Dish finder in Shanghai

Thin-skinned pork dumplings full of hot broth, steamed in baskets of eight or ten. Lift one onto the spoon, bite a small hole, drink, then eat it with vinegar and ginger.

Fried in a huge flat pan until the bottoms crunch, sprinkled with sesame and spring onion. They are also full of soup, so the first bite is a careful one.

Thin noodles tossed in soy and oil fried slowly with spring onions until they are dark and sweet. Cheap, quick and a Shanghai breakfast staple.

Silky little wontons in a clear broth with dried shrimp and seaweed. The large version, 大馄饨, is a meal with pork and shepherd's purse.

Glutinous rice pressed around a youtiao, pickles and pork floss, made to order at breakfast stalls. Ask for sugar if you want it sweet.

Hot soy milk, sweet or savoury, with a golden stick of fried dough to dip. The default breakfast across China, for a few yuan.

A crêpe cooked with egg on a hot plate, brushed with sauces and wrapped around a crisp cracker. A northern import sold from carts all over the city; say bú yào là if you want it without chilli.

Pork belly slow-braised in soy, rock sugar and Shaoxing wine until glossy and soft. The centre of Shanghai home cooking: sweet, rich, eaten with plain rice.

Poached chicken steeped cold in Shaoxing wine, served as a starter. Order it with the other cold dishes at the start of a meal.

Fried fish steaks soaked in a sweet soy marinade, served cool. Despite the name it is not smoked; it is a classic cold starter.

Freshwater crabs steamed and eaten for their rich golden roe, with ginger vinegar and warm yellow wine. Strictly an autumn dish, at its best in October and November.

Buckets of crayfish in chilli and Sichuan pepper, peeled with gloves over beer. A summer late-night ritual; garlic and thirteen-spice versions are milder.

A fried pork chop with chewy rice cake slices in a sweet sauce. Old-fashioned Shanghai fast food from long-running counters.

Spongy wheat gluten braised with mushrooms, peanuts and lily buds in a sweet soy sauce, served cold. Meat-free and on most local menus.

Choose vegetables, tofu, noodles and meat from the fridge, pay by weight, and it comes back cooked in a spiced broth. Ask for a mild broth (微辣) to start.

Soft green rice dough coloured with mugwort, filled with red bean paste or salted egg yolk and pork floss. Sold around Qingming in early spring, with queues outside the old bakeries.

Steamed rice cake scented with osmanthus flowers, lightly sweet. Look for it in autumn, when the trees flower and the city smells of them.