Da Hu Chun

Da Hu Chun has been making shengjian, Shanghai's pan-fried pork buns, since 1932, and its shop at 136 Middle Sichuan Road, a few streets back from the Bund, is listed as a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide Shanghai. It is a small, inexpensive place, and the city's food guide includes it among the essential addresses for shengjian.

Shengjian began in Suzhou in the early 1910s and reached Shanghai by the 1920s, when the buns were sold in tea houses and the hot-water shops known as tiger stoves. Locals still order them by the liang, a unit that means four buns. There are two schools. The hunshui, or soupy, style uses semi-leavened dough and a filling mixed with aspic that turns to broth in the pan. Da Hu Chun is known for the qingshui, or clear, style, made with fully leavened dough and no aspic, which gives a breadier bun and a cleaner flavour. Its buns are known for a base fried until it is as crisp as a cracker.

To eat one, set it on a spoon, make a small opening and sip any juices first, then widen the hole and eat the filling. Save the vinegar for the crisp base and the dough, as locals do. The traditional partner is a bowl of curry beef vermicelli soup, a long-standing pairing in Shanghai's shengjian shops. Da Hu Chun also sells soup dumplings filled with pork or pork and shrimp.

Opening hours listed by the city's food guide run from 7am to 7.30pm, so this works for breakfast or lunch rather than dinner. It is a fast, casual shop that suits budget travellers, solo visitors and anyone exploring the Bund who wants a quick, local meal.

If you want to keep exploring, the same guide recommends Lao Zheng He on South Sichuan Road as an easy introduction for first-timers, and Dong Tai Xiang on North Chongqing Road, which stays open around the clock and uses a semi-fermented dough recognised as intangible cultural heritage.

East Nanjing Road station on Lines 2 and 10 is a short walk away, and the Bund promenade is a few minutes east. If you want to compare styles, the city guide also points to Luo Chun Ge on Middle Zhejiang Road, a pioneer of the soupy hunshui style, and Yang's Fry-Dumpling on Huanghe Road, both within easy reach of People's Square.