So Long Shanghai: A Last Food Stroll

Ladies cleaning pig's feet on the street. Perhaps for the rich broths that fill Shanghai's delicate dumplings. A good way to start a last food stroll.
Mangosteen's for sale on the street.
I've heard it said mangosteens might be the most delicious fruit on earth. After tasting them fresh (and not after a long airplane ride far from home) I think it may be true. Super sweet, delicious. I wish I had discovered them earlier.
A sesame ball dessert from a street side vendor -- little greasy but filled with delicious black sesame seed paste.
Honestly I don't know what to call this. Based on the sesame flat breads also made at this tiny stand, I suspect it may be a Northern Chinese specialty but it was new to me. The thinly stretched dough was filled with greens (not honestly sure what kind) and a bit of egg, sealed and, I think, fried.
The filling was fairly bland -- could have used a little chili, but the dough was surprisingly crisp and light.
Making and selling carry out treats in a closet-sized stand.Selling potstickers on the street.
MMmmm!
Spiral cut pineapples either whole or on a stick. The spirals artfully remove the eyes while preserving the sweet flesh.
Fresh meat mooncakes. There was a huge line for these and so I just joined in. I thought for sure the translation was botched as the moon cakes I see are usually a sweet treat for Chinese New Year. But, sure enough, when I bit in to the super flaky still warm pastry it was filled with meat and a deep rich broth. A mini beef wellington with ground meat.
Durian. Not nearly as smelly as one would think. Peeled chopped and sold for about $1.50 a container. Sort of like a starchy pineapple. Not too bad. The taste kind of grows on you.

Street Bao

Chinese fast food, a spot along a "food street" by People's Park in Shanghai.

Walking the streets of Shanghai I came on Babi Mantou a small chain featuring all types of steamed bao -- often called mantou in the Shanghai area. In some neighborhoods the menu board is posted in English (although the staff will likely not speak any English at all -- I used the old traveling food point). I ended up with something new (at least for me), a fluffy steamed bread stuffed with spicy rice noodles.

Beautiful.

A couple blocks away I found another bao shop -- clearly not a chain but the type you see all over Shanghai. Steamer baskets piled high waiting to delight any passerby. I pointed again, no English here, and ended up with the same filling -- spicy rice noodles, a new favorite.

Shanghai Food Court

The best food on my trip? No. Fun? Yes. And a bit of adventure in ordering. I went to the desk, bought a couple tickets and came out with a plate of Shanghai noodles (Cu Mian?), thick (okay these weren't really so thick but it is a food court after all) yellow chewy noodles stir fried with soy and vegetables. And a plate of glutinous rice cake (chao nian gao -- I think) also sautéed with soy, maybe pork, and bits of vegetables.

Yang's Fry-Dumplings Shanghai

Great dumplings on a great dumpling street. Directly across the street from my new epicenter of Shagnhai Soup Dumplings (Jia Jia Tang Bao) is a branch of local mini-chain Yang's Fry-Dumpings, Shenjianbao (also called Shenjianmantou in Shanghai) specialists. In fact while slurping through my soup dumplings at JJTB I noticed a few take out containers (the fried bottom makes these treats durable and portable unlike the more tender soup dumplings) from YFD on surrounding tables. These are the spots for dumpling lovers.

Yang's Fry dumpings offers a few soups but only one kind of dumpling. The pan fried super crisp, super juicy local specialty sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions that's been a breakfast treat here in Shanghai for more than 100 years. Customers line up to wait for a batch to be cooked and hustle over for their order waving pre-paid tickets from the front cashier.

Four for about a dollar. Take your plate and find a seat.

Clearly the shop's most popular item, dumplings are constantly being filled, rolled and readied for the three giant flat bottomed pans.

Jia Jia Tang Bao Shanghai

The best so far. Maybe just the best.

I set out specifically to find this highly regarded but decidedly no frills dumpling house twice. I went early to avoid what I'm told can be long lines or the disappointment of hearing your favorite filling has already run out. Now to be fair the "dining room" is so small 25 people would seem like an unruly mob but these are in fact dumplings well worth waiting for.

