Street-level dim sum from 6 to 10:30am, outside the Yang Xi Jiudian and just around the corner from the Shangri-La in Jianshe Lu, makes a good and very cheap start to the day. There's Kejia food, jiaozi, and familiar Hong Kong fast-food names such as Fairwood in the Luo Hu Commercial City. Keep clear of the restaurants in the railway station building, however, where the food and portions are both miserable, and where there's a 10% charge for nonexistent service. Venture farther up Jianshe Lu or Renmin Lu to find an assortment of standard Chinese restaurants and Western fast-food chains. The rotating Tiara restaurant on the top (31st) floor of the Shangri-La has an excellent international buffet for around ¥150 ($20/£9.75) per person, as well as constantly changing views that include the one across the barbed wire to the green New Territories of Hong Kong. The hotel's signature Shang Palace restaurant has top-of-the-line Cantonese food at fair prices for the quality; a meal for two costs around ¥400 ($65/£23). For burger and steak enthusiasts, the hotel also has a branch of the American chain Henry J. Bean's, with main courses for ¥100 ($13/£6.50).
For a change of pace from the rather predictable five-star hotels, I would suggest the Shenzhen Number One Production Team, Hong Hui Lu (tel. 0755/8247-6222; metro station Dai Ju Yuan). Step back in time into the midst of Maoist revolutionary fervor and sample popular dishes from the time of the Long March such as "Third battalion steam eggs and pork in an earthenware pot," served by staff in authentic Red Guard uniforms.
