Ben Jia

It is a daunting challenge to find a decent Korean restaurant in Shanghai that matches the level of service and free-flow kimchi of the restaurants in South Korea. This requires travel outside of central Shanghai to Ben Jia to the place where the Korean communities have settled. The ambition to consume authentic Korean food had driven us this far.

Arriving for a later lunch, the restaurant is still full and the server asks we wait a moment. This is promising. A full house means good food and a hungry stomach getting very excited.

As there were only two people, we did not have the chance to order everything off the menu for different tastes. We got the standard pork for barbecuing and spicy tofu soup with egg in a hot stone pot. I was not sure what to expect because I had become accustomed to the meager portions of sides that come with a Korean meal in Shanghai. I was proved wrong when they brought out the large platter of leafy greens, salad, cold soup, kimchi, sauces, and other delicious vegetable accompaniments. The vegetables were incredibly fresh and crispy. This meant that we would not have to constantly bother the server for more lettuce or kimchi. Excellent.


Before the meat came out, the spicy tofu soup was served. It was actually relatively spicy for Shanghai standards (Shanghainese have a lower tolerance for any sort of spicy factor, especially compared to the Sichuan food in Shanghai and Sichuan food in Sichuan province). The soup was lovely, though a little oily, and stayed hot throughout the meal.


Unlike Korea, the server in Shanghai insisted on helping us grill our meat instead of allowing us to go at our own pace and grill the meat ourselves. The pork was also served pre-cut and we did not get the massive kitchen shears to cut the meat up ourselves to desired size. Oh well. This is China, not Korea. The pork was still grilled nicely and went well with the extremely fresh selection of greens we could wrap them in.


This was a really nice meal and probably the closest thing I have experienced for an "authentic" Korean meal. It also turns out the restaurant is a short walk to the metro station, making this place more accessible from central Shanghai.

Ben Jia. 1339 Wuzhong Lu (near Jinhui Nan Lu) 吴中路1339号 (近金汇南路). Metro line 9 Hechuan Road. Shanghai, China.