I’m going onto my third year here in Shanghai and City Diner was one of my first havens for comfort food whenever I craved a solid American hamburger with fries. Like most foreigners in Shanghai, I discovered City Diner after a good night of clubbing, being brought there by an older, wiser foreigner, to satisfy that late-night post-drinking hunger. Weary but riding a nice buzz, a nice juicy burger promised to add just enough insulation to prepare one for the ensuing hibernating slumber.
City Diner has no lack of competitors operating in the same niche of providing “American” fare. Yet, for the longest time in my book, it handily beat others like Moon River Diner (now defunct), Blue Frog, or Malone’s. It has a great location on Tongren Lu near Nanjing Xi Lu in the heart of the city, and it’s open 24 hours, storied by the countless crowds of late night foreigner revelers.
And then there was the food. Oh man, the burgers were delicious. Big, tall, meaty, well-appointed, and accompanied by scrumptious thick-cut fries. My all-time favorite? Their Bacon Chili Burger. The most humbling? Their Seeing Double burger (yep, double patties) where friends and I have several times overestimated our hungers only to crawl out, stuffed and made honest, in veritable pain.
Beyond the burgers, and in a land where free refills for soda is mind-boggling taboo, the 18 RMB bottomless soda were a godsend. Sure, a can of Coke is only 2-3 RMB at any convenience store and no one is going to drink 6-9 cans worth in a sitting, but nothing screams “incredible value” like a nice tall glass of carbonated sugar water with caramel coloring delightfully chilled with ice cubes (equally–if not more so–taboo in China) that you know you can refill, for free and at will.
For quite a period of time, the combination of good food, free refills, cozy decor, and free wifi internet made City Diner my second office. I would have lunch meetings and even spend entire afternoons there interviewing prospective employees and sipping on a bottomless Coke. However, about half a year ago, I found myself romping about Pudong more than Puxi, and thus stopped going to City Diner completely.
This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to stop by for lunch, anxious to relive old pleasant memories.
Except I couldn’t. City Diner seems to have changed a lot more than just expanding to the bottom floor and redecorating its original upstairs dining space. My Lone Star Burger was noticably smaller than I remembered and the patty was not cooked as I requested. When asked for how I wanted my burger cooked, I asked for “5 fen shou” (of 10). In retrospect, I now wonder if the waiter’s incredulous reaction resulted in him overriding my request by telling the cook to make it “well-done and dry.” Suffice to say, the burger was disappointingly tasteless, and even the fries were a bit undercooked.
There’s still wireless and free refillable drinks (now 20 RMB), but overall, I walked away wholly unmotivated to return.
Locations:
- 146 Tongren Lu, near Nanjing Xi Lu, Metro Line 2 Jing’an Temple Stop, Tel: 6289-3699
铜仁路146号,近南京西路, 地铁2号线静安寺路站 - 3211 Hongmei Lu, near Hongqiao Lu, Tel: 6401-1600
虹梅路 3211号,近虹桥路
i find this disturbing, political, social & other stress inducing (again, in my personal opinion) topics proliferate CNReviews (people, business & life)…is food not part of life (yes, i am being overly emotional). where can visiting foodies trek to have a taste of shanghai (its street food specifically)?
**Note:
-am aware that shanghai isn’t really the culinary “it” place of china & i intend to go further inland for more gastronomic experience next time
Shanghai food? Try Yuan Yuan, 7F in Westgate Mall on Nanjing Xi Lu. It’s a bit pricey but its good and clean (for those a bit more demanding of overall ambiance/appearances of hygiene).
Street food is everything any anything, so I wouldn’t say they’re uniquely Shanghainese.
I don’t think its Hairy Crab season right now either, but Shanghainese people are pretty big on crawfish (xiao long xia) though it isn’t actually “Shanghainese” food. There are a lot of places for that. I forgot the name but there are a few places right around Jin An Temple (Yuyuan Lu and Wanhangdu Lu) that feature it and are successful enough to be dubbed “good” (I’m not big on crawfish personally). You should probably try that as well. You can’t really miss it if you’re in the area, just look for a cartoony red crawfish logo. There’s one next to the 31 Baskin Robbins across from McDonald’s.
