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Tapas Bar
Flamenco music, candles, tapas...how the heck did this place end up on Maoming Rd? This is the only venue on the block good for a date, unless your sole intention was for both of you to get smashed. It offers 54 different types of tapas, as well as a decent wine list. Sister establishment Las Tapas, in Hóngqiáo, has outdoor seating and a rather more salubrious vibe (6465 8345; House 33, Lane 3338, Hongmei Lu Entertainment Street).
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Thai Thai
For a cheap meal in the Superbrand Mall, Thai Thai is a step above the rest of the fast-food court restaurants. Dishes such as tom kah gai (coconut, lemongrass and chicken soup) and green curry may be small but are served with rice and carry enough chilli and lemongrass to bring back memories of sweaty meals in Thailand.
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Va Bene
Xīntiāndì's northern end is packed with top-end eateries; this one puts the emphasis on basil and olive oil. The interior has an opera-set feel with lots of terracottas, yellows and browns, and there's nice conservatory seating. The set lunch is more manageable than the à la carte menu, where most mains are in the around Y150 to around Y300 range (but the tasty pizzas are Y138 ). Reserve in the evening.
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Vedas
Shanghai's best Indian restaurant presents classic northern Indian cuisine, with a smattering of vegetarian dishes from south India, in a soothing atmosphere. You can sample one of the decent cocktails in the separate bar area before heading into the main dining room for your rogan josh or korma. As with all Indian restaurants on the mainland, it would be nice if the curries had a bit more bite but the flavours are spot on.
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Vegetarian Lifestyle
These folks are surely improving their karma by making organic, vegetarian fare fashionable for the masses. There's a wide range of clever dishes, including soup served in a pumpkin, but best are the sweet Wuxi spareribs, stuffed with lotus root of course, and the hotpots. No MSG is used and cooks go light on the oil. It's nonsmoking too. Other branches in Old Town and near Carrefour in Gǔběi.
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Wáng Bǎohé Jiǔjiā
Over 250 years old, this restaurant is a Shanghai institution and so a stop on the tour-group circuit. Famous for its extravagant selection of crab dishes, it also offers its own special Shàoxīng-style wine. The place is crammed during hairy-crab season between October and December. There's now an English menu, but it's not cheap and it's wise to reserve. The all-crabs-must-die set menus (around Y300 to around Y880 ) are the best options.
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Wúyuè Rénjiā
Hidden in a side-street basement off East Nanjing Rd, this cool little place serves great bowls of Suzhou noodles in an old-style teahouse. Choose between tāng (soupy) or gān (dry) noodles; in either case the flavouring comes on a side plate. The excellent xiābào shànbēi miàn comes with shrimp and fried eels. English picture menu.
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Xian Yue Hien
The Ding Xiang Garden, originally built for the concubine of a Qing dynasty mandarin, is now reserved for retired Communist Party cadres, so you'll have to eat at this serene restaurant if you want a peek. Sample classic Shanghainese and Cantonese dishes such as lion's head meatballs. The seafood dishes can get very expensive; the real draw is the dim sum, served overlooking the lawn on mornings and afternoons. Picture menu.
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Xiǎo Nán Guó
Despite the impressive and spacious dining room in the elegant grounds surrounding the Ruijin Guest House, this is one of Shanghai's more affordable chains. First-rate dishes include pork trotters braised for six hours, the crab claypot with glass noodles, deep-fried snake and the usual run of Shanghainese dumplings. It's a good place for group meals. English menu
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Xìnghuā Lóu
This old-school dinosaur has been pumping out quality Cantonese dishes and dim sum since the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (r 1851-61). There is something for everyone here, with a bakery selling steamed buns, a ground-floor canteen serving oily hot-and-sour soup and Cantonese dim sum (like shāomài - meat-filled pockets of noodle dough), and an upper-floor restaurant offering reasonably priced Cantonese food. Ask for the English menu.
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Xinjiang Fengwei Restaurant
A visit to the Fengwai, the best of Shanghai's many Xīnjiāng restaurants, is both a rewarding culinary experience and fun. When the music and dancing get going later in the evening, you could be in Kashgar rather than suburban Shanghai. Make sure you get some yángròuchuàn (lamb pieces on a skewer) and the very tasty nang (bread). There's an English menu, and the waiters, who are Uighurs, prefer Uighur or English to Mandarin.
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Xīnyǎ Àocàiguǎn
It's refreshing to see a Shanghai restaurant that has avoided the temptation to go all chic and minimalist. Xīnyǎ (Sunya in Cantonese) is a huge restaurant, dating from 1927, now adjoining the Ramada Plaza. The 2nd floor serves dim sum during the day, while other floors dish up à la carte Cantonese cuisine. Try the roasted crispy duck and the dependable beef in oyster sauce, or go for the stewed snake in a secret recipe. English menu.
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Yang's Kitchen
For solid, reasonably priced Chinese food in a pleasant setting, Yang's is a good choice, even if the dishes lack a little character. The níngmēngmì jiānruǎnjī (lemon chicken) is decent though, as is chicken with asparagus. It's down a small lane just off Hengshan Rd and next door to Le Garcon Chinoise; there's a sign pointing the way on Hengshan Rd. Arrive early enough and you might catch the wait staff limbering up for the night with hula hoops.
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Ye Olde Station Restaurant
With crisp linen and a sharp colonial façade, this restaurant serves meals infinitely classier than most alternative fare around Xújiāhuì. You can spend a lot here, but the stewed chicken with chestnut and the house special smoked duck with a flavour of tea are reasonable. Despite the name, it actually used to be the St Ignatius Convent (there's a chapel upstairs). Reserve.
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Yè Shanghai
Yè offers sophisticated if slightly unchallenging Shanghainese cuisine in classy surroundings, which makes it a favourite with visitors. The drunken chicken and smoked fish starters are excellent, ditto the eggplant with minced pork; the crispy duck comes with good thick pancakes. On the spacious 2nd floor a pianist tinkles the ivories, while the entire downstairs area is a smoke-free zone, a rarity in Shanghai. There's an extensive wine list.
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Yīn
A throwback to the 1930s, Yīn emanates soft, jazzy decadence with its hardwood flooring, antique hanging screens, qípáo -clad waitresses and Ella Fitzgerald on the stereo. But they're as much visionaries as they are traditionalists. The kitchen has adopted older cooking techniques - back from the days before MSG - and prepares standout regional dishes from across China, including the superbly named 'squid lost in a sandstorm'. English menu.
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Zen
One of a number of good places located in the swish Plaza 66 shopping mall, Zen is arched around the horseshoe-end of the 5th floor, giving some tables a great night-time view of the Shanghai Exhibition Hall. The menu has lots of choice and prices are reasonable - dishes even come in half or full servings. Favourites include the sautéed chicken with ginger and spring onion in clam sauce and the baked chicken in rock salt. English menu. Reserve.
