Scilla

Verdict

Scilla is one of the few places in Shanghai where Mediterranean cooking is taken seriously at a price point that demands it. Chef Stefano Bacchelli's Italian-leaning menu earned consecutive Michelin Plates in 2024 and 2025, and the restaurant's inclusion in the Tatler Leading Restaurants Asia-Pacific 2025 list confirms it is performing above its immediate peer set. If you want European cooking done with genuine technique rather than as an afterthought to a hotel lobby, Scilla is worth booking. If you are looking for a lighter spend on Italian, Scarpetta at ¥¥¥ is the logical alternative.

What Scilla Is

Scilla sits inside the Sukhothai Shanghai hotel on Weihai Road in Jing'An, a neighbourhood that has enough destination restaurants to make competition real. The cuisine is Mediterranean with a clear Italian anchor, shaped by Bacchelli's approach to what the restaurant itself describes as refined home cooking. That framing is worth taking at face value: this is not a modernist tasting laboratory. The ambition here is in the quality of execution and the coherence of a menu that moves through Mediterranean flavours with a confident sense of progression, rather than in theatrical presentation or ingredient shock.

The Michelin Plate designation, held across two consecutive years, signals consistent technical performance rather than a single standout season. A Plate is not a star, but in a city where the guide's scrutiny is serious, retaining it in both 2024 and 2025 means the kitchen is not coasting. Paired with the Tatler listing, which covers the Asia-Pacific region, Scilla is credentialled beyond its immediate Shanghai context.

The Tasting Experience

The progression of a meal at Scilla follows the Mediterranean logic of building from lighter to more substantive, with the Italian backbone providing structural familiarity. Think of it less as a formal tasting menu in the Japanese omakase sense and more as a sequence of courses where each one earns its place by reinforcing a consistent flavour register rather than pivoting unexpectedly. For a returning diner, the question to ask is whether you stayed close to what you knew on the first visit. If you ordered conservatively last time, the second visit is the one to push into the fuller progression and let Bacchelli's kitchen dictate the pace.

¥¥¥¥ price tier means you are in the same bracket as Fu He Hui, Shanghai's most decorated vegetarian restaurant, and the same bracket as 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, the city's most prominent Italian fine dining room. The Bombana comparison is the one that will define whether Scilla is the right call: if you want full Italian fine dining ceremony and a longer wine programme, Bombana is the more expansive experience. If you want something more contained, with a Mediterranean warmth in the room rather than ballroom formality, Scilla fits better.

For diners who have visited once and are considering a return, the seasonal angle matters. The Tatler listing features imagery tied to late 2024, suggesting the kitchen was in strong form heading into winter. Current season menus at Mediterranean-leaning restaurants in Shanghai tend to move toward richer preparations as the weather drops, which makes this a good time of year to revisit if you found the earlier visit leaned lighter than you wanted.

Practical Details

Scilla is located at 380 Weihai Road, inside the Sukhothai Shanghai, on the ground floor. The hotel address on Panyu Road is referenced in some listings but the Weihai Road address is the correct operational location for the restaurant. Booking is rated easy at this venue, which is consistent with the profile of a hotel restaurant in this tier: reservations are available and walk-in risk is lower than at standalone destination spots. That said, if you are planning around a specific occasion, book ahead to secure your preferred time rather than relying on same-day availability. Contact details are not confirmed in our data, so use the hotel's main booking channels or check the restaurant's Instagram at @scilla_shanghai for current information.

The price is firmly in the top tier for Shanghai dining. Budget accordingly: a full meal with wine at ¥¥¥¥ in Jing'An will sit at the higher end of what you would spend at comparable European-influenced restaurants in the city. On that note, if the spend is a stretch, Taian Table offers a different calibre of modern European cooking and is worth comparing on value before committing.

For a broader picture of where Scilla sits in the city's dining map, see our full Shanghai restaurants guide. If you're planning a full trip around eating well in the region, 102 House and Xin Rong Ji (West Nanjing Road) round out a strong Shanghai itinerary across different cuisine registers. For comparison, Mediterranean cooking at a similar standard appears in very different contexts at La Brezza in Ascona and Arnaud Donckele & Maxime Frédéric at Louis Vuitton in Saint-Tropez, which gives useful context for what the cuisine can reach internationally.

Use our Shanghai hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide to build the rest of your stay around Scilla if Jing'An is your base.

FAQs

• Is Scilla good for a special occasion? Yes, particularly if the occasion calls for a European fine dining setting rather than a Chinese or pan-Asian one. The Tatler Asia-Pacific 2025 listing and back-to-back Michelin Plates give it the credentials to carry the weight of a birthday or anniversary dinner. The hotel setting adds a level of polish that standalone restaurants at this price do not always match. For a vegetarian-focused occasion in the same price tier, Fu He Hui is the more dramatic room.
• What are alternatives to Scilla in Shanghai? For Italian specifically, Scarpetta at ¥¥¥ is a step down in price and formality but a viable option if the ¥¥¥¥ spend is more than you want to commit. For broader European cooking with stronger tasting menu architecture, Taian Table is the comparison most serious diners will make. At the Mediterranean end specifically, Scilla is the clearest destination option in the city at this tier.
• What should a first-timer know about Scilla? Go in knowing this is a hotel restaurant that punches above the typical hotel dining standard. The Michelin Plate and Tatler recognition set an expectation the kitchen works to meet. First-timers should let the kitchen lead the progression rather than ordering à la carte defensively. Budget for the full experience: arriving at ¥¥¥¥ with a short order is not the point of coming here.
• Does Scilla handle dietary restrictions? Contact the restaurant directly before booking. Phone and website details are not confirmed in our current data, but the Instagram account @scilla_shanghai or the Sukhothai Shanghai hotel's booking line is the leading route to confirm. Mediterranean menus with an Italian anchor often carry flexibility on fish and vegetable courses, but do not assume without asking.
• Is Scilla good for solo dining? The hotel restaurant format at this price tier is generally more comfortable for solo diners than standalone tasting menu rooms, since counter seating or small tables are more likely to be available. Booking is rated easy, which supports last-minute solo visits. The ¥¥¥¥ spend solo is significant, but if the category is what you are after, there is no reason to avoid it. Alternatively, Xin Rong Ji (West Nanjing Road) at a lower price point is more accessible for solo dining if budget is the constraint.
• Is the tasting menu worth it at Scilla? Based on available data, yes, provided the Mediterranean format is what you want. The Michelin Plate across two years and the Tatler Asia-Pacific listing are both signals that the kitchen is performing consistently. For a city with as much competition as Shanghai, that level of maintained recognition at the ¥¥¥¥ tier means the tasting format is carrying its price. If you have already visited, a return specifically for the full menu progression is justified.
• Is Scilla worth the price? At ¥¥¥¥, the expectation is clear: this should deliver at or above what comparable European cooking in Shanghai charges. Against 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in the same price bracket, Scilla offers a more intimate Mediterranean register versus Bombana's grander Italian fine dining scale. If the more contained, home-cooking-rooted approach is what you want, it earns its price. If you want maximum ceremony and wine programme depth for the same spend, Bombana is the call.