Imagine a place where you can eat home-cooked food from every corner of China and you begin to have a good idea of what Dingxi Lu is all about. Starting at the junction of Dingxi Lu and Yan’an Lu and continuing toward Xinhua Lu, there are dozens of neon-lit restaurants specializing in Chinese comfort food, including Shanghai’s best seafood congees and tastiest soups.

Cuisines on offer range from sweet Shanghainese dishes to spicy pots filled with Sichuan chili to cumin-spiced Uighur barbecue. But just about every menu offers steaming congee served in gargantuan clay pots. The best is from Chaoshan Sha Guo 潮汕砂锅粥馆, a cramped, three-story congee house with glass tanks filled with live eels, fish, crab, three types of shrimp and frogs.

It’s a great visual menu for people who can’t read the Chinese only menu. The delicious, gooey congee base and bowls of marinated daikon, raw cilantro, spicy shrimp paste and fried peanuts to mix in are free. Liven it up with the fresh seafood (pay by the kilo: ¥38-88 for fish, ¥68 for frog or eel, ¥88-108 for shrimp, seasonal prices for crab). We loved our eel and shrimp packed concoction and a bubbling pot for ¥80 easily feeds three. And the restaurant is open 24 hours.

If you’re in the mood for something less soupy, try the Shanxistyle dishes at Huang Tu Gao Po 黄 土高坡饭庄 (798 Dingxi Lu, Tel: 6280-3415).Their deep-fried lamb leg (¥20 each) is nice and juicy, especially with chili sauce. Tables of men swilled bottles of Tsingtao, Budweiser and Harbin beer while chowing down on spicy crawfish (¥25-30 for a kilo). Another one of our guilty pleasures is a sprawling dish of shredded sweet potato and corn fried in batter (¥22). It’s a spot-on substitute for your summer funnel cake. Dingxi Lu has soups for every budget. Soup, in fact, is the specialty at Tang Si Ling 汤司令土灶煨汤馆, also near Yan’an Xi Lu. Get the potent Jiangxi-style pigeon soup stewed with chrysanthemum (¥22).

Or check out the Fujian Shaxian Xiaochi shop at 635 Dingxi Lu (Tel: 135-2483-3632). It’s dingy, but try the tasty black chicken soup stewed with goji berries and ginseng (¥6 per portion).

Last but not least, there’s dessert. Our favorite bargain is at King’s Restaurant (790 Dingxi Lu, Tel: 6116-9330), a typical Hong Kongstyle cha canting with a huge menu. Mondays through Fridays, they have a rotating ¥5 special on select desserts (think mango pudding and fruit sagos). For a few more kuai, savor their delicate egg tarts (¥12 for three), made when you order.

Joanne Yao