A good place for when the thought of another egg fried rice is just too much to bear. All day breakfasts, giant burgers, even shepherd’s pie, City Diner has a good selection of simple, stodgy western food. Portions are generous (a main course is 45 RMB- 70 RMB) especially the Seeing Double Burger, and its right in the middle of all the nightlife Jingan has to offer, so it is only a quick waddle to the nearest bar. It’s open 24 hours and boasts a Happy Hour on drinks that lasts half a day, 6PM-6AM, almost American levels of convenience, shame about consistently bad service.

At hot pot restaurants the food comes raw and which you then cook yourself by shoving it in a pot of broth heated on your table. There’s a bit of extra labour for dinner and any responsibility for food poisoning is your own. The flavours come from the different stock and wide variety of sauces for dipping. The Dollar Shop is one of the finer restaurants of this type in Shanghai marked out by its great location and the view, well worth it for around 100 RMB per head. Right opposite Jingan Temple on the floor of the Hotel most of the tables look out over one of Shanghai’s most glamorous districts. Hot pot dinners usually take about twice as long as a normal meal so there’s plenty of time to take it all in.

 
The Dolar Shop serves a vast selection of additional flavours at the sauce bar as well as individual mini hot pots. Normal practice is everyone sits round a large vat of broth and fishes out whatever’s been thrown in. At the Dolar Shop each diner can choose their own stock and control what goes in it. In short the Dolar Shop is hot pot done with a bit of style.

 
*A word of warning, all food comes raw so make sure you cook it thoroughly, especially the prawns which at most places will come live in a bowl with a plate on top to stop them escaping. They can jump surprisingly far when faced with a bowl of boiling broth.

Many Chinese are very patriotic but, unsurprisingly in a country the size of Europe, regional differences and loyalties are also marked. The most obvious differences being in language and cuisine. Every region has it’s own dialect and if not it’s own style of cooking then at least a few specialities. Shanghainese the language is unintelligible even to other Chinese, but thanks to Yang’s Kitchen the cuisine is much more accessible. Shanghainese is characterised by it’s greater use of soy sauce and sugar so is generally sweeter than other regional cuisines.

A large menu with English translations has a decent rendition of Shanghai’s speciality Xiao long bao. English menus can be a double edged sword, of course it’s more convenient, even experienced Chinese learners can struggle to master the huge variety of dishes on offer. But sometimes seeing the translations of what is on offer is enough to ruin an appetite. Yang’s Kitchen has all the old favourites, Braised Pig’s feet (28RMB) and Stewed Shark’s Lip and Crab Meat (118RMB).  Even if you’re not that adventurous there’s still plenty of tasty and reasonably priced alternatives although portions are on the small side.

 Yang’s Kitchen has a great location just set back from Hengshan Road, a fun neighbourhood with plenty of bars, and is an inexpensive way to get an authentic taste of Shanghai.

Everything in Xintiandi comes at a price, but Ye Shanghai Restaurant is one of the few that matches up to the price tag. A good dinner in  a typical Chinese restaurant is always accompanied with a terrible din, voluble toasts and compulsory speeches, not to mention the smoke and the carnage of over-ordering piled high on the table. Ye Shanghai is an altogether more sophisticated dining experience. It is modern (mostly) Shanghainese cuisine in a smart, tasteful setting. 

Of the cold dishes the potpourri of eighteen vegetables (38RMB) was fresh and crisp, a great counter balance to the rich and meaty stir-fried bamboo shoots (108RMB). If Beijing is not on your itinerary then be sure to try roast duck (180RMB) at Ye Shanghai. The noodles with spring onions, sun-dried shrimp and soy (20RMB/bowl) were also flavoursome without being too oily. An altogether more reasonable lunch time Hong Kong style dim sum menu is also available for 98RMB/person. A booking is essential at weekends, and don’t be late, they will only hold your table for 15 minutes.