Meilleure Cuisine de Shanghai

A delicate feat of culinary physics: incredibly thin pleated dough wrappers encasing finely minced pork and scalding, rich liquid broth.

The rugged, street-level cousin of the Xiaolongbao. A thick, yeast-leavened bun packed with soup, steamed on top and aggressively fried on the bottom.

Perfectly layered blocks of pork belly slow-braised to a translucent, melt-in-the-mouth mahogany texture in a heavily reduced, sticky sweet sauce.

A masterclass in culinary minimalism: springy wheat noodles tossed in a deep, smoky oil infused with slowly dehydrated, blackened scallions.

An incredibly rich, golden gravy of labor-intensive freshwater 'Hairy Crab' meat and buttery roe poured over plain noodles.