Shanghai

What kind of food do you like? I can send you a bunch of links when I'm on my laptop on Monday.
Bars - Post No Bills is really great (not french concession but not far), it's run by a friend of mine. Barbarian is another nice bar, they have a few locations now. Can't remember the name of the place atm but there's a spritz bar on yongkang road that I liked a lot. If you want dive bars then Specters is probably your best bet (run by another friend). Co Cheese (for Caesars and pickle shots).

Ok, so a few french concession suggestions (bear in mind that I left nearly a year ago so it may be a little out of date - also I'm not sure of the english names of anything (if it helps I can write out the chinese names for you)):

• Hunan food! My fave type of chinese food! Either Hunan Country Kitchen (on Wulumuqi Road) or Di Shui Dong (on Maoming Road kinda near Changle Road)
  
• Xinjiang food! There's a place that does amazing Xinjiang bbq on the corner of Yuyuan Branch Road and Wulumuqi Road (slightly out of the french concession but not far at all).
  
• Best baozi in Shanghai: on the corner of Yongjia Road and Jiashan Road, next to the supermarket on the Jiashan Road corner. The baozi are super fluffy and delicious and cost RMB 2 or something absurd.
  
• Best jianbing (this is hard as jianbing is not a Shanghai food and is never amazing in Shanghai - but this is one of the best ones for a delicious breakfast savoury pancake): a hole in the wall right on the corner of Xiangyang Road and Yongkang Road (next to cafe de volcan).
  
• Best dumplings (fried style but they also have boiled): Fuxing Middle Road near to the corner with Xiangyang Road.
  
• Extremely fancy dimsun: Sense8 (Taicang Road in Xintiandi)
  
• Best pizza (if you get sick of chinese food): Alimentari (the one on Donghu Road is the largest) or if you want slices then Joes (next to Co Cheese on the corner of Nanchang Road and Shaanxi South Road)
  
  

I have no recommendations for Shanghainese food as I hate it (very sweet/oily).

Don't go to Starbucks or Luckin, Manner is hands down the best coffee and super affordable.

I lived in the french concession and miss it a lot even though I'm still a little traumatised after being locked in my apartment during the zero covid lockdown madness.