5 Chinese breakfast dishes to try in Shanghai
Michael Zee spent five years researching, photographing and filming for his new book ZaoFan: Breakfast of China, which takes us across the country. Here, he takes us to Shanghai, the megacity that made its fortune on trade and spent its riches on food…
After twenty years visiting and five years living in Shanghai, the hometown of my paternal grandfather, I can see why the locals are so fiercely proud of their city. When my 爷爷 (yeye) left, it was a city battered and bruised by invasions and revolutions, yet today it stands as a pearl on the sea, a polished and prosperous city with a global outlook.
For the first-time visitor, there are many advantages to eating and drinking in Shanghai. With over 100,000 registered restaurants and bars (approximately five times that of London) to cater to the 26 million residents, you are quite literally spoilt for choice. It’s almost impossible to walk down a street without stopping to smell something delicious.
However, the city’s sheer size, the breakneck speed of its redevelopment and the often hilariously mistranslated menus can test even the most seasoned traveller. Chinese cuisine is unparalleled in scope, expression and depth of flavour and skill – and breakfast feels like a good time to start exploring.
My advice is to wake up in the small hours as the sun is just about to rise and you will see an entire world at work. For me, breakfast time in China is an electric experience, with skinny alleyways and open doors with steamers, dumplings and spinning pancakes that have vanished by 10am. Skip the hotel breakfast, set your alarm early, and explore the greatest meal of the day, through one of the greatest cuisines there is.
Five china breakfast dishes you should try (and where in Shanghai to try them)
1. Xiao Long Bao 小笼包
Across the city, ayis (this literally means ‘aunties’, but is a friendly term for most women in the service industry) tirelessly roll, fill and pleat millions of the global superstar of dumplings, the xiaolongbao. Just be careful not to scald yourself eating them!
Where: Fuchun at 652 Jiang Guo Xi Road
2. Sheng Jian Bao 生煎包
The workhorse of soup dumplings, they are fatter, thicker (usually a semi-leavened dough) and fried on the bottom compared to their xiaolongbao cousins. They require less technical hand skill to make too and are easy to replicate at home. From my beloved Dong Tai Xiang, a Shanghainese chain of 24-hour restaurants specialising in them, they are the perfect hangover breakfast.
Where: Dong Tai Xiang at 309 Shaanxi Nan Road
3. Ma Jiang Mian 麻酱面
Sesame paste is a cornerstone of Chinese cooking – it’s a richer, smoother version of tahini, but the seeds are toasted first before grinding. Over the years, I have taken hundreds of guests to Wei Xiang Zhai for the sesame paste noodles. Customers are given a numbered clothes peg and take a seat, before rigorously stirring the bowl and then devouring the contents.
Where: 14 Yandang Road
4. Xian Doujiang 咸豆浆
In Shanghai, the spectrum of soy milk falls to the savoury end. In the bottom of a bowl, some vinegar, soya sauce, ginger, herbs and dried shrimp are added and a boiling hot, freshly made soup milk is poured over. After a minute or so, the milk starts to separate and a custardy texture emerges. Don’t forget to order a fresh youtiao for dunking.
Where: 110 Dongjiangjin Street
5. Jianbing 煎饼
My personal favourite breakfast is sadly not from Shanghai, but the northern coastal city of Tianjin. Every order is done à la minute, to your personal preferences. A pancake batter is scraped across a hot plate before being decorated like a canvas with sweet, sour, spicy, crunchy and herbaceous ingredients and in the blink of an eye, folded into a portable breakfast that is eaten as fast as it was made.
Where: 280 Xiangyang Nan Road
About the author
Michael Zee is creator of the online sensation SymmeteryBreakfast and author of Zao Fan: Breakfast of China. British-Chinese, Michael grew up helping out in his parents’ Chinese restaurants and lived in Shanghai for five years.
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