RFK Cuisine · Dim Sum · Shanghai
Best Dim Sum Restaurants in Shanghai 2026
Dim sum · Shanghai · 6 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Strictly, Shanghai is not a dim sum city. Dim sum (点心, dianxin) in the form most people mean is Cantonese, and Shanghai is a Shanghainese town with its own dumpling tradition — the soup-filled xiaolongbao, the pan-fried shengjianbao. And yet the city now eats some of the best Cantonese dim sum in China, because its money has pulled some serious Cantonese kitchens north: a two-Michelin-star room that may be the cheapest two-star meal on earth, a Singapore export with fifty kinds of dumpling, two hotel dining rooms with stars and skyline views. Shanghai even made history in 2024, when the Michelin Guide handed its first-ever star to a dim sum restaurant, the xiaolongbao house Wu You Xian. Ranked below are the six rooms — Cantonese and Shanghainese — where the steamer baskets are worth crossing the city for, with the chef, the room and the dish to order at each.
1.Canton 8
Roughly the world's cheapest two-star meal, and the best dim sum in Shanghai for the money — book a weekday lunch and order broadly.
Canton 8 (喜粤8号), on Runan Street in Huangpu, has held two Michelin stars for years and carries a reputation as about the cheapest two-star restaurant anywhere. Under Hong Kong-trained Chef Mak, it does one thing with total focus: classic Cantonese cooking and dim sum at prices that would not cover a tasting-menu amuse elsewhere. The char siu (barbecued pork) is the signature — lacquered, springy, sweet at the edges — and the steamer list of har gow, siu mai and baked buns is made to order with a precision the price tag does not prepare you for. The room is plain and the tables turn fast; this is about the food, not the setting. A dim sum lunch lands well under 400 yuan a head. Book several days ahead for a weekend table. Come for the single best value in two-star dining in the world, with dumplings to match.
Reserve days ahead, lunch is best; the char siu, the har gow, the baked barbecue-pork buns, the steamed dumplings off the trolley list.
2.Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine
The luxurious two-star dim sum room, with fifty kinds of dumpling on the Bund — book it for the deepest dim sum spread in the city.
Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine, on the fourth floor of the Yi Feng Galleria on East Beijing Road near the Rockbund, is the grand counterpart to Canton 8 — a Singapore-born group that opened here in 2017 and has held two Michelin stars for six straight years. Where Canton 8 is spartan, Imperial Treasure is a 2,000-square-metre room of thirty-six tables and fourteen private rooms, and its dim sum program runs to more than fifty varieties, each pleated and steamed to order. The barbecued meats and seafood are as serious as the dumplings. The cooking is precise and traditional rather than experimental, the service formal. Expect 500 to 800 yuan a head with barbecue and seafood. Book several days ahead, especially for weekend lunch. Come for the most complete dim sum table in Shanghai, set for an occasion.
Reserve several days out; the siu mai, the crystal shrimp dumplings, the roast meats, a wide spread from the fifty-strong dim sum list.
3.Yi Long Court
The Peninsula's refined Cantonese room, one star on the Bund — book it for polished dim sum in one of the city's grandest hotels.
Yi Long Court, the flagship Chinese restaurant of the Peninsula Shanghai on the Bund, holds one Michelin star and cooks a refined, classical Cantonese menu under executive chef Jacky Zhang. The dim sum is the lunchtime draw — delicate, beautifully finished baskets that sit alongside signatures like spotted grouper blanched in fish broth, baked spring chicken, and soft-shell turtle with morel. The room is all old-Shanghai elegance, dark wood and quiet service, in a hotel built for it. This is dim sum as a luxury, not a bargain, and the polish shows in every pleat. Lunch with the full menu pushes past 800 yuan a head. Book through the hotel a few days out. Come for Cantonese cooking with hotel-grade finish, in one of the best addresses on the Bund.
Reserve through the Peninsula a few days out; the lunch dim sum baskets, the spotted grouper in fish broth, the baked spring chicken.
