LA Scala

Inspired by Milan’s famed opera house, the Teatro alla Scala, and Italian Renaissance gardens, upscale restaurant La Scala is a highlight of The Sukhothai Shanghai. The culinary team, helmed by executive chef Duncan Feng, takes La Scala’s epicurean offering to new heights, crafting creative culinary memories for guests and discerning gourmets alike.

A fusion of Mexican and Italian cuisine, the Chili con Lasagna (188 yuan) presents a 17-layered noodle stack — mimicking the hotel’s 17 floors — interspersed with minced Australian wagyu and red bean chili. A soft tuft of tomato chantilly is siphoned tableside, oozing down the side and into each delicately pleated stratum.

Address: 380 Weihai Rd

Mignon 9

Mignon 9 — a trendy Parisian-style restaurant — opened on Wuyuan Road last fall, lending even more of a Paris backstreet feel to the already leafy-green, tree-lined roads in downtown Xuhui District. The menu is designed by Singapore-trained chef Hank Li (previously of L’Atelier Chic Choc) and packed with Parisian-influenced cuisine — roasted chicken, foie gras, grilled steaks, charcoal-grilled seafood, pastas and the like — plus apéritif cocktails and wine.

Comfort food bliss is a warm bowl of Beef Cheek Pasta (108 yuan) — whorls of handmade daily pappardelle ribbons swaddled in a dense ragù of 12-hour stewed beef cheek, tomatoes and a mirepoix of diced carrots, onions and celery sautéed in butter. A free-handed shaving of Parmesan cheese liquefies into an added layer of creamy indulgence.

Address: 71 Wuyuan Rd

Mona

Mona opened in July on the ground floor of Fotografiska — a part of the global Fotografiska brand, one of the largest contemporary immersive photography museums in the world with over 200 exhibitions attracting millions of visitors since its inception in Stockholm in 2010.

A top seller, and for good reason, the Beyond Bolognaise (98 yuan) is a riff on Chongqing-style dandanmian with Chinese noodles swapped for thicker spaghetti Italian pasta, drowning in a rich peanut, sesame and homemade chili oil paste.

A crumbly topping consisting of minced vegan-friendly Beyond Meat sauteed with customary dandanmian accoutrement, like pickled Yibin yacai (or wild vegetables from Yibin, Sichuan), garlic and ginger, has us questioning if meat is ever really necessary, as we lick a dribble of aromatic oil from our glossy, gratified lips.

Address: 127 Guangfu Rd

Ragù

Situated on Jiaozhou Road, Ragù is Shanghai’s first Italian street food concept, backed by co-owners and married couple Filippo and Yan Murari. First thing first — when we say “street food,” we certainly don’t mean fast food; most of the stews that grace the menu simmer for anywhere between four to seven hours. It’s down to the handheld, on-the-go presentation — the entire lineup of dishes is served in disposable packaging.

As for ambrosial pastas, there’s homemade Tagliatelle al Ragù (62 yuan); Gnocchi al Musso (68 yuan) — pillowy pasta puffs topped with donkey meat stew; and Trofile al Pesto (48 yuan) kinked and rolled short pasta noodles tossed in Ligurian made-fresh-daily pesto.

Address: 176 Jiaozhou Rd

Porto Matto

Chef and owner of Porto Matto, Roberto Bernasconi, opened the restaurant in 2014. Aiming to showcase the flavors of his Italian hometown of Bari, Porto Matto is an ode to the traditional recipes of the Apulian region.

An entire page of the menu is dedicated to scialatielli, a pasta variety hailing from Campania, Italy translating to “ruffled.” Made entirely in house, this thick pasta has a rectangular cross-section and is presented in medium-length strands, each slightly irregular from being knife cut, giving them a ruffled look on the plate.

Available with numerous toppings, diners can choose from the Scialatielli allo Scoglio (138 yuan) with mixed seafood and shellfish cooked in a white wine sauce or opt for the Scialatiello alla Nduja e Rucola (138 yuan) with smoked spicy salami and rocket salad.

Address: 2/F, 83 Changshu Rd

Scarpetta

While Scarpetta has gone through a roller coaster of chefs and menus over the last 12 years, the core essence has remained — one that is all in the name.

Derived from the Italian phrase “fare la scarpetta,” meaning to “make the little shoe,” it is a concept familiar to anyone who has indulged in a deliciously saucy pasta.

As Romans are known for their carbs, it’s not hard to believe that Chef Merolle’s passion is anything pasta. And that passion is conveyed directly on the plate with the Tomato & Gragnano Fusilloni (168 yuan).

A 48-hour labor of love, the sauce sees a combination of three kinds of tomatoes simmered with onions. Like a tomato hug, the sauce seeps its way into every nook and cranny of the corkscrewed pasta.

Address: 33 Mengzi Rd

R.O.W.T

Cotemporary Cantonese restaurant R.O.W.T. opened in Shanghai in October 2023 under Chef Sean Yue (previously of Ensue in Shenzhen and Tetsuya in Sydney), an architect-turned-chef who is “building” some truly experimental dishes.

The set menu (1,280 yuan per person) spans 14 dishes from an exploding cashew milk filled savory beignet topped with Sichuan caviar to macadamia nut and buffalo milk custard stacked with steamed Zhoushan swimming crab, from the showstopper dry-aged Guangdong duck grilled over charcoal then smoked with thyme, chili, anise, and cinnamon to a dessert of brioche French toast adorned with morel mushroom ice cream.

An absolute star, the Shunde-Style Fish Noodles are made from fish meat and egg white piped into boiling water to create its cylindrical noodle shape.

Address: 2/F, 109 Yandang Rd

Yaya’s

Named after the Chinese word for “tooth,” the goal at Yaya’s is to serve toothsome pasta — with that chew you’d anticipate from an Italian restaurant — but incorporating Chinese flavor profiles, all curated by Chef Dan Li (previously of Bird), Andrew Moo (previously of Le Daily and Candor) and Mike Liu (Lucky Mart).

Slow-cooked, hand-shredded Inner Mongolian lamb — prized for its punchy gaminess — is stewed in an Italian sofrito-based ragù, but with the Italian spices replaced by Xinjiang herbs — cumin, coriander and fennel — as the Pappardelle & Lamb Ragù (88 yuan).

Rope-like folds of handmade pappardelle are thrown into the mix, finished with a spoonful of sour cream and a not-so-subtle sprinkling of dill sprigs.

Address: Unit E, 1/F, 329 Tongren Rd