Where we grew up in the US, fish head was a dish traditionally served to the ocean's bottom feeders after a fisherman had finished cleaning his/her catch. So upon arriving in Shanghai, we were surprised to find one eye-balling us every time we opened a menu, and yearned to discover what we'd been missing all those years. more ›

Amidst too many Shanghai dives offering an overpriced array of dismal seafood - flaccid geoduck clams, that grouper that's been captive so long it's sprouting a beard - there stands a beacon of hope: the Tongchuan Road Seafood Market. Journey here and save cash on squirtingly-fresh bivalves, rainbow-hued lobsters, and perhaps the best bang for your buck, mantis shrimp. more ›

Kate Springer of TIME's Ecocentric blog, has some eye-popping numbers in her latest post on land subsidence, which she says is affecting more than 50 cities in China. Across the country, 49,000 sq. mi. of land have dropped at least 8 in, and Shanghai is, unsurprisingly, leading China's rapid descent into the ground, and has sunk more than 6 ft. since 1921. more ›

You wouldn't think something as ordinary as an egg would repel so many expat eaters. However, in China, egg options can be far from ordinary with eggs stewed in schoolboy urine, eggs that bounce like squash balls, and of course, century eggs. Though probably the least odd of China's odd egg roster, the century egg gained notoriety last year when a CNNGo reporter dubbed it "the most revolting food he'd ever had," enraging century egg producers and fanatics alike. We hoped to discover whether the century egg was a rightfully-deemed "bad egg" or conversely, a love we just hadn't hatched yet. more ›

Global bakery chain and Group Le Duff's most successful venture, Brioche Dorée, has touched down in the French Concession, promising baguettes and pastries freshly-crafted on-site from top-shelf French and Chinese ingredients. more ›

Beijing police may have just launched a 100-day crackdown against illegal foreigners, but here in Shanghai, three so-called "Foreigners Service Centers" have opened in Minhang district. They aim to help facilitate foreigners' residence, employment registration and visa applications, according to Shanghai Daily more ›

Mangosteen season is upon us, and for those of you who aren't familiar with mangosteens, your deprivation of one of the world's greatest eats ends here. A tangerine-sized reddish-purple fruit resembling a small eggplant, the mangosteen grows on an evergreen tree native to Indonesia and Malaysia but can be found throughout Southeast Asia. more ›

The 2010 national Chinese census put Shanghai's population at just over 23 million people. With a gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.92 trillion yuan in 2011, the rough average of a typical Shanghai citizen's yearly income should be in the area of 80,000 yuan. What does it mean to be rich in the "Paris of the East" then? China Daily took it a step further on Saturday and exposed the short-list of "super-rich" Shanghai citizens. more ›

Colour us excited -- Shanghai will finally have two air quality readings instead of one! The US Consulate in Shanghai has followed the Embassy's lead in installing an air quality monitor to measure PM 2.5 concentration as "an indicator of overall air quality in the area surrounding its Huai Hai Middle Road offices". Hourly updates will be provided via Twitter (start following them here!). more ›

Every so often, as a voracious meat-eater in Shanghai, you run into what we call the "poultry dilemma": when chicken has become too tame for your daredevil taste buds but you don't want to deal with the grease geyser inherent to duck or goose. Luckily for our kind, there's pigeon, a bird that's gamey enough to keep things interesting, and succulent enough to satisfy without making your stomach feel like it ingested a wrecking ball. more ›

Now with the newly opened Pudong branch of The Funky Chicken, homesick expats on both sides of the Huangpu can sate their longing for rotisserie chicken. The chickens themselves are actually raised in China, but these are no gangly Chinese cluckers, but rather the busty, double-wide, sumo wrestlers of the poultry kingdom that used to grace our Western family tables. So with the urge to rekindle the childhood joy of tearing into that crackling skin of our Sunday roast welling up, we hailed a cab to Pudong. more ›

Spring is in the air, and since we're suckers for seasonal tasting menus, we raided almost every establishment for any spring offerings we could get our jaws around, including the Geisha. We'll admit, being curmudgeons when it comes to fusion concepts, we were a bit skeptical of the Geisha's Japanese-Western theme. Past East-meets-West dining experiences had convinced us that fusion concepts' sole purpose is to suck out all elements that make either cuisine great and replace them with bland and/or discordant flavor pairings. Hopefully, Geisha's spring menu would prove itself that token outlier. more ›

Last year China Daily reported on a farmer in Yunnan who admitted that he would never dare to eat the vegetables he sells, due to the amounts of chemicals pesticides and fertilizers used on them. Instead he grows a separate chemical-free patch of vegetables for personal consumption. A practice that is unlikely to be restricted to this farmer alone. more ›