Also not “Shanghainese” but worth trying in China would be ma la tang (Xiao Ting) and huo guo (Dolar Shop is a good option for neophytes). The “Shanghainese” xiao long bao is always recommended but I personally don’t think it is that special. You can go for the one in Yu Yuan Garden that all tourists are sent to or you can try the one restaurant (two storefronts) in the older half of Wujiang Lu parallel to Nanjing Xi Lu.
We’re down with more food topics, but each writer has their own predisposition. Want to write some foodie articles for us? ;)
Yuan Yuan sounds good (Yuan X 2, is that why it’s pricey?) though am not really picky when it comes to location & hygiene (or lack thereof). Hairy crab sounds better (they do shave them before they cook them right?), crayfish a.k.a skinny shrimp also sounds good, i’d definetely sample the entire Jin An vicinity (unless a previous sampling would render me incapacitated). is ma la tang also in the nanjing lu area? i might skip the other tourist infested areas and follow the locals for dinner.
is it okay to take photos of the food, the place & the vendors or will i go home bruised, battered &/or comatose?
expect feedback on your recommendations, unless…see above mentioned.;-)
Hey zandie, lol, no, they’re just pricey because they’re a little more upscale and located in a pricey venue. The interesting thing about a lot of Chinese restaurants in Shanghai is that they’re not really strict on cuisine. For example, Sichuan food is pretty big amongst Shanghainese (where isn’t it?) so a lot of restaurants will feature all sort of cuisine. Authenticity or taste is really up to the individual diner.
Hairy crab, lol, isn’t shaved really. They should still have their hair on their claws sorta. Not the season though. As for Crayfish/crawfish/xiao long xia, there are I think two restaurants that specialize in it at Jin An Temple, and the one I recommended is something of a popular chain. You can’t go wrong with it I think.
These restaurants definitely aren’t touristy but they are located in major streets and shouldn’t be hard to find. Wujiang Lu has a lot more hole in the wall Chinese restaurants and street food though it’s really a lot less fun than years past when it was more crowded and chaotic.
Enjoy!
hey kai, what’s the name of that particular breakfast dish (which has been haunting my sleeping hours for 3 weeks now) of fried rice with bits of tofu, pork & other sinfully delicious bits, flattened, re-fried & frosted with greasy scrambled eggs & drizzled with scallions? (snif)
anyway, we had our very first shanghai meal in a side street lined with food stalls near our hotel, it was an early treat because some presumably local guys paid for our dinner (darn! had we known we would’ve ordered more) and our xiao long xia, mouth injury aside, was actually good. we saw some live crabs that looked hairy but we didn’t know how to say “are those hairy crabs? if they are, we’d love to have them for lunch”
Wujiang Lu got me at ni hao, with its vast array of food choices at ridiculously low prices, it was my gastronomic wonderland, plus it’s very suitable for my time tested point-eat-pay-pray dining technique. it is also where i found my new love, that particular greasy rice dish which when served with equally greasy xiao long bao is almost org@$^^!(.
i know, i have a weird taste in er, food.
thanks again for the tips buddy.;-)
zandie, you’re a charmer! Glad you enjoyed Wujiang Lu. To be honest, I’m wracking my brain and I can’t think of anything remotely similar to “fried rice with bits of tofu, pork & other sinfully delicious bits, flattened, re-fried * frosted with greasy scrambled eggs & drizzled with scallions”. You sure it wasn’t pig slop? ;)
Seriously, can’t think of it, but it sounds worth trying!
can i have that pig slop-ish concoction fedexed then? i can send you my high resolution photo (which serves as my wallpaper at home & in the office) if you like.;)
i almost forgot, the only disappointment i had when i was in shanghai: the coffee–be it in sachet, pseudo brewed & served in starbucks. good thing i keep an emergency stash every time i travel (absence of caffeine in my system usually induces anaphylactic shock)
Off topic: dude, you’re a dude?;-P