Morning - Breakfast, the Shanghai way
Start at a neighbourhood breakfast shop with the city's four morning staples: dabing, a sesame-topped flatbread; youtiao, the long fried dough stick eaten with soy milk; cifangao, a steamed rice cake; and warm doujiang. Your guide explains what each is made from and how locals combine them, then you walk a few blocks to watch xiaolongbao being pleated by hand - eighteen folds is the benchmark a good Shanghai cook works to.
Late morning - The old city lanes
Continue into the lanes around Yu Garden, a classical garden first laid out in 1559 by the official Pan Yunduan for his parents. The bazaar and the City God Temple precinct around it have been a market for centuries, and the snack stalls here are the reason: shengjianbao, pan-fried pork buns with a crisp base; xie ke huang, a pastry filled with crab and roe; and small bowls of wonton and noodle soup.
Lunch
A table at a long-established old-city restaurant, with soup dumplings and Shanghai cold dishes.
Afternoon - Market walk and a cooking demonstration
Walk through a wet market to see freshwater crab, bamboo shoots and the soy and vinegar shelves that define Shanghai cooking, then join a short demonstration of how the soup in a xiaolongbao is set - pork skin and bone stock reduced to a jelly, chopped and folded into the filling so it melts in the steamer.
Evening - Dinner and the old city after dark
Dinner is Shanghai red-braised pork and seasonal greens, taken in the old city, followed by a walk through the lanes around the City God Temple once the lanterns are lit and the day crowds have gone. The evening finishes here rather than on the riverfront; the Huangpu is kept for the following night's cruise.
Meals
Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation
Day tour - no hotel night included.
