Shanghai Street Food

8 dishes in China

8 street foods from Shanghai, China: Yanqishui Salt Soda, Sheng Jian Bao, Xiaolongbao, Cifantuan and Da Bing — Sesame Flatbread and more. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.

Street foods of Shanghai

Factory-Floor Classic · Salt Soda Yanqishui (盐汽水) Salt Soda It was invented in the 1950s as a literal labor-protection product, handed out to sweating steel workers to replace lost salt, not sold as a treat. Yanqishui is a lightly salty, lightly sweet carbonated drink that tastes stranger than it sounds, sold ice-cold from corner shops and street carts across Shanghai in summer. It was born as… Dumpling · Pan-fried Sheng Jian Bao (Pan-Fried Soup Dumplings) Unlike its steamed cousin xiaolongbao, this dumpling is deliberately griddle-fried on the bottom — so one bite gives you a crisp crust, a soft bun… Small pork dumplings with a pleated top and a gelled-broth filling that liquefies as it cooks are arranged in a wide flat pan, fried until the bottoms turn golden, then steamed under a lid… Dumpling · Steamed Xiaolongbao (Soup Dumplings) The soup inside isn't injected — it starts as solid pork aspic mixed into the filling, which melts into liquid broth only after steaming, right… A thin, hand-pleated wrapper is filled with minced pork and a cube of gelled broth, then steamed in a small bamboo basket until the aspic melts into hot soup inside. Eaten with a dip of… Breakfast · Hand-rolled Cifantuan (Rice Ball with Fried Dough Stick) It's a breakfast sandwich turned inside out — a whole fried dough stick, plus pork floss and pickled vegetables, wrapped inside a layer of warm… A sheet of warm glutinous rice is pressed flat, layered with a crispy fried dough stick, pork floss, and often pickled mustard greens or sugar, then rolled up tightly into a dense… Breakfast · Sesame Flatbread Da Bing (大饼) — Sesame Flatbread It's one quarter of Shanghai's breakfast foursome, and the classic order is to fold a youtiao inside it — so two of the four guardians get eaten in… A round or oblong flatbread of leavened dough is brushed with sesame paste or scallion oil, topped with sesame seeds, and baked against the wall of a clay oven until the outside blisters… Alley Fritter · After-School Snack You Dunzi (Radish Fritters) Each fritter is fried inside its own oval iron ladle: batter, a fistful of shredded radish and scallion, more batter on top, then the whole mould… A thick, crisp fritter of shredded radish and scallion in flour batter, sometimes topped with a small river shrimp, deep-fried golden. Snack-Shop Classic · Since 1921 Paigu Niangao (Fried Pork Chop with Rice Cakes) The best-known shop, Xiandelai, was founded in 1921 and its Yunnan South Road branch still opens at 7 am. A pork chop coated in flour, starch, egg and five-spice and deep-fried golden, served with rice cake slices that are fried and then cooked in the pork broth, finished with Shanghai… Hot from the Window · Savory Mooncake Xianrou Yuebing (Fresh Pork Mooncakes) Ele.me delivery data for 2019 showed Shanghai, with under 2.5% of China's population, eating 53% of the fresh-pork mooncakes ordered on the platform… Flaky Su-style pastry wrapped around raw seasoned pork and baked, best eaten hot and within a day.

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