Kobachi, Grand Hyatt Shanghai

Add: Jinmao Tower 88, Century Boulevard, Pudong new area

Chef 's Summer Specialties date: July 1 to 31 August.

Shanghai's biggest fish market

The 24-hour Tongchuan Road fish market can get particularly crowded on summer nights, especially when there's football on television and cold beers are being served.

Be careful as you shop. Sometimes you might have to check the weight of your chosen fish a few times before paying your money and taking the fish away. Some of the stallholders have been known to play with their scales even with Shang-hainese. So if you are not Shanghainese be careful.

Choose your fish and shellfish carefully. Look carefully at the fish, make sure it is alive, that its flesh is well colored and firm, that there are no scars or marks and that the eyes are clear. For clams, take them out of the water and make sure the shells close quickly.

Local favorite seafoods are long, sharp razor clams (chun zi), fat sea scallops (shan bei), and ribbon fish (dai yu), all available for under 40 yuan a kilogram.

Afterwards, take your haul to Xin Jiulong Tang, the seafood kitchen joint right on Tongchuan Road near Caoyang Road, where they will turn your live charges into tasty dishes. Usually the eatery charges by weight. Transforming ribbon fish into luscious red-glazed bite-sized pieces costs 10 yuan for about half a kilogram. Scallops can be steamed for just 2 yuan per piece.

Tongchuan Road Shanghai Fish Market

Add: Tongchuan Road, near Caoyang Road, Putuo district

Xin Jiulong Tang

Add: 920 Tongchuan Road, Putuo district