Restaurant in Shanghai, China
Chinese fine dining with a case to make.
LING LONG, the acclaimed second outpost of chef Jason Liu's Chinese fine-dining concept, sits at the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund and holds a place on the Tatler Best Restaurants Asia-Pacific 2025 list. The kitchen reinterprets Chinese cuisine through local ingredient sourcing and Western technique. Booking difficulty is low for this tier, making it one of Shanghai's more accessible prestige tables.
Getting a table at LING LONG is easier than you might expect for a restaurant on the Tatler Leading Restaurants Asia-Pacific 2025 list. Booking difficulty is low by the standards of serious Chinese fine dining in Shanghai, which makes it one of the more accessible entries in this tier. If you have been once and enjoyed it, there is no tactical reason to delay your next reservation — but booking a week or two ahead is still advisable for weekend evenings, when the Waldorf Astoria's ground-floor dining room draws both hotel guests and destination diners.
LING LONG sits at the Ground Floor of the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund, at No. 2 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road in Huangpu District. The address alone signals the positioning: this is a prestige-tier Chinese restaurant operating at the intersection of heritage Shanghai and international fine dining, with the Bund's commercial gravity behind it. Chef Jason Liu launched the original LING LONG in Beijing in 2019, and the Shanghai iteration, which opened roughly four years later, has attracted greater critical attention than its predecessor — a relatively uncommon trajectory for a second-city outpost of a Chinese concept.
The kitchen's premise, according to Tatler's recognition, is redefining traditional Chinese cuisine through local ingredient sourcing combined with Western culinary technique. That framing matters when you are deciding whether the price is justified. This is not a restaurant where the sourcing story is decorative. The combination of Chinese regional produce with preparation methods drawn from Western fine dining is the actual mechanism that separates LING LONG from more conservative Chinese tasting-menu formats. If you have already visited once and appreciated the ingredient-led structure of the menu, a return visit is worth making as the seasonal sourcing cycle turns , what arrives on the plate in autumn will read differently from a spring menu, even within the same culinary framework. For diners considering it against more format-traditional options like Xin Rong Ji (West Nanjing Road), the distinction is clear: LING LONG is a technique-forward interpretation of Chinese cooking, not a regional specialist.
The Shanghai dining scene at this level includes several strong competitors. Taian Table is the obvious peer reference for innovative tasting menus in Shanghai, and Fu He Hui occupies a similar prestige tier from a vegetarian angle. LING LONG's differentiation is the specifically Chinese ingredient foundation treated through a cross-cultural technical lens , a format that has earned comparison internationally to what Atomix does for Korean fine dining in New York, or what Le Bernardin demonstrated for French seafood: that a defined culinary tradition can sustain serious fine-dining ambition when technique and sourcing are aligned.
Elsewhere in China, LING LONG's approach sits alongside a growing group of restaurants rethinking regional Chinese cuisine through sourcing precision: Xin Rong Ji (Xinyuan South Road) in Beijing, Ru Yuan in Hangzhou, and Chef Tam's Seasons in Macau each take a different regional entry point. Of those, LING LONG is the most explicit about the East-West technique fusion, which will appeal to some diners and feel less essential to others who prefer purity of regional style.
For practical planning: the restaurant is at the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund, making it direct to combine with a stay at the hotel or an evening along the waterfront. If you are building a broader Shanghai itinerary around serious dining, our full Shanghai restaurants guide covers the wider field, and our Shanghai hotels guide can help with accommodation context near the Bund. For pre- or post-dinner options, the Shanghai bars guide is worth consulting for nearby options. Visitors approaching Shanghai as a broader food destination should also consider 102 House for Cantonese and 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Shanghai) for Italian at a comparable price tier, as well as Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine in Guangzhou and Dai Yuet Heen in Nanjing if the trip extends regionally.
LING LONG is the right booking if you want Chinese fine dining that treats local ingredient sourcing as a culinary argument rather than a marketing note, and if you are comfortable with a format that draws on Western technique. The Bund address adds occasion weight without making the booking process difficult. Return visitors are well served by timing a second visit around a seasonal shift in the menu, when the sourcing-led kitchen has most reason to surprise.
One to two weeks ahead is sufficient for most visits, including weekend evenings. Booking difficulty is low for a Tatler Asia-Pacific-listed restaurant at this tier, but same-week availability on Friday and Saturday nights is not guaranteed. If you have a fixed date for a special occasion, booking two to three weeks out removes any uncertainty.
Yes, and more reliably so than many comparable venues in Shanghai. The Waldorf Astoria setting on the Bund provides occasion weight, the cuisine format is tasting-menu oriented, and Tatler Asia-Pacific 2025 recognition gives it an external credential that holds up if you are bringing guests who care about that. For pure occasion impact among Chinese fine dining options in Shanghai, it competes directly with Fu He Hui. LING LONG wins on the cross-cultural technique angle; Fu He Hui is stronger if the occasion calls for a vegetarian menu.
A tasting-menu format at a hotel fine dining restaurant on the Bund is a reasonable solo choice if you are comfortable with that kind of dinner. The counter or single-seat options are worth requesting when booking. Solo dining at LING LONG is less socially charged than a solo visit to a noisier group-format restaurant, and the Bund location makes it easy to build a solo evening around a walk before or after. That said, if solo dining with a more interactive counter experience appeals, Taian Table is worth comparing.