4.Jin Xuan
One star on the 53rd floor with the Pudong skyline through the glass — book lunch for handcrafted dim sum and the best view of any room here.
Jin Xuan (金轴), on the 53rd floor of the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, in Lujiazui, has held one Michelin star for nine consecutive years, and it pairs that consistency with the most dramatic outlook of any room on this list — floor-to-ceiling windows over the Huangpu River and the Bund. The Cantonese menu reaches for luxury ingredients, from Australian black cod to New Zealand lobster, but the handcrafted dim sum served at lunch is the reason to come, made to order and plated with the precision the altitude and the price imply. The dining room is sleek art-deco, the service practised. Lunch with the view runs past 800 yuan a head. Book through the hotel a few days ahead and ask for a window table. Come for handmade dim sum and the skyline in the same frame.
Reserve through the Ritz-Carlton, request a window; the lunch dim sum, the black cod, the lobster, a table over the river at midday.
5.Ye Shanghai
The Xintiandi room where Shanghainese and Cantonese dim sum meet — book a weekend table to eat xiaolongbao and har gow side by side.
Ye Shanghai, in the Xintiandi district, is the room that best answers the question this page asks — what dim sum means in a Shanghainese city. A long-running Michelin-listed restaurant, it cooks refined Shanghainese classics — braised pork belly, sauteed river shrimp, hairy crab in season — alongside a Cantonese-style dim sum and yum cha service, so a single table can run from a basket of xiaolongbao to har gow and char siu bao. The setting is handsome, sometimes with live jazz, and a weekend dim sum service draws Shanghainese families. It is the most local choice here, and the most enjoyable for tasting both traditions at once. Reckon on 250 to 450 yuan a head. Book ahead for weekend lunch. Come for the meeting point of Shanghai's own dumplings and Cantonese dim sum.
Reserve for weekend lunch; the xiaolongbao, the har gow, the braised pork belly, the hairy-crab dishes when they are in season.
6.Jade Garden
The Maxim's family dim sum house with the weekend queues — go early for shrimp dumplings, roast duck and pineapple buns.
Jade Garden, the Shanghai flagship of Hong Kong's Maxim's Group in the Jing'an Kerry Centre, is the casual, busy end of good dim sum in the city, and the one most likely to have a line. It cooks Cantonese and Shanghainese dishes in a smart mall dining room that fills with Cantonese families at weekends for the dim sum service. The roast pork and duck come with shatteringly crisp skin, the shrimp dumplings are plump and clean, and the pineapple buns collapse into butter and air. There is no Michelin star and no ceremony — this is the everyday version of the craft, done well and at scale. A dim sum lunch lands around 200 to 350 yuan a head. Book or arrive early on weekends to beat the queue. Come for the family-table dim sum that locals actually default to.
Book or arrive early on weekends; the shrimp dumplings, the roast duck, the char siu, the pineapple buns straight from the kitchen.
How Shanghai eats dim sum
Two traditions sit on the same table in Shanghai. The first is local: dianxin, the Jiangnan small-plate tradition led by xiaolongbao — the thin-skinned soup dumpling perfected in nearby Nanxiang — and shengjianbao, the crisp-bottomed pan-fried bun. These are breakfast and snack foods, eaten standing at hole-in-the-wall shops as much as sitting down, and they are the dumplings a Shanghainese person grew up on. The second is imported: Cantonese yum cha, the trolley-and-teapot lunch ritual of Guangdong and Hong Kong, brought north by the hotel groups and the fine-dining Cantonese kitchens that followed Shanghai's money. The 2024 Michelin star for the xiaolongbao house Wu You Xian was a sign the guide now takes the local tradition as seriously as the Cantonese one.
