We enjoyed a lunch aka sweet break at Vienna cafe after a visit to the old China hand reading room on the same street with lots of interesting old books and mags. It's either shaoxing or maoming road.

Another place is sashas in an interesting old house in the French concession. Upstairs was expensive, but downstairs was casual and not too expensive.

Shanghai Restaurants
 

Although the forum is based in Chicago, the following thread has a running commentary on some interesting Shanghai restaurants by some knowledgable foodie types (including my spouse):

LTHForum Shanghai Thread

If you are adventuresome, try a noodle tour (I have no connection to the outfit that runs the tours; just a satisfied customer).

And if you must have Asian/Western fusion, go to:
Goga
岳阳路1号, 近东平路
1 Yueyang Lu, near Dongping Lu
Phone 6431 9700

Or: Madison
上海市徐汇区汾阳路3号2号楼,近淮海中路
3 Fenyang Road, Building 2 (near Huaihai Zhong Road)
(86-21) 6437 0136

Enjoy!

I had the displeasure of eating at Cantina Agave Beijing last summer and It ranked as one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. The food was expensive and just downright dreadful. The Margarita was undrinkable (and believe me, I am not a fussy drinker) and tasted like they had salted the entire drink, not just the rim of the glass.

Peter's Tex Mex is my local place here and always hits the spot both on quality and cost, Would be interesting to see how their Shanghai location compares (Hongmei Lu)

What are your reasons behind disliking M on the Bund moondog? Have visited Capital M on numerous occasions and also found it to be an excellent experience, and surprisingly good value for money.

I guess Blue Frog and Element Fresh are much of a muchness - I would love to do a comparison of their different locations but if we traveled to Shanghai and ate where we do all the time in BJ, my missus would think I'm completely barmy!

Handle Lee is a great person, but his restaurants lack luster.

I'll second that. The restaurant itself is ok, but i had the signature lamb dish there and it was not good.

I am amazed to see no suggestions here for Chinese food other than dim sum. My top restaurants in Beijing (where I have knowledge) would certainly be mostly Chinese.
As a visitor to Shanghai, I would certainly not be looking for a burger place.

Hot Pot King:p

1416 Huaihai Middle Rd, Xuhui, Shanghai, China
+86 21 6473 6380


+1^

I like both Goga and Madison. They are on the expensive side (e.g. about Y600 pp for dinner), but the quality shows.

I looked at the list. Surprisingly, most places mentioned are not Chinese. I want to eat Chinese food for the one month I am in China. I can eat better European and fusion in NYC.

As to Hot Pot King... I love hot pot (oh, the hot pot in Chengdu!) but it is kind of weird to go to a hot pot place alone. (btw, would you put Hot Pot King much above Hai Di Lao?)

I also can't stand going to hot pot solo, even at places which have the single person hot pots. Hot Pot King is honestly pretty good.

Yes, we forum regulars tend to like Western food in Shanghai, in part because our work weeks consist of banquets upon banquets (sea slug is an acquired taste that I have yet to acquire).

You will discover local chinese places when you are there. I think the recommendations here are good for tourists on a short stay (couple days) looking to 'experience shanghai'. Some of the european/other asian restauranrs can provide an experience that doesn't necessarily have to be chinese (which you can still enjoy for lunch for example, but might want to go somewhere a little different for dinner).

bearing in mind too that some very good 'pure chinese' (for want of a better description) restaurants may not cater for those who do not speak chinese.

HDL Arcadia..will check that.

Did enjoy Chou Hot Pot on SGV blvd. The old lady made bin lang there and you could bring in liqour from next door and of course there were ash trays on every table.

Solo hot pot..no
Chengdu hot pot^

Any Chinese/Japanese/Korean style eel dish featuring restaurant recommendations for the hot summer months?

To sort of answer my own question, lunched with a friend who also lived in Japan before at Irodori Japanese Restaurant at Huahai Zhong Lu recently.

Very nicely executed Japanese "homely dishes": my grilled mackerel set was fresh and tasty and my friends katsudon the best he has had in China. Most other lunch customers were actually Japanese officer workers from the area.

Seems to be a Singaporean operation: http://www.irodorijapaneserestaurant.com.sg/Index.aspx