Learn how to cook the most healthy and delicious Chinese dishes at a local Shanghai Mama's home. The friendly Shanghai Mama will share her ancient Chinese cooking secret with you, and you will also get hands on experience during cooking process. You are suggested to learn 2 home dishes, like Sauteed Green Beans with Minced Pork and Vegetable, Shanghai Fried noodles with Pakchoi or Shanghai dumplings. After cooking, you will enjoy your own cooked food and your Shanghai Mama will also prepare other delicious food for you. In addition, a local wet market tour is included.
Prices are per person when two book together; a solo traveller pays $314.
Larger groups pay less per person.
Out at sunset: the 4:00 PM departure is under way when the sun sets, around 5:18 PM in the coming weeks.
From the operator’s live schedule on Viator, checked Oct 6.
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For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Private Home Cooking Class with Shanghai Mama lasts about 4 hours.
Prices start at $199 per person for this Shanghai experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. That is the per-person price when two book together; a solo traveller pays $314. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
According to the operator’s current schedule, it runs on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, starting at 4:00 PM.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
Yes, pickup is offered. Pickup points include Green Tree Inn Shanghai Lingyan South Road Yangsi Subway Station Shell Hotel, Home Inn Selected Shanghai Waitan Sichuan North Road.
The experience is available in ZH-TW, EN.
It is a private experience: only your party takes part. Up to 9 travellers can book together.
Wheelchair accessible
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Travellers rate it 5.0 out of 5 across 17 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by Shanghai Melody Tours.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
Penny and her friends were incredible hosts. The experience started with a convenient hotel pick-up, followed by a fascinating local market tour. At their welcoming home, we enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony, learned to cook ribs, and got hands-on making dumpling dough and fillings from scratch. Eating the variety of food we helped prepare was fantastic. Highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting!
My wife and I had a great experience. Penny is super knowledgeable and had many interesting stories and facts to share about Shanghai. The host family made us feel very welcome and taught us how to cook some delicious food. A very unique experience and a great way to experience Shanghai like a local!
Penny was an outstanding guide and cook as was the lovely host family. The tour of the market was vey authentic and the experience in a private home was priceless. The cooking experience with a family felt very special. Highly recommended.
Our dumpling cooking class in Shanghai was hands-down one of the absolute highlights of our family trip! From the moment we were picked up at our hotel, everything was seamless and thoughtfully organized. The market tour was a great introduction — we sampled local snacks and got a glimpse into the ingredients that make Chinese cuisine so special. The real magic, though, happened in the chef’s home. Being welcomed into a local family's apartment gave us a rare and personal peek into daily life in Shanghai. The hands-on cooking experience was both fun and fascinating — we learned how to fold dumplings (not as easy as it looks!), laughed a lot, and probably made and ate way too many dumplings... but every single bite was worth it. It felt more like being hosted by friends than taking a class. We left with full bellies, new skills, and some great memories to bring home. If you're looking for a fun and authentic experience in Shanghai, this is it!
This was exactly the experience I was looking for! Penny was a wonderful guide and gave me an historical introduction to the area as we drove to the wet market. Penny explained how the Wet Market works and she bought a vegetable I did not know for me to try. From there we went to Kelly’s home where we met the Shanghai Grandmother who, with incredible expertise, showed me how to make dumplings as another, delicious pork dish, cooked on the stove! I absolutely loved the entire evening and experience and will make dumplings when I get home, although it may take me half a day to make enough to eat! I came away with videos and photos to help my future dumpling making, new friends and a whole new respect for what goes into making the ‘simple’ dumpling. If you want a real experience of life in Shanghai/China, participate in this course. I highly recommend it!
I had an amazing time with Penny and the whole of Shanghai Mama team. Penny was punctual, very knowledgeable and took me through the history of Shanghai and China on the way to the venue. The cooking course was really authentic, enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it to any travellers to Shanghai!
Delicious and heartwarming experience: Without a doubt, the highlight of our visit! We not only cooked wonderful food but made heartfelt memories. Mico guided us through a local market--a feast of colors and ingredients where I'd love to shop regularly. Kelly and her "auntie" walked us through preparing great dishes--including pork belly, and different kinds of dumplings--and in addition had a wealth of traditional sides for us. My daughter speaks Mandarin but we do not, but Kelly and Mico speak perfect English and "auntie speaks the language of food and family, so we had a truly great time. They took care of my mother in law, and even created a video for us, so we'd have the memories to share and could enjoy the time with them. We feel honored and grateful to have been welcomed in their home. It was an unforgettable time that we will get to treasure again and again as we try the recipes at home and relish on the memories. I look forward to doing it again next time! (Yes, we are already thinking of going back). If you are looking for a wonderful time while in Shanghai, full of local flavor and warmth, this is it. And at the end of it all, Kelly can help you find more interesting places to explore!
We had a perfect experience and a nice evening of cooking the most delicious food. Our guide FeiFei, her mother and Penny were very hospitable and we learned a lot about chinese culture. The visit to the market was also very interesting and we tried many delicious snacks. If you like cooking and want to enjoy chinese culture, you must book this tour!
We did the this in-home cooking tour with Penny (our tour guide) and loved it!! First we visited a grocery store where locals shop. Saw and sampled some unique foods. From there we went to a lovey gated apartment complex where the cooking class was held at “Shanghai Mama’s” nicely-appointed apartment. We had an incredible first-hand demonstration and hands-on cooking experiences (made dumplings together from scratch) and watched a couple other local cooking techniques. Following that we had a meal together. Hard to match this intimate look at life in the country. I would highly recommend this tour!!
Wonderful experience, delightful guides. Very friendly, pleasant and knowledgeable about food (at market & during cooking) and China in general. Food market had interesting selection, some very good, others a little much for those not used to it, but still have to experience. The instructions on food preparation were thorough, I’m prepared to make it at home, and the results were delicious.
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private Home Cooking Class with Shanghai Mama | 4 hours | 5.0 (17) | $199 | |
 Private Cooking Class: Make Your Own Dim Sum In Shanghai | 2 hours | 5.0 (31) | $88 | View |
 Chinese Hand-Pulled Noodles Class | 2 hours | — | $160 | View |
 Authentic Local Food Tour in Central Shanghai | 3 hours | 5.0 (1,658) | $79 | View |
 Private Shanghai Full Day City Tour with Old and New Highlights | 7–8 hours | 5.0 (1,341) | $115 | View |
 Zhujiajiao Water Town and Shanghai City Private Day Tour | 8 hours | 5.0 (1,108) | $246 | View |
| Shanghai Private Tour: Zhujiajiao Water Town and Boat Ride | 4–5 hours | 5.0 (786) | $148 | View |