is just eel with some garlic oil on top. It’s smooth and tender, and very refreshing, with a peppery kick.
The only thing I regretted ordering was the crab roe pan-fried bun, which had no crab flavor whatsoever, and barely any juice. The meat inside was too gingery. The only redeeming quality was the crispy bottom.
Guang Ming Cun has a third floor, with a different menu from the second floor, and more fancy dishes. You should make a reservation in advance, and it’s great for parties or impressing your friends.
De Xing Guan: The Irresistible Meat Dumplings
Serving Since: 1878
Cost: Around 45+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Braised trotters, meat dumplings, Dexing fried fish
Chinese name: 德兴馆
De Xing Guan is a bona fide old Shanghai restaurant, founded in the 4th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (1878) of Qing Dynasty, and it is the oldest local restaurant in Shanghai.
The ordering method of the old restaurant is also very old-fashioned, you pay first.
The order taker I met at the branch on East Jinling Road was an auntie with half-white hair, but still very energetic. She asked me if I wanted regular or diet coke, and she was very attentive to the details.
After paying, I found a seat and sat down, and a waiter came to take my ticket and serve the dishes. The small wooden clips on the table were really nostalgic.
The signature meat dumplings were steamed on the spot. I’m not exaggerating, they were so good that they made it to my top 3 list of dumplings, and I don’t know why they are not on the rankings of various dumpling shops in Shanghai.
The correct way to eat dumplings is to use a spoon, and you can add some vinegar, and bite into them to get a mouthful of juice. The meat was pink, and the texture was a bit like sticky rice, and slightly sweet.
Shanghainese love spicy sauce noodles, but they are not really spicy, but rather mildly spicy and sweet. The noodles themselves are not very fancy, they are all fine Suzhou-style noodles, and the main thing is the topping.
De Xing Guan’s trotter spicy sauce noodles, the trotters were braised so tender that they fell apart when you picked them up, the meat was marinated and salty, and it melted in your mouth, even the fatty parts were not greasy.
I also splurged on a 50-yuan serving of crab roe dumplings, which averaged 10 yuan each, very luxurious.
But unfortunately, it was a bust. Although the soup was slightly yellow, the meat filling tasted basically the same as the meat dumplings, the crab flavor was not rich, and I had to taste very carefully to get a hint of it.
Fuchun Xiaolong: A Delightful Taste of Shanghai’s Local Life
Serving Since: 1995
Cost: Around ¥30+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Meat dumplings, crab roe dumplings, fried pork chop
Chinese name: 富春小笼
Some people might think that Hangzhou is the king of dumplings, because they have opened dumpling shops all over the world. But that’s not true.
In Shanghai, dumplings have always been a classic signature of old restaurants. Nanxiang Steamed Buns, Lailai Dumplings, Wanshouzhai, Youyicun… Every Shanghainese probably has a favorite hidden gem, and Fuchun Xiaolong is definitely one of them.
The TV drama My Best Friend’s Story filmed here, and the restaurant has a Shanghai-style atmosphere, with customers who are well dressed old gentlemen with slicked-back hair.
This place is very friendly for solo diners, but the queue is very long. I came at 11 o’clock, and there were so many people, I had to wait for a seat, and the waiter only came to take my order and serve the dishes after I sat down. I stood there for a whole 30 minutes.
The fried pork chop was very fragrant when it came, and the meat was very firm, and the outside was crispy, and the sauce was sweet.
The meat dumplings were less sweet than those of De Xing Guan, and the meat flavor was more prominent, and the juice was equally excellent, and it was a burst of flavor when I bit into it.
The crab roe dumplings were even more impressive, much more generous than those of De Xing Guan, and the crab flavor was very strong, and it was buttery, but I did find some crab shells.
Fuchun Xiaolong is located on Yuyuan Road, which is a very beautiful plane tree-lined street. Next to it, there are also Fuchun Buns and Fuchun Coffee, where you can spend a relaxing afternoon.
UPDATE: Sadly, by the time I updated this article, I found out that this old restaurant had already shut down. I hope it will reopen soon, so more people can taste its delicious food.
Da Hu Chun: The Dumplings That Don’t Need to Be Juicy to Be Good!
👉 Opened in 💰 About 20+ per person 🌟
Serving Since: 1932
Cost: Around ¥20+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Meat dumplings
Chinese name: 大壶春
Xiaoyang Dumplings made people think that dumplings had to be juicy to be good, but that’s not the case at all.
In Shanghai, dumplings have always been a staple of old restaurants. Nanxiang Steamed Buns, Lailai Dumplings, Wanshouzhai, Youyicun… Every Shanghainese has their own favorite spot, and Da Hu Chun is definitely one of them.
Da Hu Chun is the original Shanghai dumpling joint, and unlike other old restaurants in Shanghai, it only sells dumplings and soup, nothing else. So the restaurant is pretty small.
The Shanghai uncle ahead of me ordered 16 dumplings at once, and I was blown away. The dumplings are not small, and I don’t have a big appetite, so four of them would be more than enough for me.
