It’s hard not to perk up when you hear that Chinese families have followed the career of a certain restaurant family for about 25 years. Such is the case with our longtime favorite Shanghai, whose owners have won and kept fans as they traversed Bellaire Chinatown in a series of small and larger operations. Having finally settled into the Welcome Supermarket center as Shanghai, they consistently serve the best, most down-to-earth Cantonese cuisine in the city. (Amusingly, it’s not the least bit Shanghainese—they just didn’t bother to change the name when they took over the lease.)

The place makes the requisite stabs at decoration but is totally low-key, and the family members are the ones serving, managing, and cooking. Their collective culinary experience results in feats of balance and elegance in dish after comforting dish: from the intensely flavored broth that serves as a sort of amuse bouche, to superlative shrimp and pork dumplings in soup, to vegetables balanced and brought out in style with garlic and shrimp paste. Salt fish and salt-and-pepper pork ribs both have a terrific crunch in the outer crust that unlocks the delectable meat inside.

While other places are good for one or two particulars, Shanghai’s an all-round masterpiece.