Ren He Guan For Excellent Shanghainese Food & The Best Hong Shao Rou

Ren He Guan (人和馆) is an excellent Chinese restaurant that does Shanghainese classics. It’s also a Michelin one-star restaurant, and dinner would only set you back around ¥250 per person.

It’s currently my favorite Shanghainese restaurant in Shanghai. And in my opinion, it outpaces Old Jesse by miles in food, and especially in service.

The Space

There are two locations of Ren He Guan, one on Zhaojiabang Lu in Xuhui, opened since 2014, and another that opened end 2021 in Jing’an. The Zhaojiabang Lu is the busier location, the one that holds the star, and the one I go to.

The restaurant is decked out in nostalgic 1930s fashion with old-timey booths and art deco stained glass panels. There’s even a decorative stage in the style of Bailemen, the famed Paramount theatre and entertainment destination.

Food is excellent! Great service, too. The staff are polite, friendly, and patient, and you don’t get rushed. The restaurant gets pretty busy and bookings in advance are the only way to go, otherwise be prepared to wait for an unspecified amount of time. More on how to book below, but first, the food.

The Food

Shanghainese food, as you might have heard, tends to lean sweet. I don’t have a problem with that, in fact, I quite like it. I also find that there are different levels of sweetness, and I don’t perceive it as being forcefully sweet or flat.So if you like Shanghainese cuisine, give this place a try.

Signature dishes at Ren He Guan include hong shao rou (it’s out of this world!), crabmeat everything from rice to tofu to sheng jian bao, and Squirrel Mandarin Fish, among others.

Without further ado, here’s the food:

The hong shao rou is served as individual portions, which is genius, because it’s just enough to sate your craving, but not too much that you become hongshao-ed out. Melt-in-your-mouth porky goodness.

They also do a “liquor cooked” crab for ¥46 a piece, which I haven’t tried yet. It’s on my to-eat list.

Must order list: hong shao rou #1, crabmeat with rice, crabmeat shengjian, squirrel mandarin fish, stone pot tofu, smoked fish, fried shrimp, kaofu.

Tips & How To Book

Highly recommend booking a week ahead. Call or use the booking function on the Dianping app, the latter will confirm via sms.

Most of the seating is for two or four people, six at a squeeze. They only have two private rooms, the only option for groups of 8 or 10 guests.

Here’s a hot tip: Once you have successfully booked, add “renheguan” on WeChat to pre-pay for the pork belly to avoid disappointment should they run out, because they do run out!

And if you love it so much, you can sign up to become a VIP member and get discounts on a ton of dishes.

Ren He Guan 人和馆
Address: 407 Zhaojiabang Lu 肇嘉浜路407号
Tel: 64030731
Hours: Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm, 5pm-9:30pm; Sat-Sun, 11am-2pm, 4:30pm-9:30pm
Address: 1-3/F, 142 Yuyuan Lu 愚园路142号1、3楼
Tel: 62268003
Hours: Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm, 5pm-9:30pm; Sat-Sun, 11am-2pm, 4:30pm-9:30pm