7 Best Restaurants in Xintiandi and City Center, Shanghai

The scent of butter and brine waft from the kitchen of this lovely French restaurant, the brainchild of Californian banker-turned-restaurateur John Liu and set in a refurbished space that was previously his mother's Vietnamese restaurant. While seated in a brasserie chair at a marble- or wood-topped table, you can tuck into platters of seafood and slurp French onion soup; while seated at the bar, you can watch the frenetic concocting of cocktails.

The soup dumplings here are arguably the best in town; once the kitchen runs out of them, the restaurant closes for the day. It's a proper local hole-in-the-wall, with orange plastic chairs and grimy tabletops and floors, but eating here is an authentic, delicious, not-to-be-missed experience.

Locals love the spicy Sichuan food at this restaurant inside an office building (take the escalators or elevator to the third floor). Book ahead, or be prepared to wait 30 to 60 minutes for a table.