After living in Shanghai for nearly 10 years and working in the food and beverage industry most of that time (visiting more than 1,000 bars, restaurant, hotels, and other venues), I can confidently say this is one of the city's top curated food and beverage lists of the best restaurants and bars Shanghai has to offer. 

And because no one's got time these days to sift through a wordy, long-form article to find the necessary details, I've boiled down the cream of the crop into an easily digestible list, with must-order suggestions. From local eats to fine dining, from smashable cocktails to crafted libations, this tried-and-true lineup has got you covered for all your Shanghai foodie-focused travel needs.

Restaurants (Western)

Bambino

Scarpetta

Cages

1. Yaya’s: Italian Chinese fusion, casual/everyday vibes, trendy and fun
2. Polux: Damn good French bistro fare, outdoor patio and in Xintiandi (touristy but cute)
3. Scarpetta: Delicious  pasta, pizza, and pan-Italian fare
4. Coquille: Sister restaurant to Scarpetta, all about seafood with French undertones and a “treat yourself vibe” with good value for what you spend
5. Ting: Set menu omakase style “pastry cuisine." It's all about using creative pastry techniques in savory ways, one of my favorite new openings in the last year
6. 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana: 2 Michelin star Italian on the Bund, splurge-worthy
7. Bottega: Some of the best Napoli style pizza outside of Naples, super reasonable prices, always a fun vibe
8. Goodman: Awesome smash burgers, trendy and they do parties sometimes at night
9. Parlay: Bomb American BBQ
10. Babar: Trendy French wine bar
11. ZUP: Super popular spot for thin crust and upside Sicilian pizza plus yummy casual Italian bites, fun atmosphere, central location
12. Bambino: Comfort Italian food that tastes like nonna cooking
13. Juke: Modern wine bar
14. Merchants: Trendy “third culture cuisine," mixing Chinese ingredients and Western techniques, great food and cute cafe during the day and great wine list
15. Suzie’s: French style wine bar with great food
16. Tacolicious: Casual tex-mex, fun vibes especially on weekends since they have a nice patio, quesadilla is epic
17. Cages: American sports bar
18. Shanking Li is a complex in the Jing’an neighborhood with a lot of Western restaurants and bars and on weekends, lots of people sit outside on the patios everywhere and it's quite social
19. French Concession: This area has lots of cute shops, boutiques and restaurants. The main area to walk around in is along Anfu Road and Wuyuan Road where it intersects with Wulumuqi Road

Craving pizza? Here is a list of Shanghai's best pizza spots, and here is a global guide to pizza and where to try it in Shanghai. 

Craving sandwiches? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best sandwiches.

Craving pasta? Here  and here are guides to Shanghai's best pasta. 

Craving American BBQ? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best American BBQ.

Craving tacos? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best tacos.

Craving steak? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best steakhouses.

Craving egg porn? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best yolk porn.

Looking for a patio or terrace to soak up some sun? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best terraces.

Restaurants (Asian)

Bastard

Sage

1. High Yaki the Sea: Japanese influenced seafood restaurants, creative dishes
2. Bastard: Modern Chinese, trendy, fun twists on ramen at lunchtime
3. Sage: Set menu, Asian fusion, famous chef who used to work at Tai’an table, really popular, book ahead
4. WULI: Casual Korean in a cute space
5. Narisawa: Michelin Japanese food

Craving ramen? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best ramen.

Craving izakaya fare? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best izakayas.

Craving sushi? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best sushi.

Craving Japanese food? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best Japanese food in Gubei.

Craving Thai food? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best Thai food.

Craving Korean BBQ? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best Korean BBQ.

Craving Asian noodles? Here is a guide to noodles from around Asia and where to try them in Shanghai.

