Michelin 2 Stars · Shanghai
102 House
壹零贰小馆 — A two-starred private-kitchen take on Cantonese essentials — roast goose, double-boiled soups and steamed fish — quietly innovating tradition in a…
Why we list it
A two-starred private-kitchen take on Cantonese essentials — roast goose, double-boiled soups and steamed fish — quietly innovating tradition in a dining room of barely a dozen tables.
Booking note: A small room with a fixed menu: reserve one to two weeks ahead and confirm the menu at booking.
What to order
- Roast goose
- Double-boiled fish maw soup
A private dining room that became a restaurant
102 House began as a private kitchen and still behaves like one: a small room, a fixed menu, a kitchen that decides in the morning what it is cooking. The cooking is Cantonese in its bones — clarity of stock, restraint with sauce, respect for the ingredient — and Shanghainese in its address and its clientele.
The menu leans on the old Cantonese banquet repertoire rather than on contemporary plating: double-boiled soups skimmed to transparency, roast goose with a properly cured skin, steamed fish seasoned with nothing but oil and soy. It is the kind of cooking that reads as simple until you try to reproduce it.
Why the soups matter
Double-boiling is the technique that separates good Cantonese kitchens from competent ones. Ingredients go into a sealed vessel set in water and steam for hours, so nothing reduces and nothing is lost; the broth that comes out is clear, layered and seasoned at the end. Here it is the spine of the meal, not an opener to endure.
The roast goose is the other signature, and worth ordering ahead since it is cooked to the number of tables rather than held. Seasonal seafood is cooked plainly, and the vegetable courses are treated as courses rather than garnish — a detail that tells you the kitchen is cooking for Chinese diners, not for a photograph.
Booking and how to handle the menu
Reserve one to two weeks ahead and confirm the set menu when you book; the room is small enough that the shopping is done against the reservations. Say what you do not eat at that moment, because there is no à la carte escape once the menu is set.
It sits near Zhongshan East Road, close to the Bund, which makes it an easy dinner after a river walk. Budget two hours, bring a Chinese speaker if you want the dishes explained, and do not expect a wine programme of any depth — the tea and the soups are the better pairing.
Who it suits
It is a room for two or four, not for a party: the kitchen cooks to the reservation, and a large table changes the rhythm for everyone in the space. Diners who want choice should go elsewhere; diners who are happy to hand the evening to the kitchen get the most coherent Cantonese meal in the city at this price.
The room is small enough that service is effectively one-to-one, which makes it a good place to learn the cuisine — ask what the soup was built from and you will get a real answer.
Dishes to know in Shanghai
- Xiaolongbao (小笼包)
- Shengjianbao (生煎包)
- Hairy Crab (大闸蟹)
- Dongpo Pork (东坡肉)
More tables in Shanghai
- Yong Fu Hui — Michelin 1 Star
- Wu You Xian — Michelin 1 Star
- Lao Zhengxing — Michelin 1 Star
- Cheng Long Hang Crab House — Michelin 1 Star
- Yong Yi Ting — Michelin 1 Star
- Taian Table — Michelin 3 Stars