To visitors, the draw of Shanghai might be the gleaming skyline, but to born-and-bred locals the charm of the city is street food.
To visitors, the draw of Shanghai might be the gleaming skyline, but to born-and-bred locals the charm of the city is street food.
Photo:Ctrip
The egg pancake rolling fresh off the pan at wet markets, the steaming baskets of soup dumplings served at local canteens or the pungent stinky tofu in the Old Town alluring every passerby.
While skyscrapers are shooting up in Shanghai, the heartwarming scene of buying and eating from the streets is slowly disappearing.
But you can still taste these classic foods.
Each is deeply loved by proud Shanghai residents.
Steamed buns
Know as man tou, these soft and puffy buns can have a variety of fillings. Traditional options include minced pork, chopped vegetales and read bean paste. Photo:CNN
Quick, yummy and easy to carry, steamed buns are the bagel of the East, only heartier.
Under a layer of soft and puffy dough, there are various fillings — minced pork, chopped vegetables and red bean paste are traditional.
There are a number of street-corner chains in Shanghai (with confusing names such as Babi, Biba, Bibiba). A stop at any of them gets you a fresh bun to brighten up your morning.
Fried pancakes with spring onions
These little round wonders are generously greased and exquisitely layered with aromatic spring oniions in the middle. Photo:CNN
Until about 20 years ago, most traditional alleyways in Shanghai had a fried pancake, or cong you bing stall, at the entrance.
These little round wonders are generously greased and exquisitely layered.
Between the layers lie aromatic spring onions.
One of the most popular stalls is on Xiangyang Nan Lu by lane 578. A local grandmother starts frying every afternoon around 4 p.m.
Egg pancakes
Street chefs ladle batter on a hot pan, swirl it into a perfect circle, then break an egg on top. They can fill the center with anything from deep-fired dough and ham sausages to sweet paste and chilli sauce with coriander. Photo:CNN
Northerners call them “fried pancakes,” but Shanghainese know them as “egg pancakes.”
It’s like a breakfast burrito.
Jolly street chefs ladle flour mix on a hot pan, swirl it into a perfect circle, break an egg on top, then fill the center with what seems to be a full Chinese breakfast: a Shanghai-style deep-fried dough or a sheet of crispy dough, ham sausages, sweet paste, chili sauce as well as sprinkles of coriander.
Deep-fried stinky tofu
The pungent aroma takes a while to learn to love. But once you do, you’ll be rewarded with a batch of puffy smooth tofu, best enjoyed with chilli paste and been curd paste. Photo:CNN
Stinky tofu is like cheese.
You usually have to grow up with it to enjoy it.
It’s best paired with chili paste, sweet bean curd paste or better yet a mixture of the two.
The tofu comes in small cubes and is usually sold in fours.
In a perfect batch, the honey golden tofu pieces are slightly puffed and are still sizzling deliciously.
Tea eggs
Boiled eggs are simmered in a broth made with soy sauce, tea bags, cinnamon, aniseed and rock sugar. The egg with cracks on the shell are the most flavorful. Photo:CNN
To make these popular afternoon snacks, eggs are first boiled in water then put to simmer for hours in a broth made with soy sauce, tea bags, cinnamon, aniseed and rock sugar.
Traditionally, chatty grannies are the oligarchs of tea egg selling.
They sell eggs from large pots transported in metal push chairs.
Nowadays, the most popular vendor is Alldays, a chain of ubiquitous convenience stores (1114 Beijing Xi Lu, near Shaanxi Bei Lu; +86 21 6253 9839; 24 hours).
The eggs with cracks on the shell are the most flavorful.
Glutinous rice cakes
There are many types of glutinous rice cakes including qing tuan. The bright green dessert is sold mostly in April during the tomb-sweeping festival. Photo:CNN
Shanghainese favor sweet tastes. In the world of street food, this translates into glutinous rice cakes. Lots of them.
Wangjiasha on Nanjing Xi Lu (805 Nanjing Xi Lu, Jing’an, Shanghai; +86 21 6253 0404), a time-honored Shanghai-style deli, has an impressive selection.
Classics include tiao you gao, a tube-shaped cake filled with red bean paste; shuang niang tuan, a little glutinous rice ball filled with red bean paste as well as black sesame and coated with shredded coconut meat; and qing tuan, a bright green dessert sold around the tomb-sweeping festival in April.
Source:CNN
