Classic Shanghai Favorites

Shanghai Classical Hotel(上海老饭店)

Located at 242 Fuyou Road, you can get here on bus lines 930, 920, and 11. Get off at the Henan Zhonglu stop and walk along the Bund until you arrive at the Shanghai Classical Hotel; telephone: 021-63552275 and 63282782. Hours of operation: 10 am to 10 pm; website: www.laofandian.com

Established in 1875, the Shanghai Clas-sical Hotel was originally named Rongshun Guan. It was, and still is, a prosperous vendor of Shanghai cuisine, and is well known for its meticulous selection of ingredients and authentic flavors.

Recommendations: oil fried river shrimp; eight treasures duck; the three delicacies of ham, bamboo shoots, and chicken breast; eight treasures hot sauce, spiced salt ribs, blast fried croaker fish, and bamboo shoots with stewed eel pudding. Expect to pay about 100 RMB per person.

Lao Zheng Xing Restaurant(老正兴菜馆)

Located at 556 Fuzhou Lu; to get there, take the subway and get off at the People's Square or Henan Zhonglu stations; telephone: 021-63222624; website: www. laozhengxing-sh.com

Founded in 1862, Lao Zheng Xing serves traditional Shanghai fare.

Recommendations: oil fried river shrimp, spiced salt spare ribs, yellow croaker braised in soy sauce, sturgeon braised in soy sauce, stir fried eel, phoenix tail steamed dumplings, and scallion pancakes. Expect to pay 100 RMB per person.

Mei Long Zhen Jiujia(梅龙镇酒家)

Located at lane 1081, 22 Nanjing Xilu (near Jiangning Lu); telephone: 021-62566688 and 62535353; hours of operation: 11am-2pm and 5pm-10pm.

Mei Long Zhen was established in 1938 and serves traditional Shanghai and Huai-yang cuisine. From the food to the decor, older Shanghai residents claim that this res-taurant has remained unchanged since the 1930's.

Recommendations: stir-fried shelled prawns, prawns with pepper sauce, Yangzhou-style shredded bean curd, crystal prawns, stewed pork meatballs, pancakes and twice cooked pork. Expect to pay 100 RMB per person.

Laobanzhai Restaurant (老半斋酒楼)

Located at 600 Fuzhou Lu (near Zhejiang Zhonglu); to get there take the subway to the People's Square station; telephone: 021-85654123; 6am-2pm (Laobanzhai will not take orders past 2pm), and 5pm to 8:30 pm (no orders past 8:30).

This restaurant serves Huaiyang cuisine. Established in 1905, this is Shanghais first Huaiyang style restaurant. The cooking here is simple, but the chefs are particular about selecting ingredients, and their slicing, carv-ing, and chopping skills are unparalleled, and carefully control the cooking tempera-ture. Laobanzhai's food is famously authentic with moderately sweet and salty flavors.

Recommendations: crystal salt cured pork, banzhai salt-cured chicken, stewed crab meat balls, winter vegetables and slow-cooked noodles, fried fish strips and cooked in chicken sauce, and special black rice cake. Expect to pay 20 RMB to 50 RMB per person.