There are eight major cuisines of China, and Shanghai food constitutes one of them. Dishes in Shanghai restaurants are typically blends of the other styles of cooking, with special sauces and cooking methods making the Shanghai dishes a bit different. The chefs in Shanghai also borrow the best aspects of foreign cuisines. Most ex-pats will agree that Shanghai food is not too spicy, not too oily, and not too exotic.To get more news about shanghai cuisine, you can visit shine news official website.

Most ex-pats love Chinese food and probably ate it frequently in their native countries. However, be advised that the Chinese food you grew accustomed to back home is not the same that you will eat in Shanghai. All is different, but delectable: the ingredients, the colors, the sauces, and the total ambiance of eating a large Chinese meal.

Shanghai cuisine is light, healthy, and comes in smaller portions than the cuisine in Beijing, Hubei, Hunan, or Guangdong provinces. It is the result of borrowing cooking styles and ingredients from neighboring provinces, and then refining or changing them slightly into something distinctively Shanghainese. Sometimes this is achieved by adding alcohol to fish, eel, crab, or chicken, which are then cooked or steamed. You will also see preserved vegetables and meat and fish that have been salted in order to add flavor to the dishes.

Sugar is also added to many Shanghai dishes, which are then complemented with soy or other sauces that make it difficult to detect the sugar. A favorite Shanghai food cooked in this style is sweet and sour spare ribs.

Shanghai dishes are often pickled in wine and their cooking methods include baking, stewing, steaming, deep-frying, etc. Condiments are an integral aspect of the meal and an emphasis is placed on accentuating the original flavors of the ingredients. The objective of Shanghai cooking is to offer lightness in flavor and attractive presentation.

Another characteristic is the use of a great variety of seafood. Given its location at the mouth of the Yangtze River and bordering the East China Sea, it is no surprise that both river fish and ocean are used. The famous Shanghai hairy crab is one of the many delicious dishes when it is in season every October and November. Rice is dominantly served over noodles or other wheat products.

When you go to any restaurant advertised as "Shanghai cuisine”, you will probably find the following dishes:

Xia Zi Da WuShen: This is the most famous seafood dish in Shanghai cuisine. Dried sea cucumber is immersed in water to restore its original size and then stewed with oil, yellow wine, soybean sauce, broth, sugar, shallot, starch sauce, and shrimp roe. This dish is nutritious with rich protein and minerals and is said to effectively control cancer.
BaBao LaJiang: It is a dish featuring great flavor and bright color. Bean sauce and chili sauce are blended and stir-fried with shelled shrimps, chicken, chicken stock, pork, pig offal, dried small shrimps, bamboo shoots and various kinds of seasoning. This dish with so many ingredients demonstrates how intricate Shanghai cuisine can be.
YouBao HeXia: If you like seafood, then you will like this plate. Live shrimps are deep-fried and then stir-fried with a special sauce made of yellow wine, soybean sauce, sugar, shallot sauce and ginger sauce. The dish tastes fairly sweet and fresh.
Yan Du Xian: This is a delicious stew. Pork and ham are first steamed and then stewed in a soup with fresh bamboo shoots.
QingChao ShanHu, also known as XiangYou ShanHu: Fresh eels are stir-fried with shredded bamboo shoots, yellow wine, soybean sauce, ginger, sugar and starch sauce. After being put on a plate, chopped shallot is sprinkled on the dish and hot oil is poured onto it. Consequently, Qing Chao Shan Hu crackles when it is served at the table.

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