What's the food culture in Shanghai?

Shanghai's native cuisine, Benbang cai, runs sweeter and darker than Cantonese or Sichuan cooking. The base flavor relies on soy sauce reduced with rock sugar and Shaoxing wine, a technique that coats everything from pork belly to river eel in a sticky, almost caramelized glaze. Breakfast happens early, between 6 and 7:30am, at neighborhood congee shops and noodle counters across Huangpu and Jing'an. Lunch is the main production, 11am to 1pm, when office workers pack into rice-and-two-dish sets (kuai can) for 25-40 CNY ($3.70-5.90). Dinner starts by 5:30pm. By Shanghai standards, 8:30pm is late. The French Concession and Jing'an stretch that to 10pm, but traditional Benbang restaurants on Fangbang Lu and around Yu Garden close their kitchens by 8. If you eat on a Western European schedule, you will eat alone.

Shanghai's dumpling question splits into two camps. Xiaolongbao, the soup-filled steamed dumplings, are best at Jia Jia Tang Bao on Huanghe Lu, a 10-minute walk from People's Square. A basket of 12 pork-and-crab xiaolongbao costs 38 CNY ($5.60). The wrapper is thin enough to see the broth through it. Bite a small hole, sip the soup, then eat. Burn your lip once and you will remember. Shengjianbao, the pan-fried cousin, have a thicker skin with a sesame-and-scallion crust on the bottom that crackles when you bite through. Yang's Dumplings (Xiao Yang Sheng Jian) has branches across the city, but the Wujiang Lu original still draws the longest line. Four shengjianbao cost 12 CNY ($1.80). Get the plain pork. The crab version at chain locations tends to taste like seasoning, not actual crab.

Benbang cai's best dishes need time, not heat. Hong shao rou, red-braised pork belly cooked 2-3 hours in soy, Shaoxing wine, and sugar, should fall apart when your chopsticks touch it. Jesse Restaurant on Tianping Lu in the former French Concession has served a version since 1999 that still pulls a 40-minute wait at 6pm on weekends. A portion costs about 88 CNY ($13). Smoked fish (xun yu) is cold, sweet, and firm, served as a starter at most Benbang restaurants for 20-30 CNY. The flavor is closer to teriyaki than to actual smoke. For hairy crab, the restaurants near Yu Garden sell steamed pairs from mid-October through December, 180-400 CNY ($27-59) depending on size. The roe is the point. Crack the shell, scrape the orange paste, dip it in Zhenjiang black vinegar with julienned ginger. Locals consider hairy crab season the best eating of the year.

Street food in Shanghai is cleaner and more regulated than in most Chinese cities. Municipal hygiene scores posted on every shop window run A, B, or C. Stick to A-rated stalls. Yunnan Nan Lu, a 5-minute walk south of People's Square, has vendors selling scallion-oil noodles (cong you ban mian) for 12 CNY ($1.80). The noodles come out glossy and slightly sweet from caramelized shallots. Qibao Ancient Town, 30 minutes out on Metro Line 9, runs a waterside food street with stinky tofu (chou doufu), lamb skewers, and tangyuan for 5-15 CNY per item. The stinky tofu smells exactly as bad as you have heard. The taste is mild, fermented, crispy on the outside. For a structured first exposure to Shanghai dining, Diningcity Shanghai Restaurant Week runs in September and March, when 200-plus restaurants offer set menus at 98-298 CNY ($14.50-44) with bilingual menus.

Menus outside the French Concession and Jing'an rarely have English. WeChat's camera translator handles most Mandarin menus well enough to order from. At stalls across Huangpu, pointing at what you want works fine. For sit-down restaurants, Dianping (the red app, China's answer to Yelp) shows photos of every dish with prices. Screenshot what you want before you arrive. Reservations at places like Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (10 seats, 4,000 CNY/$590 per person) or Fu He Hui on Yuyuan Lu go through WeChat only. International credit cards work at high-end restaurants but fail at nearly every casual noodle shop and street stall. Link a foreign card to Alipay before you land. For eating outside the central districts, Hongkou's Zhoushan Lu still has old Shanghainese noodle shops that predate the 2010 Expo redevelopment. The flavors run less sweet, heavier on lard. A bowl of yangchun mian there costs 8 CNY ($1.20), made with lard broth, soy sauce, and chopped scallion over thin wheat noodles.