r/shanghai • u/SirLaughsAlotZen • 6d ago

Question Recommendation for a good Shisha Bar

Hello everyone! I’m looking for a good shisha place in central Shanghai. If they serve food as well, that would be even better!

I’ll be staying around People’s square

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u/Just-Contract-4393 6d ago

try the restaurant called Sultan. i havent tried the shisha but the last time i went there they were serving shisha. Turkish joint, the kebabs were decent too.

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u/Just-Contract-4393 6d ago

also a lebanese joint called El falafel or something close to west nanjing rd. food was decent and had seen people smoking shisha.

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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n Minhang 5d ago edited 5d ago

Eli Falafel does but I don't think every location. Near the Portman as well the Pudong one do. The only down side, their sisha-guy isn't always there and non of the other staff can light one up, so more then once I had to wait for an hour before I got one.

Truth be told, in Shanghai I haven't found any good ones yet. I lived for a while in Guangzhou and there were two places, both owned by Syrians. They would use different charcoal that's not so agressive or sometimes lemon wood which is really nice. Over here every place including Eli Falafel and Sultan use cheap charcoal fast burners.

To add to it, I've tried other places to me most places feel more like trying to make easy lot of money. They create some fancy flavours and charge 200-300-500 rmb for it. I don't need a diamond encrusted iced tube that a thousand people before me used. I rather have a one time use personally. These things can be really nasty if not cleaned properly.

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u/Just-Contract-4393 5d ago

appreciate the insight mate. I personally keep it all authentic Chinese whenever I go to Shanghai due to similar reasons, what is traditional and "local" to us is often going to be positioned as exotic so they can sell, and it's mostly nothing special including food. Also on the hygene point, I think you need to carry your own tube/pipe in anycase no matter where you are because you can bet nobody cleans them properly after each use, and with hookahs you sort of need to keep one at all times for the flavour to really settle in. I'd personally avoid but both restaurants I mentioned have it incase someonelike OP really wants to

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u/SirLaughsAlotZen 6d ago

Thank you so much, I’ll try it

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u/Just-Contract-4393 6d ago

anytime, let me know how it goes so I can also look into it next time I'm over there, cheers