Restaurants (Chinese)

Fu He Hui

Cila

1. Cila: Western Chinese food with Western cuisine (spicy, lots of lamb and cumin dishes and amazing biang biang noodles)
2. Maolago: Really good Guizhou style sour tomato fish hotpot with local Guizhou produce flown in regularly
3. 焱格格云南雪菌老火锅 (Yan Ge Ge):  Fully vegan hotpot with the most epic spread of mushrooms and seasonal produce. It’s a set price of 230RMB per person for all you can eat but there’s so much, and the broths are epic.
4. Fu He Hui: Vegetarian only Chinese “fine dining” that really zeros in on Chinese produce
5. 味香斋 (Wei Xiang Zhai): A Shanghai institution for sesame paste slathered noodles and wontons, always busy, super cheap
6. 曼曼汤包 (Man Man Tang Bao): Currently my favorite spot for xiaolongbao soup dumplings, hole in the wall but very authentic
7. 麟笼坊 (Ling Long Fang ) and 佳家汤包 (Jia Jia Tangbao): Sister restaurants and serving xiaolongbao soup dumplings forever
8. 黄阿姨锅贴大王 (Ayi Huang Guotie Dawang): Super local spot for potstickers and shengjianbao (which is soup dumplings but with a breadier outside rather than a noodle outside, and crispy bottoms)
9. Jiangbing: There are jianbing stands every morning in most neighborhoods, so depending on where you stay I can find on near you. They are super cheap Chinese “breakfast burritos” of sorts with a crispy crepe outside 

Craving dumplings? Here is a guide to China's dumplings and where to find them in Shanghai. Here is a guide to global dumplings and where to find them in Shanghai. And here is a guide to the wildest xiaolongbao in Shanghai. 

Craving bing? Here is a guide to Shanghai's bing and where to find them. 

Craving scallion oil noodles? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best scallion oil noodles.

Craving local noodes? Here are some great options: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

Craving contemporary Chinese? Here is a guide to contemporary Chinese cuisine in Shanghai.

Craving Xinjiang food? Here is a guide to where to eat the best Xinjiang food in Shanghai.

Craving salted egg yolk treats? Here is a guide to where to eat salted egg yolk creations in Shanghai.

Cocktail Bars

Union Trading Co

Pony Up

Gallow's Humor

1. Sober Company: A Shanghai instituion, this Shingo Gokan bar is split across four spaces: Sober Kissa (a coffee and tea cocktails-focused lounge); Sober Izakaya (sushi bar with paired tipples); Sober Sakaba (second floor bistro with 10 classics with a twist); and Tipsy (a hidden speakeasy)
2. Union Trading Co: A neighborhood watering hole with some of the most inventive drinks around
3. Odd Couple: Late night industry people haunt with a great playlist
4. Pony Up: Well-executed, creative drinks and fantastic bar snacks. Pro tip: order the chocolate chip cookie
5. Dreamsicle: Just down the street from Pony Up with a bit more party vibe
6. Bar Blanc: A bar focused on restrained simplicity; straightforward and smashable sippers
7. Coa: A temple to the agave gods spread across four floors with drinks becoming more serious (and higher ABV) as imbibers ascend (sister bar to the top-rated Hong Kong bar in Asia for three years running).
8. Penicillin: A zero-waste, closed loop Hong Kong transplant featuring all manner of sustainable "mad scientist" cocktails.
9. Paal: Cantonese cuisine-inspired, intimate creative cocktail lab
10. Gallow’s Humor: Craft cocktails meet dungeon rave energy through hypnotic techno, psychedelic lighting, and consciousness-expanding flavors
11. Triple Neck: A Dune inspired bar split across three stories with different menus on each floor
12. Bar S-Otto: Shanghai's first basement speakeasy with a lucky eight classics and eight signatures.
13. Boo’s: Riffs on classics and experimental bevvies in a kitchen/living room homey setup
14. Bar Rock: Tibetan themed bar with ingredients like highland barley, foraged sea buckthorn, cili fruit, tsampa, and yak butter, all to the backdrop of Tibetan monastic décor, ethnic-meets-electronic beats, and folk culture motifs
15. Full House by Bar Choice: An homage to the serene beauty of Hangzhou’s West Lake in design aesthetic, menu concept, and calming atmosphere, where all drinks feature Longjing tea
16. Pop Corner: Out-of-the-box drams in a house setup with Taiwanese snacks
17. Funkadeli: This is less about the drinks (just casual drinks), but its always busy with expats. The neighborhood it's in is always bustling, especially at night and on weekends.

