Shanghai is an incredibly chic, cosmopolitan place these days, and some of the world's more avant-garde restaurateurs have gone there to open prestigious restaurants that are international in style, scale, cuisine and price. I don't write about those. You'll find them well covered in guidebooks. On this site you'll local Chinese food - moderate places, where the city's food-lovers eat, with terrific food.

Guyi. A slightly upscale Hunanese place in the French Concession with consistently excellent food, a pleasing space, and the crowds to prove it. Make a reservation, come early or late (dinner's 5:30-10:30), or wait. Salt-and-pepper tofu, spicy beans with ground pork - everything we had was good, and the homemade lemon sodas provided a welcome foil to the spicy food. Guyi, 87 Fumin Lu, by Julu Lu, not too far from the Jingan stop of the Metro. Tel. # 6249-5628.

Tanggong Seafood Restaurant. This huge place, of the Cantonese palace style, serves some of the best dim sum in Shanghai. It's a terrific weekend brunch stop, but you have to be relaxed about time; on weekend mornings you will wait. I'll refrain from suggesting dishes because the English menu has pictures, the choices are legion, and you'll definitely see dim sum you've never seen before. For me the most memorable item was a small durian pastry which not only looked exactly like a miniature durian but was filled with a custard that made the controversial, admittedly funky durian flavor into something almost universally appealing. Tanggong Seafood Restaurant, 1-2F, Jinghua Hotel, 103 Dongzhu Anbang Rd., Changning District, Shanghai. Tel. 6251-3960. In the Golden Bridge Garden apartment development.

Jishi. Heaven for the lover of home-style Shanghainese cuisine. This French Concession restaurant jammed with locals is also crowded, narrow, and fun. Reservations are advised though I have also walked in and been given a table, especially at lunch. Try anything, but we loved the wild herbs with bean curd (a very typically Shanghainese cold dish using a wild local vegetable which is hard to come by outside Shanghai), the salt-and-pepper eel, and the sublime razor clams in a dark, complex marinade (these are not always available, but it's infinitely worth asking). The house specialty pork knuckle, braised for hours in an even more complex sauce, is also outstanding -- when the waiter brought it out, the table of ten next to me cried out in anticipation, then moaned in despair when it went to my table instead. I lifted off the fat to the lean meat underneath, tasted it, swooned, and they sent wine over so I could join them in a toast to the glory of this classic Shanghainese dish.  Jishi, 41 Tianping Lu, by Huaihai Zhonglu, near the Hengshan Lu Metro stop. Tel 6282-9260. English menu.

Di Shui Dong. Another amazingly good Hunanese restaurant. There are many delightful offerings, but not to be missed are the cumin spare ribs, dense, chewy bones crusted with cumin seeds and hot pepper. Lovers of this restaurant light up at the mere mention of this dish. Di Shui Dong, second floor, 56 Maoming Nanlu, by Changle Lu. Tel. 6253-2689. English menu. No credit cards.

Bao Luo. Crowded and thrumming with noise and energy, Bao Luo serves terrific Shanghainese food. You will need a reservation, and it's worth putting off dinner until after 9 P.M. if that's the only time they can fit you in. Almost everything I've ordered there has been outstanding. One of their hit dishes is the house special Swiss steak. This is the kind of thing a hopeless snob like me would normally never order in a Chinese restaurant - but it was on almost every table, so we gave it a go. It was surprisingly good. Item #2012, a red-cooked river fish, is even better. Ultra-fresh - before the chef begins it will be brought out, live, for your inspection -- it's braised in an exquisitely balanced soy-based sauce. Don't miss the shen jian bao, a large meat-stuffed bun which is first steamed and then pan-fried so that the bottom is crisp and sesame-studded. Bao Luo's version is unforgettable - so delicious I took a leftover one home and gobbled it down the next day for breakfast, cold. Bao Luo, 271 Fumin Lu, by Changle Lu (5403-7239). Closest to Changshu Lu Metro stop. English menu. No credit cards.

Yin. Some say this is the city's best Shanghainese restaurant. It may be if what matters to you is atmosphere. Yin rules on atmosphere. Gorgeously furnished in pitch-perfect Concession-era style, it's lit with small pools of light like an opium dream, and silk screens here and there separate tables. A jazz trio plays some nights. The bartender is very creative. It's a lovely, sophisticated place to spend an evening. The Shanghainese food is good. But not, to me, memorable. Yin, Jinjiang Gourmet Street, 59 Maoming Nan Lu, by Changle Lu (5466-5070). English menu.

Jia Jia Tang Bao. Sometimes only casual, street-level food will do it, and the soup dumpling urge is one of those times. Few things are better on a chilly, rainy day than a fresh hot basket of steamed dumplings filled with pork or crab-and-pork along with a shot of rich, hot broth that you suck out first by biting a careful little hole in the wrapper before you actually tear into the dumpling. [Reverse the sequence and you might leave wearing your lunch.] As soon as you turn the corner onto Huanghe Lu you'll recognize this tiny establishment -- it's the place with the line snaking out the door and down the sidewalk. What's a 30 minute wait for dumplings like these? A basket of 15 truly excellent pork tang bao is RMB 6 (about 75 cents) but splurge and go for the crab dumplings , 15 for RMB 16.50 (a little over $2.50). They are ambrosial. Thanks to Gary Soup of shanghaibites.com for sending me to this place. It's a find. Jia Jia Tang Bao, 90 Huanghe Lu, by Fengyang Lu. 6327-6878. No English menu, but when you look at the wall-sign you can recognize the choices mentioned above by their prices.

Shanghai Uncle. Here you'll get a meal you won't forget. Among appetizers, a must-have dish is the Shanghai style smoked fish. Not really smoked, xun yu is dry-cooked in a complex blend of soy and spices that evokes the smoked flavor. Shanghai style xun yu is a local classic, and the version served here is fantastic -- currently the best in town by a length. If you're feeling the need for crunch, the Uncle's crispy eel will deliver. Small, fresh, slender, impeccably boned river eels are quick-fried to the peak of cui, crispiness, then given a refreshingly scant drizzle of sweet and sour sauce. Another triumph is "Eight Treasure with sticky rice cake". Chewy rice cakes are cooked in an addictive piquant sauce with pine nuts, fine-cubed pork, diced mushrooms,  and other goodies, then topped with a mound of crystal-fresh shrimp. Bravo. Shanghai Uncle, 211 Tianyaoqiao Lu, by Nandan Lu (6464-6430). English menu.