A few mechanics. Dim sum is a lunch meal — the best kitchens run it from late morning, and the dumpling work is sharpest early in the service. The two-star rooms, Canton 8 and Imperial Treasure, book out for weekend lunch and need a reservation days ahead; the hotel rooms are easier midweek. Tipping is not expected in mainland China, and a service charge may be added at the hotel restaurants. Tea is part of the ritual — order a pot and let them top it up. For the city's wider Chinese dining, the best Chinese restaurants in Shanghai covers the banquet rooms, and the Shanghai dining guide lays out the neighbourhoods.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious dim sum
The tourist xiaolongbao counters around Yu Garden with the longest queues. The famous bazaar dumpling stalls are an experience, but the soup dumplings are mass-produced and the queues are mostly cameras. For xiaolongbao worth eating, go to a dedicated local house, or eat them alongside Cantonese dim sum at Ye Shanghai.
The grand hotel rooms when you want a cheap, fast dumpling lunch. Yi Long Court and Jin Xuan are luxury Cantonese rooms with luxury prices and views to match — wonderful for an occasion, wrong for a quick bowl. When you want the best dim sum for the money, Canton 8 is the answer, no view required.
Frequently asked
What is the best dim sum restaurant in Shanghai?
Canton 8, the two-Michelin-star Cantonese room on Runan Street in Huangpu, serves the best dim sum in the city for the money — handmade char siu buns and dumplings at a fraction of what two stars cost elsewhere. Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine, also two-starred, runs a deeper, more luxurious dim sum program with over fifty varieties. For a hotel setting, Yi Long Court at the Peninsula and Jin Xuan at the Ritz-Carlton Pudong are the one-star references. Start at Canton 8 and book ahead.
Is Shanghai known for dim sum?
Dim sum in the strict sense is Cantonese, and Shanghai is a Shanghainese city — its own small-plate tradition is dianxin, led by xiaolongbao, the soup dumpling, and shengjianbao, the pan-fried bun. But Shanghai's wealth has drawn some of China's best Cantonese kitchens, so the city now eats dim sum at a very high level. In 2024 it made history when the Michelin Guide gave a one-star to a xiaolongbao specialist, Wu You Xian, the first dim sum restaurant in Shanghai to earn a star. Both traditions are covered here.
How much does dim sum cost in Shanghai?
It spans a wide range. Canton 8 is famous as roughly the world's cheapest two-Michelin-star meal, with a dim sum lunch landing well under 400 yuan a head. Imperial Treasure runs higher, perhaps 500 to 800 a head with barbecue and seafood. The hotel rooms — Yi Long Court at the Peninsula, Jin Xuan at the Ritz-Carlton — push past 800 with the view and the service. Ye Shanghai and Jade Garden sit in the middle, with weekend dim sum from around 200 a head. Lunch is the time to go.
What dim sum should you order in Shanghai?
Start with the Cantonese benchmarks: har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (open-topped pork-and-shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (barbecued-pork buns) and cheung fun (rice-noodle rolls). Canton 8 and Imperial Treasure make these to a very high standard. Because you are in Shanghai, add the local dianxin too — a basket of xiaolongbao and, where it is on the menu, a hairy-crab dumpling in autumn. Ye Shanghai is the best place to eat the Shanghainese and Cantonese traditions side by side.
Do you need a reservation for dim sum in Shanghai?
For the starred rooms, yes. Canton 8 and Imperial Treasure book out for weekend lunch and need a reservation days ahead; the hotel rooms, Yi Long Court and Jin Xuan, take bookings through their hotels and are easier midweek. Jade Garden is famous for its weekend queues, so book or arrive early. Ye Shanghai takes reservations and runs a weekend dim sum service. Dim sum is a lunch ritual in Shanghai, so aim for a midday table and book the two-star kitchens well ahead.
More dim sum & Shanghai
More from RFK
Browse the full Shanghai dining guide, compare the global picks in the best dim sum worldwide, read the Hong Kong dim sum ranking, see the best Chinese restaurants in Shanghai, plan a family-celebration lunch at Imperial Treasure, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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