TO sample some of the city's tastiest cuisine, diners at Shanghai's tiny restaurants are prepared to endure a lengthy wait then a scolding from a formidable "auntie" if they dawdle or don't clear their plates. Yao Minji visits some top small eateries and tries their signature dishes.

The best food does not always come on silver salvers, served beneath sparkling chandeliers. In China, it often happens that the tastiest dishes are to be found in small, rundown-looking places that can easily go unnoticed.

Such small eateries, with the minimum in simple decor, usually have only four to eight tables, a typical Shanghai "auntie" whose style of hospitality is unforgettable, and a relatively small menu featuring some impressive dishes.

Many are hidden in longtang, or lanes, and serve typical Shanghai-style dishes, the so-called nong you chi jiang - literally meaning rich oil and red sauce. This refers to the typically sweet Shanghai cuisine that uses a lot of soy sauce and various kinds of sugar.

As a port city, Shanghai has long attracted people from all over China, especially the nearby Yangtze River Delta region.

This is reflected in the city's cuisine. Essentially, Shanghai food is a mixture of great tastes from nearby Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

Soup with bamboo shoots, pork and Chinese ham, yan du xian, is a typical Shanghai dish that originates from Jiangsu Province. The fragrant and fresh bamboo shoots and pork are slowly cooked to complement the heavier taste of the salty ham.

Soy sauce duck - jiang ya - comes from Zhejiang Province and has also over time become a Shanghai specialty. The duck is soaked for hours in a marinade made from soy sauce and dozens of other ingredients - including ginger, garlic, sugar, salt and rice wine - before being broiled.

Other Shanghai specialty dishes include sweet and sour ribs, quick-fried shrimp with shell, soy sauce hairy crab with rice cake, soy sauce fish and cold soy sauce duck, among many.

The fragrances and flavors of Shanghai dishes are so diverse that it is difficult to believe they are cooked with soy sauce and sugar. Diversity comes from the different quantities of spices, the cooking time and temperature.

Shanghai's tiny eateries are known for the freshness of the materials. The aunties sit outside the restaurant to prepare vegetables, cut meat or wash fish, showing how fresh the raw ingredients, often bought directly from wet markets that day, are.

It is very difficult to get a table without reservations since most of these tiny eateries have regular customers, whose loyalty in some cases has made it possible for tiny restaurants to survive for more than 10 years in the hugely competitive Shanghai dining market.

Chun (Spring) is one of the best-known tiny restaurants among expats and it is not unusual to find Western diners occupying two of the eatery's four tables.

Nobody who has ever eaten at Chun can forget the owner, a typical Shanghai auntie. The restaurant has no menu, and she makes rapid-fire recommendations of specialty dishes according to different ingredients at different seasons. Many returning diners just leave it to her to arrange the whole dinner.

Best are the oil quick-fried shrimp in their shells. The fresh shrimps are quickly fried with oil, soy sauce and sugar, which makes the shell crispy and the shrimp meat juicy. With this dish, many people eat the shell as well.

Soy sauce duck is Chun's most popular appetizer - tender duck meat soaked in a slightly sweet soy-based special sauce.

Another favorite - and Shanghai classic - is hairy crab fried with rice cake. Hairy crabs are halved and cooked with rice cakes in ginger, soy sauce and sugar. The rich and fragrant crab butter is further intensified by oil and sauces and soaks deep into the sticky, absorbent rice cakes. In this dish, the rice cake is the main feature, though first-time eaters may go for the more expensive crab.

Chun has kept the same decor for at least the past 10 years: a fan hanging from the ceiling; simple white walls; a tank with fresh fish of the day to be ordered; and four simple tables. No other decoration is needed. The taste is its chandeliers and silver salvers.

The auntie usually serves three - sometimes even four - sittings every evening, which means diners cannot be late for their reservation, and the auntie will do her rounds cajoling slow eaters.

She also hates wasting food and reminds diners to finish all they are served. No take-out box is available so everyone is expected to leave clean plates.

Chun is typical of small, delicious eateries dotted around the city.

Opposite Chun on Jinxian Road in Jing'an District is Qing Mai (Chiang Mai) Heaven. The owner has put some small chairs outside, which proves essential in the evenings when the place is always filled and groups are waiting outside.

Though small, the place is decorated in Thai style, with a tall, round roof on the outside and the Thai King's picture behind the counter. Free fried crackers, thick and crispy, are served when guests are making their orders.

Some say the tom yum soup is the best in town, striking gold with its combination of sour and spicy flavors. The green curry chicken is also a popular dish, which goes extremely well with the slightly sticky rice. Other typical Thai dishes, such as curry crab, shrimp crackers, red curry and yellow curry are also very popular.

Jinxian Road is a tiny street, the length of which can be walked in just a few minutes, but it also features around 10 tiny restaurants. While Chun and Qing Mai Heaven are on one end, Hai Jin Zi (Sea Gold Taste) on the other end is also a hit spot. It is best known for its roast pork ribs and stir-fried egg with hairy crab butter.

Lan Ting (Orchid Pavilion) restaurant on Songshan Road in Huangpu District has only six tables, and it often takes nearly an hour to get served. It is small and neat, and the waiting staff are especially friendly and helpful.

Its ji gu jiang, literally meaning chicken bone sauce, is the most popular order. Chicken is cooked in soy sauce and sugar along with bones, resulting in a very sweet dish that goes very well with either rice or tea. Latecomers often find that the ji gu jiang has sold out.

Yong Xing (Forever Prosperous) restaurant on Fuxing Road and Xiao Bai Hua (Little Birch) on Wanping Road are two famous longtang (alleyway) eateries, hidden in old residential buildings, making diners feel that they're eating at home.

These two eateries are also more elaborately decorated than other tiny restaurants, with soft lighting, flowers and table cloth.

But ultimately, it's not the decor but the nong you chi jiang - rich oil and red sauce - that keeps drawing customers back.