Shanghai Family — Restaurant in London

This is the BEST Shanghainese restaurant in UK surely. My grandparents were from Shanghai Putong, and I am used to traditional and authentic Shanghainese food since birth. I would rate the food, especially the flavours 10 out of 10, and all the dishes were unique and authentic, and it's proper Shanghainese food.

I am glad I phoned the restaurant about bringing our small dog with us. The restaurant is not listed as dog friendly, but the person on the phone and the owner/manageress said it was OK, but they had to seat us by the window, in case other diners have allergy to dog. That's very good news and it's totally at the restaurant discretion, and we truly thank them for allowing this and appreciated their arrangement.

On our visit today, all staff were friendly and professional. We had a great dinning experience. Xie Xie Nong (Thankyou in Shanghainese)

Initial impression of the menu, there are lots of choices, and prices are at the higher end. After tasting all the dishes, the higher price is justified and acceptable indeed.

The Xiao Long Bao were pipping hot, the pastry is thin and perfect, the pork fillings were tasty and tender and full of soup, simply the BEST I have had in the UK, and it's as good as some of the BEST ones I had in Hong Kong or China.

The Shanghainese noodles, look very plain and dull, and just with green pak choi. BUT it tasted epic, that rich soy sauce flavour is perfectly applied, the texture just feels right and just like what I would call Shanghainese Noodles. I was amazed how good it tasted, again it's the BEST I have had in the UK.

Now the Pan fried pork bun, shallow fry in oil, the pastry is just so good, soft on the top and crispy on the bottom, the meat fillings is perfectly seasoned, cooked and juicy. This is also a must try on your visit.

Other dishes were just as good too and everything got eaten and enjoyed greatly.

Can't wait to visit again and we are 2.5 hours away, but we will...

We were treated to dinner here by a friend and thankfully so, after seeing the prices! Though I'm told they are average central London prices, now I remember why I don't get out much! I was glad my friend was on hand to guide us through the menu, being vegan and also because it required a bit of back and forth, the starters were all the way on page 8 for instance, which we only realised, when it was the first thing to arrive. Cold! It was the marinated Bran Dough with Black Fungus, a choice we had made in spite of its name, based solely on our friends recommendation. Once in your mouth, the shock of its temperature (or lack of) rapidly gives way to the best hug your mouth has ever had, texture and flavour in perfect harmony. A revelation. It got better. We ordered 3 other dishes, shared, liked the starter: vegetable Siu Mai dumplings, a well crafted and light take on stodge (I took the last piece and hoped no one noticed); Shepherds Purse and winter bamboo shoots, the best named thing on the menu and it didn't disappoint, twas pure nostalgia tripping delicately on the tongue (whatever happened to bamboo shoots?); the Fried Endamame with Aubergine and Pepper, the technicolour virtuoso dish with melt on your tongue Aubergines and random hits of chilli. All of the food tasted so fresh, as if just harvested and which helped the steamed rice taste so much better and easier to swallow, considering the price of rice of the menu!!! After dinner we sat back drinking jasmine tea and admiring the wrap around projections on the wall, the work of 7 projectors mounted on the ceiling. Imagine watching the world cup in that room, on a bellyful of 5 star food (minus 1 for the price of...

Came for lunch (basically right when they open), and service was lovely and efficient. Very popular spot with local Chinese folks. All the customers seem to be Asian, which is often a good sign. This restaurant does not cater to typical white people who want the usual fried rice and chicken balls.

Authentic-tasting Shanghainese food from a truly family-run business, however the quality was not very high and the prices seemed very high for what you get, even in London. Atmosphere was very basic. Prices would imply a classier place. Almost every dish we order was around £20, except the soup.

The crab+pork xiaolong bao had barely any crab. The pork were okay but many did not seem to have much soup at all. The ma lan xiang gan was seriously lacking in tofu. Barely any. I love that dish for the mixture of tofu. If I just wanted greens, I would get a salad. Also, I don't know why there are pine nuts. I'd rather have more tofu than any pine nuts. I was pretty disappointed in it as I was looking forward to that the most.

They are very generous with mushrooms and woodear so if those are your thing, you're in luck!

Soups were also okay. Again, nothing superb but pleasant enough and there seem like very few places to get them in London so we must take what we can. I don't know anywhere else that does ma lan tou at all!

Overall, it was an okay place. I would come back to get a fix if I'm in the area but not sure if I'll make a special trip just for it, especially since it seemed quite expensive. It would have got 4 stars if not for the prices. But if you need...