Authentic Shanghainese Dining Experience in a Local Home

What to Expect

You've eaten at Shanghai's restaurants. Now eat where locals actually eat — at someone's kitchen table.

+1 Chopsticks connects travelers with personally curated local host families across Shanghai. Each host cooks the food their family actually eats at home — seasonal, fresh, and made entirely from scratch. Depending on your host, you'll make dumplings together before sitting down, or simply arrive, relax, and let a full home-cooked spread come to you.

Choose from a Jiading Ayi who grows her own vegetables in a backyard garden, a Guizhou-born host who spent a decade in the US, or a Shanghai family who teaches you to fold dumplings before dinner. Every host brings their own story, their own recipes, and a real Shanghai home to sit in — not a restaurant, not a studio, not a performance.

We confirm dietary needs before you arrive, send full directions and host contact details, and provide a short cultural primer two days ahead so you arrive curious, not confused.

Highlights:

• Eat at a real local family's table — not a restaurant, not a tour
• Some hosts grow their own vegetables, so it's garden to table!Choose your host: dumpling-making family, garden-growing Ayi, and more
• All hosts are English-speaking or have English support arranged
• Pre-visit dietary check-in — vegetarian, halal, non-mammalian and more accommodated
• Home Dining Cheat Sheets sent 2 days before to prep you for the visit

Menu

Sample Menu — Jiading Ayi

• Garden Greens with Diced Tofu (马兰头香干)
• Traditional Shanghainese Smoked Fish (本帮熏鱼)
• Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs (糖醋小排)
• White-Cut Local Chicken (白斩鸡)
• Handmade Wontons (馄饨)
• Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls (豆沙糯米汤圆)

Sample Menu — Echo's Family

• Cucumber Salad (拍黄瓜)
• Steamed Yellow Croaker (清蒸黄鱼)
• Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)
• Homemade Dumplings, folded together with your host (手工饺子)

Schedule

• Arrive at your host's home (full directions and contact details will be provided in advance)
• Welcome and introductions — meet your host, learn about the evening, and settle in
• Join your host in preparing part of the meal, such as folding dumplings or assisting with a traditional Shanghainese dish (activity may vary)
• Sit down to a home-cooked Shanghainese dinner featuring appetizers, main dishes, staple foods, and dessert, served family-style
• Enjoy tea and conversation with your host, and learn more about daily life, culture, and traditions in Shanghai
• Experience concludes. You are welcome to arrange your own transportation or rideshare from the host's home.