Da Hu Chun’s meat dumplings are the most traditional ones, with very little soup, and the meat inside is fresh and a bit sweet. The bottom is nice and crispy. With their special sauce, it’s a classic and tasty combo.
Da Hu Chun is on South Yunnan Road, which is the famous old restaurant street. Sadly, it’s going to be torn down soon, and the buildings around are empty, which adds a touch of nostalgia to my old restaurant tour.
Besides the “Xian De Lai” and “Xiao Shao Xing” that I’ll mention later, there are also old restaurants that sell pastries, like “Shen Da Cheng”, and “Xiao Jinling” that sells Nanjing salted duck.
Xian De Lai: A Sweet Treat for Your Taste Buds!
Serving Since: 1921
Cost: Around ¥30+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Soy sauce duck, crispy eel shreds, fried shrimp
Chinese name: 鲜得来排骨年糕
Xian De Lai is much bigger than Da Hu Chun, and it has a second floor. The order taker at the door was a Shanghai auntie who spoke Mandarin with a Shanghai accent, which made me feel very warm. I came at 1:30 pm, and there were few seats left on the first floor, and it was very popular.
The signature dish was the rice cake with pork ribs, which were actually pork chops, fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, coated with a sweet and sour sauce, and every bite was sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, and definitely high in sugar. The rice cake was not very sticky, but rather chewy, and had a strong rice flavor.
If you don’t like sweet food, you probably won’t enjoy this dish.
The noodles were very special, they had “kaiyang” (a product made from salted and dried shrimps), which enhanced the overall umami taste.
The noodles were fine Suzhou-style noodles, mixed with lard, and very delicious.
Xian De Lai had a full English menu on the table, which showed its cosmopolitanism.
I noticed a strange phenomenon when I ate at several old restaurants, they basically didn’t provide straws, but they did provide plastic cups.
Xiao Shao Xing: The Chicken of Your Dreams
Serving Since: 1940
Cost: Around ¥45+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Poached chicken, chicken porridge, pork blood soup
Chinese name: 小绍兴
When I was little, poached chicken was a must-have dish for our family’s New Year’s Eve dinner. It was cooked in the simplest way, but it had a stunning smooth and tender texture. Poached chicken was definitely my “chicken crush”.
Xiao Shao Xing’s poached chicken was brushed with sesame oil when they took it out, which made the pale yellow skin look more shiny and oily. The chicken meat was super tender and juicy, and the sesame oil aroma gave it a soulful flavor.
With a dip of their special soy sauce, I could eat two more bowls of rice.
The chicken porridge had a soy sauce and chicken broth taste, the rice was firm and thick, and it was very filling.
The pork blood soup had a lot of ingredients, besides pig blood, there were also egg shreds, and various chicken organs. It looked greasy but it was not bad, the soup base was chicken broth.
Xiao Shao Xing also had a very retro old-fashioned red bean shaved ice, with a hundred percent old-fashioned taste, and they also drizzled some osmanthus on top, it was very refreshing and simple in the summer.
Yu Xing Ji: Craving Crab in the Fall? Look No Further!
Serving Since: Qing Dynasty
Cost: Around ¥100+ per person
Specialty Dishes: Crab roe noodles
Chinese name: 裕兴记
Fall is a short season in Shanghai, but it still has its traditions, and eating crab is one of them.
Yu Xing Ji is a century-old crab restaurant from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and its specialty is crab roe noodles.
A bowl of noodles will set you back 128 yuan, and it comes with the crab meat and crab roe from six crabs. You’re not just paying for the crabs, but also for the labor of scooping out the crab roe.
They serve the crab roe and noodles separately, and you have to mix the noodles while they’re hot (so they don’t clump together), and then pour the crab roe over them, and it’s a generous serving.
But I was let down by the taste. Maybe it’s not the best time of the year yet, but the crab roe on top of the noodles was really fishy, and I had to use vinegar to mask it. The noodles themselves were nothing to write home about, just plain Suzhou-style thin noodles.
I even think that Yu Xing Ji’s crab noodles are worse than the ramen collaboration crab noodles that my friend tried before, which were much more moist and easier to eat. (Read more: I spent a lot of money to buy Michelin & Black Pearl restaurant food online, did I lose money?)
If you come with a friend, I suggest sharing a bowl of noodles and ordering some other snacks, otherwise it would be too much. The two-person set meal on the platform is also a good deal.
Wrapping Up
In addition to these old restaurants where you can sit down and eat, Shanghai has a lot of old pastry shops, like “Shanghai No.1 Food Store”, “Ruby”, “Xing Hua Lou” and more, that you can’t go wrong with.
Trendy places may come and go, but the old brands are here to stay. They have been around for decades or even centuries, because they have the taste that wins people over, and the prices that are fair and honest. If you’re in Shanghai, you should definitely give these old brands a try! Do you know any other hidden gems of old restaurants in Shanghai? Share them with us in the comments!
