Meet the Bund BFC 遇外灘 外灘金融中心店 (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Last week, the award ceremony for Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants was hosted for the first time in Hong Kong. There was one slight surprise, as Meet the Bund (遇外灘) appeared to come out of nowhere and claimed the No.6 spot over a slew of restaurants who have been in the top ten of the list for quite some time (to their credit, they were No.14 last year). 

Although I have already made plans for all our meals for our upcoming shanghai trip, I was more than happy to re-arrange our schedule to fit this highly regarded restaurant in. 

Apart from being the highest-ranked restaurant in Mainland China this year (according to the folks behind Asia Best 50), Meet the Bund is also a Michelin starred restaurant for five consecutive years and has been elevated to a Black Pearl 3-diamond one (黑珍珠三鑽) rating in 2026 💎💎💎.

We chose this branch of Meet the Bund at BFC (外灘金融中心) largely for its partial view of the Bund although, to be brutally honest, the table we were given didn’t offer any view whatsoever.

Meet the Bund is an upscale Min cuisine (閩菜) restaurant known for its modern interpretation of traditional Fujian dishes. The restaurant is helmed by Chef Yoda Chen Zhiping (陳志平), who has earned numerous accolades internationally. A Fujian native himself, Chef Chen blends traditional — often rustic — Fujian techniques with a more modern, refined presentation.

The food menu here features a number of exciting Fujian classics including the house specialty, Xiamen steamed glutinous rice with mud crab (廈門紅蟳蒸米糕) but since none of us were big fans of crabs, we decided to go with some of the simpler dishes this afternoon.

We started with the house snacks — some peanut cookies.

And cherry tomatoes while we were studying hard on the food menu.

Wuyi rock tea smoked horse mackerel (武夷岩茶煙燻馬友魚) (¥168) — Our meal started off with some tea smoked horse mackerel (馬友). I have never been a huge fan of horse mackerel but I am now. These were beautifully cooked with lovely smoky flavors. The fish fillets were best enjoyed with the shredded ginger on top to balance out any fishy notes. Very very tasty (that said a lot from a non fish lover).

Fujian five spice rolls (福建五香卷) (¥68) — Crisp on the outside, with minced pork, water chestnut, and onion inside, topped brilliantly by a small dab of chili sauce for a sharp little kick.

Steamed handlined large squid with premium nori seaweed (頭水紫菜蒸手釣到大魷魚) (¥299) — This dish came in two different sizes and in order to sample more dishes, I decided to get the smaller one (despite I am a sucker for squid).

The large squid fillets were superbly cooked into an unbelievably tender texture. But what made the dish extra special was the dashi-cooked nori seaweed underneath, which acted like the “noodle” for a perfect pairing with the crunchy squid. In my view, this was the best dish of the afternoon, with the smoked mackerel and tea panna cotta closely behind as second and third.

Crispy Duck with taro paste (芋泥香酥鴨) (¥108) — An interesting spin on the traditional crispy duck with taro. 

These were shaped like deep-fried taro balls, with a layer of taro paste and diced duck hidden at the centre. However, what I appreciated most about the dish was the shaved parmesan cheese, which added a nice East-meets-West flair.

Red shallot infused oil and pork gravy baked Li Pu taro (原創蔥頭油肉汁焗荔浦芋頭) (¥98) — Another one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. This thick sauce made from the meat, taro, red shallot oil and dried shallot gave the baked Li Pu taro plenty of flavors to work with. That said, aside from the sauce, I expected the taro itself to be a bit more fluffy and refined.

Quanzhou rice noodles with cornstarch broth (泉州麵線米粉芡) (¥138) — This turned out much soupier than I first expected. The broth was a bit porridge-like (糊), and after simmering in the broth for a while, the rice noodles became very, very soggy.

I usually hate soggy noodles but not this time. Yes, they were soft but they soaked up the fish broth brilliantly, and the essence of the broth worked wonderfully with the shrimps, fish, and gourd. It was a hearty, homestyle dish that brought the meal to a comforting close.

Wuyi Mountains Da Hong Pao Tea jelly (武夷山大紅袍茶凍) (¥48) — Dessert was a refreshing panna cotta flavored with Da Hong Pao tea from the Wuyi Mountains, with small cubes of tea jelly scattered around the centre. It was a delicious sweet finale — an exclamation point to an excellent lunch.

This was the second year in a row that we decided to explore a Mainland city during the Easter holidays. Last year, we visited Ningbo, then Hangzhou (杭州), and had an amazing dining experience at Jiexiaolou (解香樓). Not to be outdone this year, the meal at Meet the Bund reminded us just how many wonderful restaurants are tucked away across Mainland China. We feel truly blessed to be able to build them into our travel plans.