I strolled in the door feeling conspicuously Western and was relieved that the woman at the front counter had an English version of the menu board behind her head. I placed my order by pointing to a few dishes, paid and was given a numbered ticket.

Not quite the secret lair of an ancient Shanghainese grandmother and her carefully guarded family recipe food geeks dream of finding, these teenagers wait to roll and fill each steamer tray of dumplings to order. I try to hide my excitement as I slip in to find a place at one of the crowded tables. A couple other customers stare (in a friendly kind of way) in my direction.

I started with a seaweed and egg soup, not expecting much. The broth is completely clear -- like water, but the flavor is so complex so full of the sea that I feel healthier just spooning in. A good dose of iron to gather strength for the dish ahead.

Dumplings. Shanghai soup dumpings. I ordered shrimp with egg and pork with crab. This is the kind of dough dumpling seekers dream about. I pick each delicate morsel up by the knot, dip it in the light soy and ginger on the table and roll each one in chili paste. They are nearly transparent and super tender with just enough body to hold the steaming soup and gently resist my teeth as I bite in to slurp the soup from inside.I barely notice the other customers. My head is spinning with hot soup and dough.

Serious Street Food

I strolled past a construction site just around quitting time where an informal food court presided over by a circle of bikes holding coolers had sprung up. I glanced into a bright yellow box, pointed to a spongy white ball of dough and was rewarded with a warm bao filled with savory picked greens. 1 piece for 1 yuan -- not quite 20 cents. Score!

Another Kind of Soup Dumpling

Bigger and served with a straw to suck the hot broth out of the doughy shell. Kind of interesting street food for a cold rainy day

A New Kind Of Dumpling

Shanghai style pork dumplings. New to me, these have slightly thicker dough than the better known soup dumplings and are cooked (steamed and fried at once) in these giant pots covered with a wooden lid ready to serve up to hungry tourists.

The waiting dumplings are sprinkled with sesame seeds and a bit of green onion and then scraped off the kettle when the bottoms are super crisp and the dough springy with a burst of soup that squirts from the inside (if you're not careful).

Juicy, doughy, crisp with a touch of sasame. These might be my new favorite dumplings.

Whampoa Club Shanghai

I remember reading, in one food magazine or another, an article describing the elegant opening of Whampoa Club in Shanghai. With a view along The Bund, WC was described by our hosts as "fine dining" (there is a LOT of fine dining in Shanghai I'm finding) and in fact all of the dishes are served elegantly and graciously. The food was just fine, and for a first night after a long flight it was nice to be taken care of . . . but I am looking forward to seeing even a bit of the real, everyday China.

We started with a selection of cold dishes, jellyfish salad, smoked fish, drunken chicken, and these glazed pork riblets. Shanghai cuisine is marked by a fondness for sugar in all manner of main dishes. The chef at WC hinted at that tradition with his modernized Chinese dishes.

Lion's head meatballs (without the more familiar -- to me -- rice coating), again bathed in a slightly sweet sauce.

There has to be duck. This fellow was artfully sliced table side, the skin wrapped in thin pancakes with thick hoisin sauce.

Crispy and Chewy at once.

When we had just gotten a little excited about the idea of -- however inelegant -- tearing into that crisp little bird he was whisked back to the kitchen only to reappear as part of a quick stirfry. Sigh.

Xiaolongbao, Shanghai soup dumplings. A specialty of Eastern China these little buns, along with a tasty filling, hold a bit of broth that heats as the dumplings steam to offer a burst of soup with your bite. In the states XLB, a shorthand the Chinese food hounds use, are somewhat of a holy grail with blogs holding endless discussions of the thinest dough and the most flavorful fillings. Here they are quite simply -- and delightfully everywhere. I plan on tasting and reporting on quite a few.
The view from our table on The Bund to the electric, Blade Runner light show of the Pudong district, China's financial center.