Cheap Date: Shanghai's Top 10 Bargain Eats(2)
5. Coolzey 酷芝
This is a favourite for home delivery, but the restaurants themselves are surprisingly welcoming, with modern art prints on the walls, cosy tables and intimate lighting. The menu offers pizza, pasta, risotto, salads, and desserts, most costing between 30 RMB and 50 RMB. Find address info for all three Coolzey locations in Shanghai on their website.
6. Babela’s Kitchen 巴贝拉意大利休闲餐厅
Babela’s is similar in standard and reputation to Saizeriya, but special in its own way. The menu is a strange mix of European and Asian fare, and the drinks list includes such follies as coffee tea. No joke. Again, a couple can eat heartily for under 50 RMB. Branches all across town, in such salubrious locales as Hongkou Stadium metro station, Cloud Nine Mall near Zhongshan Park, and every other budget food hall you can think of.
7. Noodle Bull 狠牛独创牛肉面馆
Recently expanding its branches to the 1933 complex in Hongkou and the Channel 1 Mall on Changshou Lu, Noodle Bull started on Fumin Lu with a small but tasty selection of Taiwanese noodle bowls. Great for winter, these huge bowls of soup, beef, and noodles are cheap at around 25 RMB.
Add: 1F, 291 Fumin Lu, near Changle Lu, Xuhui District, Shanghai
地址: 上海市徐汇区富民路291号1楼, 近长乐路
Tel: 021 6170 1299
Add: 1-234, the 1933 complex, 10 Shajing Lu, Hongkou District, Shanghai
地址: 上海虹口区沙泾路10号1933老场坊1-234
Opening hours: 11：00 – 22：00
8. Cha’s 查餐厅
One of the many benefits of this little joint is that it stays open until 2am. Other than that, it’s a steamy, aromatic, busy slice of Hong Kong, with all the cheap tasty dishes you’d find in a Mong Kok diner.
Add: 1F, 30 Sinan Lu, near Huaihai Zhonglu, Changning District, Shanghai
地址: 上海市卢湾区思南路30号1楼, 近淮海中路
Tel: 11:00-02:00
Opening hours: 021 6093 2062
9. Commando Chicken Express 客满多烤鸡
Chicken, chicken, and more chicken. This little rotisserie just off Changle Lu serves up baskets of roasted bird, accompanied by tasty fries, and a selection of sauces. Their meal sets are great value – 40 RMB for a half chicken, fries, and a drink. They deliver too.
Add: No. 18, Lane 339 Changle Lu, near Xiangyang Lu, Xuhui District, Shanghai
地址: 上海市徐汇区长乐路339弄18号近襄阳北路
Tel: 021 5403 2290
Opening hours: 11:00-22:00
10. Carl’s Jr.
Sick of McDonalds and Burger King, but don’t want to fork out 100 RMB on a gourmet burger? Then try Carl’s Jr. Free salsa, tasty burgers with lots of choices for toppings, cheese fries… A tad more expensive than McD’s, but still cheap, and well worth it.
Add: B1/F, Raffles City, 268 Xizang Zhonglu, near Fuzhou Lu, Huangpu District, Shanghai
地址: 上海市黄浦区西藏中路268号来福士广场B1楼 (近福州路)
Tel: 021 6340 3663
Opening hours: 10:00 – 22:00