Want even more cocktails? Here are my favorite bars that opened in 2025.

Craving wine. Here and here are guides to Shanghai's best wine bars.

Cafés

TonTon

Sloppy Gin

FOTY

1. Egg: One of the OG spots for Australian style cafe fare
2. TonTon: Great pastries, always busy
3. Sloppy Gin: My favorite donuts and pastries in the city, more for takeaway
4. Alimentari: This is a chain and some of the locations are more focused on casual Italian food and some are more of a cafe vibe with more pastries and coffee, really solid and bang for your buck
5. FOTY: The poster child for kouign-amann
6. BasdBan: Popular for pastries, trendy vibe
7. Crave: Cute cafe with good pastries and solid lunch options and a good patio
8. Moofin: Good pastries and breakfast sandwiches
9. Shanghailander: Asian fusion pastries

Got a sweet tooth? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best pastries, Shanghai's best donuts, Shanghai's best ice cream sandwiches, Shanghai's best kouign-amann, Shanghai's best lemon desserts, and Shanghai's best tiramisu. 

Craving matcha? Here is a guide to Shanghai's best matcha treats.

Navigate Shanghai Like a Local: Top Tips

1. Download WeChat: all of China life (and essentially the whole internet in China) runs through WeChat. This is a MUST.
2. You can hook up your international credit card to Alipay so that you can pay for anything in China that way. China doesn't use cash nor does it really use credit cards (most places won't have a way to swipe a card easily), so it's best to hook up your card to Alipay, which is used here  similar to Apple Pay in the rest of the world.
3. Download Didi. This the most common ride-hailing app, similar to Uber. It's cheap to use; for example,  an hour cab ride from the airport will cost about 22 euros/$24USD using Didi.
4. Download a VPN BEFORE you arrive in China. All internet outside of China (Google, Googlemaps, Instagram, Gacebook, Gmail, etc. will only work on your phone and laptop if you have a VPN installed ahead of time. You won't be able to easily download it in China.) I use a VPN called Veee+ but Astrill is another option. Furthermore, if you purchase an eSIM in advance, for example from Trip.com, and install the eSIM prior to arriving in China, you shouldn't need a separate VPN.
5. Download Dianping. This is like Yelp/Google Reviews but on hyperdrive as it's used by every Chinese person for reviews of everything. The app is in Chinese, but it is the most updated way to find any restaurant, bar, hotel, destination. For most Western places in Shanghai, you can type in the name of the place in English and still find it. There’s a map function within the app that is more accurate and updated than Google (a lot of Google locations for things in China aren’t the most accurate since Google isn’t used in China), so it's good for being able to find where places are.
6. If you have a VPN on your phone ahead of time, you can always use Google Translate to help translate anything from Chinese into English.
7. China is very safe. You don't need to worry about walking around at night as a woman, you can leave your stuff on a table while you go to the bathroom, and no one will steal it. Of course, it's good to be mindful when traveling, but personal safety is, luckily, not a major concern in China.
8. Want to balance out some of this consumption with health and wellness? Here's A Health & Wellness Guide to Shanghai.

Visiting Hong Kong? Here's a similar guide to Hong Kong's best restaurants and bars.

Visiting Shanghai? Here's a similar guide to Shanghai's best restaurants and bars.

Visiting Phnom Penh? Here's a similar guide to Phnom Penh's best restaurants and bars.

Visiting Macau? Here's a similar guide to Macau's best restaurants and bars.

Visiting Taipei? Here's a similar guide to Taipei's best restaurants and bars.

Visiting Shenzhen? Here's a  guide to Shenzhen's top 5 must visit destinations.

Visiting Bangkok? Here's a similar guide to Bangkok's best restaurants and bars.