Five tables
worth the trip.

Shenzhen’s most serious table, high above Futian: a seasonal tasting menu built on Guangdong ingredients with Napa Valley pedigree, repeatedly ranked among the best restaurants in Asia. This is the one you book weeks ahead, for the kind of dinner you plan a trip around.

Best forCelebrations, closing a deal, or proving to a visitor that Shenzhen dines at the top table.

Ensue’s home tower, the Futian Shangri-La · CC0

A dark, theatrical dining room near UpperHills serving farm-to-table Chinese cooking that changes with the seasons—vegetables from their own farm, unfamiliar cuts, familiar comfort. The most interesting kitchen in the city for the price.

Best forDate nights and adventurous eaters who want Chinese food they have not had before.

The UpperHills neighborhood · Photo: K3liu · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Cantonese institution: trolleys of dim sum, roast goose done properly, and the weekend-morning din of three generations at one table. Come hungry, come early, and order the char siu before anything else.

Best forWeekend dim sum, visiting parents, and learning what Cantonese breakfast is supposed to taste like.

Cantonese dim sum, the house speciality · Photo: Geoffreyrabbit · CC BY-SA 4.0

Italian run by Italians beside the Sea World plaza: proper Neapolitan-style pizza, handmade pasta, and a wine list that does not condescend. The terrace on a dry autumn evening is one of Shekou’s simple pleasures.

Best forEasy dinners with friends, families with kids, and homesick Europeans.

The homegrown Shenzhen chain that does all-day dining right: good coffee, proper brunch, Cantonese-leaning comfort plates, and tea worth lingering over. Branches across the city mean one is never far—the Sea World and mall locations are the easiest introductions.

Best forBrunch, laptop afternoons, and the reliable answer to “where should we just go?”