Smart casual at minimum; smart-formal is appropriate and fits the Waldorf Astoria context. This is a Bund fine-dining address with Tatler recognition , arriving in business casual or above is the safe call. Avoid overly casual dress. The hotel setting means the surrounding crowd will generally be dressed up, and underdressing will feel out of place.
For innovative tasting menus at a similar prestige tier, Taian Table is the closest comparison and worth considering if Modern European technique interests you more than a Chinese-rooted menu. Fu He Hui is the right alternative if a vegetarian format at the same price tier suits the occasion. For Cantonese specifically, 102 House and Xin Rong Ji (West Nanjing Road) cover different regional approaches. If you want to go broader across Chinese fine dining in the region, Xin Rong Ji in Chengdu is a useful reference point for how the same brand reads in a different city context.
The kitchen's premise is Chinese cuisine reinterpreted through local ingredient sourcing and Western technique , go in expecting a format closer to a European-style tasting menu than a traditional Chinese banquet. The Waldorf Astoria location means service standards are hotel fine dining, not independent-restaurant casual. First-timers should book via the hotel's reservation channel and confirm any dietary requirements in advance, as an ingredient-led tasting format can be harder to adapt on the night. The Tatler Asia-Pacific 2025 listing gives you a reliable external benchmark: this is a recognised address, not a speculative booking.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in available data, so a precise dish recommendation would be speculative. What is documented is the kitchen's commitment to local Chinese ingredients treated through Western fine-dining technique. In a format like this, the tasting menu is the intended way to experience the kitchen's sourcing logic fully , ordering à la carte, if available, will give you less of the ingredient-narrative the chef is building. Ask your server about the current seasonal sourcing focus; that question will tell you what the kitchen is most confident in that week.
The Waldorf Astoria setting suggests private dining or semi-private options are likely available for larger groups, but confirmed capacity and group booking policy are not in available data. For groups of six or more, contact the restaurant directly at +86 18121235909 to confirm room configuration and any set-menu requirements. Groups approaching this as a celebratory dinner should note that the Bund address and Tatler recognition make it a credible choice for corporate entertaining as well as personal occasions.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Fu He Hui | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | ¥¥¥¥ | — |
| Ming Court | Michelin 1 Star | ¥¥¥ | — |
| Polux | ¥¥ | — | |
| Royal China Club | ¥¥¥ | — | |
| Scarpetta | ¥¥¥ | — |
How Restaurant LING LONG stacks up against the competition.
Book at least two to three weeks out, and further in advance around public holidays or Golden Week. LING LONG sits in the Waldorf Astoria on the Bund and carries a Tatler Best Restaurants Asia-Pacific 2025 listing, which means it draws both local regulars and visiting diners. Reaching out via the Instagram account (@restaurant_linglong) or the hotel concierge is your most reliable route if the main line goes unanswered.
Yes, it is one of the stronger choices for a milestone dinner in Shanghai. The Waldorf Astoria Bund address provides occasion-appropriate surroundings, and the restaurant's premise — local Chinese ingredients interpreted through Western fine-dining technique — gives the meal a distinct point of view rather than generic luxury-hotel execution. If the occasion calls for a more explicitly celebratory, banquet-style format, Fu He Hui may suit better.
It is workable for solo diners, though LING LONG's format skews toward a structured tasting experience, which tends to reward shared conversation. A solo visit at the counter or bar area, if available, lets you engage with the kitchen rhythm without the awkwardness of a large table for one. check the venue's official channels via Instagram or phone (+86 18121235909) to ask about counter seating before you book.
The Waldorf Astoria Bund setting implies a dress standard above casual — think polished and put-together rather than strictly formal. Tailored trousers and a collared shirt for men, or an equivalent effort for women, reads correctly for this room. Trainers and sportswear will feel out of place; a suit is not required but won't be over-dressed.
Fu He Hui is the clearest alternative if you want vegetarian-forward Chinese fine dining with comparable prestige. For a more Cantonese-focused experience in a hotel setting, Ming Court (Hong Kong) is worth knowing as a regional benchmark. If you're open to a French approach to seasonal produce at a similar price tier, Polux offers a different but equally considered perspective. Royal China Club and Scarpetta serve different formats — Cantonese dim sum and Italian respectively — and aren't direct substitutes for what LING LONG does.
LING LONG is the Shanghai outpost of a Beijing original that launched in 2019, and this branch has drawn stronger critical attention than the flagship. The restaurant's argument is that Chinese ingredients can anchor a fine-dining format shaped by Western technique — so expect a structured, course-driven meal rather than a la carte sharing plates. Coming with that expectation set makes the experience land as intended. The Bund location means the surrounding area is worth factoring into your evening.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in available data, and LING LONG's format appears to be tasting-menu driven, which means the kitchen determines the progression. Trust the format — the Tatler Asia-Pacific 2025 recognition reflects the menu as a whole rather than individual dishes. If you have dietary restrictions, flag them when booking via +86 18121235909 or through Instagram.
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