Restaurant in Shanghai, China
Tony Lu's most personal restaurant. Book early.
Fu 1015 is the original and most grounded of Tony Lu's Fu restaurants in Shanghai — a heritage mansion in Changning District serving labour-intensive home-style Shanghainese cooking. The river fish programme, particularly the eels and oil-blanched shrimps, justifies the ¥¥¥¥ spend. Backed by La Liste, Black Pearl 1 Diamond, and OAD Asia Top 100 recognition, it is the address to book if traditional Shanghainese technique is your priority.
Private rooms at Fu 1015 fill up faster than the ¥¥¥¥ price point might suggest — this is a venue where planning ahead pays off. The original of Tony Lu's three Fu restaurants on Yuyuan Road, Fu 1015 occupies a 1920s heritage mansion in Changning District, and its focus on home-style Shanghainese cooking draws a loyal local crowd alongside visitors who have done the homework. If you are coming to Shanghai specifically to eat, this address belongs on your list — not for spectacle, but for the kind of labour-intensive, technique-driven cooking that is genuinely hard to find at this level anywhere outside the city.
The awards record supports the booking decision: La Liste placed Fu 1015 at 75 points in 2026 (76.5 in 2025), it holds a Black Pearl 1 Diamond for 2025, and Opinionated About Dining ranked it 51st among Asia's leading restaurants in 2024. These are consistent, cross-platform signals of quality, not one-off recognition. For Shanghainese cooking specifically, few addresses in the city carry this kind of sustained critical weight.
Fu 1015 is the most grounded of the three Fu siblings. Where Fu 1088 leans toward formal banqueting and Fu 1039 sits in the middle register, this original address stays closest to the domestic Shanghainese tradition: recipes that take days, not hours, to prepare, and ingredients that are hyper-local and seasonal. River fish is the kitchen's clear strength. River eels in particular appear across multiple preparations, and the oil-blanched river shrimps are a recurring recommendation: bouncy in texture, loaded with the kind of savoury depth that comes from quality sourcing rather than sauce. These are not dishes you find replicated credibly at lower price points.
The setting reinforces the food. The mansion dates to the 1920s, furnished in a retro style with a terrace and several private rooms. It does not feel like a heritage property that has been over-restored for tourists; the atmosphere reads as functional and lived-in, which suits the home-style cooking brief. If you are coming from a hotel in Jing'an or the Bund area, factor in the Changning District location , it is a cab or metro ride west, not a walkable detour from most central accommodation.
One visit to Fu 1015 is enough to understand what it does. Two or three visits is how you actually eat your way through it. The river fish programme is the logical anchor for visit one: order the eels in at least one preparation and the oil-blanched shrimps. These are the dishes that define the kitchen's identity and give you the clearest read on the sourcing and technique.
On a second visit, shift focus toward the multi-step labour-intensive dishes that require advance planning or longer cooking times. These are the recipes that most differentiate Fu 1015 from mid-market Shanghainese restaurants , the kind of cooking you will not find replicated at Lao Zheng Xing or casual neighbourhood spots. Ask the staff what is currently in season and what requires the most preparation time; in a kitchen that centres on this style of cooking, those tend to be the most interesting plates.
A third visit is worth structuring around a private room if your group size allows. The mansion's private dining spaces change the feel of the meal considerably and are the right format for a longer, more exploratory menu. For context on what high-end Shanghainese private dining looks like across the region, it is worth comparing notes with Liu Yuan Pavilion in Hong Kong and Shanghai Cuisine in Beijing, both of which take the cuisine in somewhat different directions.
River fish and freshwater ingredients are at their leading in cooler months, broadly autumn through early spring, when water temperatures are lower and the catch is firmer and more flavourful. If you are planning a trip to Shanghai with Fu 1015 as a dining priority, the October-to-March window gives you the strongest version of the kitchen's core programme. Summer visits are not a poor choice , the terrace becomes a more appealing option in warmer weather , but the river fish menu will be at its peak in the colder half of the year.
For day-of-week timing, weekday lunches and early weekday dinners tend to be quieter than weekend sittings, when the private rooms are in highest demand from larger groups. If a walk-in is your only option, a weekday lunch is your leading shot, though calling ahead is strongly recommended at this price point and format.
For broader context on where Fu 1015 sits within Shanghai's dining scene, see our full Shanghai restaurants guide. If you are building a longer trip, our Shanghai hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the wider picture.
For other high-end Chinese dining across the region, see Xin Rong Ji in Beijing, Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu, Ru Yuan in Hangzhou, Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau, Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou, and Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing. For Shanghainese cooking specifically in other cities, Liu Yuan Pavilion in Hong Kong and Shanghai Cuisine in Beijing are the most relevant comparisons. Also consider Ren He Guan in Xuhui for a different angle on Shanghai's traditional cooking scene. Our Shanghai wineries guide rounds out the picture if you are pairing your trip with wine exploration.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fu 1015 | Shanghainese | ¥¥¥¥ | Easy |
| Fu He Hui | Vegetarian | ¥¥¥¥ | Unknown |
| Ming Court | Cantonese | ¥¥¥ | Unknown |
| Polux | French | ¥¥ | Unknown |
| Royal China Club | Chinese, Cantonese | ¥¥¥ | Unknown |
| Scarpetta | Italian | ¥¥¥ | Unknown |
How Fu 1015 stacks up against the competition.
Yes, and groups are actually a strong use case here. The heritage mansion has several private rooms, which suit banquet-style Shanghainese sharing formats well. Book the private room if you're four or more — they fill ahead of the main dining room at this ¥¥¥¥ price point, so reserve at least two to three weeks out.
Less so than a counter-format restaurant. Fu 1015 is structured around sharing dishes, and the menu's labour-intensive multi-step recipes are designed for the table to split. A solo visit works if you're focused on exploring one or two signature dishes — river eel or oil-blanched river shrimps — but the format rewards groups more than single diners.
River fish is the department to focus on, particularly river eels prepared across multiple cooking methods — this is one of the kitchen's documented strengths. Oil-blanched river shrimps are also specifically noted for their texture and depth of flavour. Beyond that, Fu 1015's identity is home-style Shanghainese cooking with multi-step recipes, so lean toward the less abbreviated dishes on the menu.
There is no documented bar counter or casual bar-dining format at Fu 1015. The venue is a 1920s heritage mansion with a dining room, terrace, and private rooms — the setup is table-service throughout. If a more informal entry point into high-end Shanghai dining is what you need, this is not the right format.
Fu 1015 is the most grounded of the three Fu restaurants — less formal than Fu 1088, more focused on home-style cooking than banquet prestige. It holds a Black Pearl Diamond (2025) and sits at rank 51 in Opinionated About Dining's Asia list (2024), so the credentials are real. Come with a group, target the river fish dishes, and book private rooms in advance if your party is four or more.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