Food Rating: 7.7/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Shop S301, Level 3 BFC,  600 East Zhongshan Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

上海市黄浦区中山东二路600号BFC外滩金融中心南区三层S301

Tel: +86 (021) 6377-7668

Website: https://www.instagram.com/meetthebund_sh/

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:00pm, 5:30pm - 9:00pm daily

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 6th (2026)

S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 94th (2025)

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/d7/yYhM

 

Lu Bo Lang 綠波廊 (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Lu Bo Lang (綠波廊, “Green Wave Corridor”) is a historic, highly regarded restaurant in the heart of Shanghai, located right next to the Jiuqu Bridge (九曲橋, “Bridge of Nine Turns”) in the Yuyuan Garden (豫園) and City God Temple (城隍廟) commercial area. The restaurant is known for its Shanghainese dishes, dim sum, and handmade pastries.

Unfortunately, because of our super packed schedule this morning, we didn’t have time for a sit-down meal. So, to enjoy Lu Bo Lang’s specialties, the only way was to grab them from their take-out counter.

All of their soup dumplings were freshly made here right in front of the crowd. 

The City God Temple’s Large soup dumplings (城隍廟特色大湯包) (¥28) — Little nugget wasn’t interested in the sweet pastries, at least not early in the morning. Instead, he was curious about the large steamed dumpling with crab roe.

Thanks to the relatively short lineup, we managed to get our dumplings almost instantly without much of a wait. This was just perfect for our IG accounts. Little one couldn’t wait to get started and in fact, he was so eager that he burned his tongue on the first sip of the piping-hot broth through the paper straw.

I thought it was a great experience for him that he finally got to try the large steamed dumpling he previously saw on TV. To really taste it personally, that was something to tell the grandkids about!

Price: ¥¥

Address: 115 Yuyuan Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

上海市黄浦区豫园街道豫园路115号

Closest Metro Station: Yuyuan (豫园)

Tel: +86 (021) 6328-0602

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/af/AMKM

Yuxingji Crab Roe Noodle House The Bund 裕興記麵館 外灘店 (Shanghai, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After a quick and efficient check-in at the hotel, we finally got the chance to take our long-awaited walk towards the Bund. As little nugget kept reminding us that we haven’t had dinner yet, I had no choice but not to lead the team to my preferred destination for tonight’s supper.

Yuxingji Crab Roe Noodle House (裕興記麵館) is a renowned eatery in Shanghai specializing in authentic Suzhou-style crab noodles (蟹黃麵). It is highly popular among locals and tourists for its rich, traditional flavors.

Situated in a prime location on Sichuan Middle Road, just a short walk from the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street and The Bund, Yuxingji is best known for using hand-picked crab meat and roe, ensuring a satisfying, "umami-bomb" experience.

By the time we arrived, it was dinner hour, so it came with little surprise that we ran into a modest lineup (around 20 people) outside the noodle house. As expected, the wait ended up being over 30 minutes.

Sautéed pig’s kidney (生炒花腰) (¥28) — The pig’s kidney was nicely tender and it worked well with the thick and flavorful gravy.

Stir-fried freshwater shrimp (手剝蝦仁) (¥40) — Very tiny in size. Not sure how they managed to remove the shells with their hands. 

Poached choy sum (白灼菜心) (¥22) — Surprisingly long pieces. I didn't think it was the same variety as the late-flowering Chinese Cabbage (高腳菜心) we've been enjoying in Shenzhen.

Pure crab roe xiao long bao (純蟹黃蟹粉小籠包) (¥88) — I love thin-skinned xiao long bao that bursts with flavorful soup but these meatless versions with just crab roe and soup could never quite satisfy my craving for the “real” xiao long bao. To me, you really need the pork to complement the sweetness of the soup. That’s my take.

Jumbo crab roe dumpling (金牌蟹黃大湯包) (¥68) — This was mainly for little nugget’s social media account.

Unlike the previous xiao long bao, this dumpling had a much thicker skin to hold all the soup and crab roe. It was reportedly pretty tasty but definitely not my cup of tea.

Signature crab roes noodles (招牌蟹黃麵) (¥118) — A recipe from this century-old noodle house that originated in Suzhou and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Our server quickly pointed out a very important tip when he delivered our noodles. Pour the crab roes sauce over the noodles and mix everything together quickly so the noodles don't stick together. Interestingly, we were not asked to add any vinegar to the mix like most crab roe noodle houses would instruct us to.

As instructed, generous portions of golden roe were poured over the thin and firm noodles. And I never stopped stirring the noodles with my chopsticks. Not until they were firmly clinging to the sauce.

This was so delicious. The noodles were firm to the bite and the umami-rich sauce brought the dough to life. I thought this tasted genuinely better than what we had at Xie Man Lou Crab Roes Noodles (蟹滿樓 蟹黄面) before.

My team was thrilled with the bright start in Shanghai tonight. To make the evening even more memorable, we were heading to the Bund right after dinner. It’s little nugget’s first-ever Bund visit. Let’s see if he gets totally blown away (but first, we have to beat the crowd). 

Food Rating: 6.7/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: 410 Sichuan Middle Road (near Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street intersection), Huangpu District, Shanghai, China

上海市黄浦区四川中路410号南京路步行街路口50米

Closest Metro Station: East Nanjing Road (南京东路)

Tel: +86 (021) 6888-6981

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 11:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/de/wQhM