Qu Minglan, the laobanniang of Spring restaurant, is a one-woman dynamo, cooking and serving diners who come for her home-cooked food. Photos by Gao Erqiang / China Daily

Believe it or not, there are people who pay to be yelled at, and stand waiting in line for hours to sit in almost ghetto-like environment for a meal. And, they all pay cash, because no credit is accepted.

But, they say, they are turning over their hard-earned cash in return for the most authentic Shanghainese cuisine in the city.

There is not a clear-cut category to place these restaurants, but they do share some common characteristics.

The dining rooms are mostly run by middle-aged Shanghainese women. Some may have lost their regular jobs in State-owned factories in the wave of opening-up and reforms of the '80s, and as a result decided to make a living doing what they do best - cooking dishes they normally serve their family.

In most cases, the dining rooms are located in the heart of the old city, in crumbling residential estates. In fact, these restaurants are often the living rooms of the cooks' family homes.

Decades after they first opened for business, these private dining rooms by the Shanghai ladies are just more popular than ever, and guests form even longer lines waiting outside the door. Often, a new generation of diners is eager to get in, including young locals who are missing a taste of home.

The food reminds them of mother's cooking, and the cost per person is a fraction of what they pay in the modern restaurants, or the cafes in the malls.

Sometimes, it's just the atmosphere they are after.

Spring

The list of unwritten rules set by the boss of this ramshackle dining room is probably longer than its menu, except there is no menu. Reservations are made by phone only. You eat what is placed before you, and you have to finish everything within an hour. The rules - and there are many - are non-negotiable. Diners who frequent this dining room says the reward for being obedient is a meal that satisfies both stomach and soul.

For the stomach, the red-braised duck and stuffed snails are classic, bathed in the most typical trinity of sauces found in every Shanghai kitchen: soy sauce, sugar and oil. For the soul, there is the gruffly affectionate query that sends the diner off on his way: "Are you good? Have you eaten enough?" Just like Mother.

124 Jinxian Lu (Road), near Maoming Nanlu (South Road), Shanghai.

021-6256-0301.

Recommended: Red-braised Duck, Stuffed Snails.

Linglong

The highest compliment to a chef from someone who is Shanghai-born-and-bred goes something like: "It's almost as good as my grandma's cooking". And yes, that "almost" will still be there should the kitchen be helmed by a Michelin-starred chef.

At Linglong, a name that reflects its petite dining area, almost every dish tastes "almost as good as grandma's cooking".

Drunken prawns, for example, are a rare treat, as the pickling sauce alone can take days, if not weeks, to prepare. The prawns arrive twitching wildly on the table, splashing around the hard liquor-laced sauce. White spirits and yellow wine are added for flavor and to eradicate any parasites that dare to linger.

The laobanniang, or boss lady, claims the prawns are all freshly caught and sent to the kitchen every day, and that their sweet, solid flesh is enough reason for sending them off to crustacean heaven.

57 South Shaanxi Lu (Road), near Xinle Lu (Road), Shanghai.

021-5403-9970.

Recommended: Drunken Prawns, Water Spinach in Pickled Bean Curd Sauce.

Lanting

A word of caution: When you go to eat at Lanting, do not go hungry. The wait for a table starts at 10:30 am for lunch and 4:30 pm for dinner, and can easily leave you faint.

Unless you are so vengeful that you want to sit inside for as long as you stand outside waiting, the best option may be to ask for a bowl of steamed rice and a plate of chicken bone in soy sauce first. It's the fastest order and will come in 30 minutes.

But the real attraction here is a sweet one. Their toffee apple is the best in town according to foodies familiar with the menu. You can eat it all up when it comes to the table or hold back a little for the candy to reach its "hard-crack" stage. Either way, it is the most recommended item here.

107, Songshan Lu (Road), near Taicang Lu (Road), Shanghai.

021-5306-9650

Recommended: Chicken Bone in Soy Sauce, Toffee Apples.

Haijinzi

This is the most spacious eatery among the four listed here. It boasts more than 20 seats and a handful of large tables and another rare luxury - a window that overlooks the street.

The other thing that is huge here is its scallion-braised pork chop, once popular on campus canteens and family tables. In an era when food was scarce, a portion of scallion pork chops was about as decadent as a wardrobe full of Hermes bags.

And then in an age of excesses, people started to shun this piece of meat even while they were prepared to spend hundreds at city steak houses. At Haijinzi, they brand this item on the menu as "a glorious fight back against the steak". Part of the winning strategy is the scallions, which may have you reaching for yet another bowl of rice on its own merit.

240, Jinxian Lu (Road), near Shaanxi Nanlu (South Road), Shanghai.

021-6255-0371.

Recommended: Broiled Pork Chop with Scallions, Sweet and Sour Egg with Crab Roe.

xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/27/2014 page7)