The presentation is simply arousing, with a hulking brown headquarters of pork roofed with fat and encircled by bok choy, which almost appear to be suckling it as if even vegetables can't resist its lusciousness. The waitress sliced through the pork as easily as cheese cake, and we dug in, upon which our stomachs basically came. more ›

Sabatini Ristorante Italiano opened this past November to an overwhelmingly positive reception, with many dubbing it their new favorite Italian restaurant, and not just in Shanghai. more ›

Our curious cravings had towed us back out to sea, this time in search of jellyfish, yet another textural anomaly in the realm of bird's nest, shark's fin, and sea cucumber. Though many might deem jellyfish a relatively tame exotic eat as it's so widely available, we feel obligated to mention any creature that when washed up on the beach, looks like the gloppy remains of a blown-up alien. And in light of the recent Shanghai ban on pickled foodstuffs, we wanted to try this delicacy before it becomes increasingly "off the beaten menu." more ›

We had originally come to Hei Tu Di in search of dumplings (of which the menu offers a wide selection) but our inner-caveman tossed that plan aside upon spying "pork bone" on the menu (only 12RMB per bone!). more ›

Upon hitting a certain section of the street, our nostrils were accosted by the familiar scent of fried must, and we turned to the stand responsible: a cart of tarantulas, big black scorpions, green centipedes with red heads, and other exterminator's night terrors, all speared on sticks. more ›

Linda Yeung of the South China Morning Post reports on a formerly cash-strapped private college in Shanghai that has reinvented itself to become the first liberal arts college in mainland China, with the goal of nurturing graduates who can think out of the box. Here's what she tells us about the "Yale of Shanghai": more ›

Many sites have already provided the skinny on Kung Fu's offerings, but we'd like to revisit arguably their tastiest item, the chicken soup; listed as #3 on the menu (24.50RMB, add 5.50 for broccoli). Sure, with its assortment of bones and gnarled foot jutting up from the brothy mire, the chicken soup looks like the watery grave of a ship of poultry. But, after ripping into the fleshy drumstick bobbing in the middle, we were immediately won over, and proceeded to ravenously dissect each morsel. more ›

Le Sheng, the latest venture by Shanghai's darling of fine-dining, David Laris, promises a marriage of traditional Shanghai food with more modern elements. Eager to see how the Greek-Aussie chef, who's tackled a plethora of concepts from Mediterranean to Continental to "Barbie," would fare when faced with the native cuisine, we motored down to the French Concession. more ›

Yuexin Restaurant opened its doors in January, unveiling two adjacent venues: a traditional Chinese eatery and a Japanese spot. In need of a cleansing raw fish fix after weeks of fatty pork belly, Munchies' grease-laden burgers, and post-binge pillages of the McDonald's dollar menu, we chose to go Japanese. more ›

After double-checking the sign on the abalone tank to ensure that our critters were of the Qing Dao variety (and not the bulkier Australian species which run you 58RMB a piece), we chose to have six of them stir-fried in black bean sauce, one of the three options listed on the sign. more ›

Looking to get your fix on classic American Rock 'N Roll music in Shanghai? Well now you finally can! Starting noon on Saturday, April 14th, Shanghai 24/7 will be throwing a 1950s-themed carnival called "Rock-A-Bop" at O'Malleys. It will be the first ever "rockabilly" themed party in Shanghai. more ›

Official times and ranks are out! Shanghai Alleycat 2012 took place over the weekend and pulled in a mind-obliterating 600 (give or take) participants. That's almost triple last year's numbers, and probably the biggest alleycat race in the non-Western world (anybody with some numbers on this, please do chime in.) more ›

China's People's Daily news portal has launched a $83.6 million (527 million yuan) initial public offering in Shanghai, and will announce their final pricing on April 20th. The Chinese government controlled company have the intention of upgrading their technology, delivering news on mobile platforms and strengthening its editorial team. more ›

After picking a vendor at 871 Tongchuan Road, we peeked inside the sea worm tank to observe a jumble of the fleshy pink critters heaving and squirming against one another. And let’s just say they looked so penis-like that it appeared as if a bunch of uncircumcised members had decided to detach themselves and live out their days as marine invertebrates. We poked one tentatively with a finger, prompting it to recoil slightly and then resume swaying nonchalantly underwater. It was dinnertime. more ›

Starting in 2013, New York University in Shanghai (NYU Shanghai) will begin enrolling students on its Lujiazui campus. According to Xinhua, it will be the first university jointly operated between China and the United States. more ›

Shanghai police estimates that a record 5.8 million people swept tombs over the three-day Qingming Festival, reports Shanghai Daily more ›