Finally Authentic Shanghai Pork Buns or Xiao Long Bao 小笼包
It was still early in the morning and I decided to have a bit of breakfast. I have been around this area of Shanghai the previous day and I know there are a lot of restaurants around. However, since this was very near Nanjing Road, that will also mean that cheap food isn’t really that easy to find. A large ultra-modern city like Shanghai has a high cost of living, the highest in China. Rent has been skyrocketing in this city together with its economy. This has naturally driven up food prices making Shanghai a not so cheap place to be.
Fried Buns 生煎
I happened to walk down a street with rows of restaurants. I was hoping I would be able to find a place which is affordable and yet still delicious. I did find out but it was filled with the breakfast crowd, so I ended up next door which wasn’t that full. This place was serving Shanghai snacks. One thing I was looking forward to was authentic pork buns or xiao long bao 小笼包. I had some in Beijing but they turned to be vastly different from what I know. It was the Hangzhou version which I tried. This time I will be having the Shanghai style xiao long bao. And indeed it was what I had hoped for. The skin of the buns where soft and thin and yet strong enough to hold the delicious soup it contains within.
Friend Pancake Along the Street in Shanghai 上海
Although I finally found my xiao long bao, it wasn’t as nice as I hoped it to be. For one thing, the soup wasn’t as much as I expected it to be. I guess this was one of those mass produced ones. It was tasty just not juicy enough. The skin was a bit thicker than I wanted it to be too. I guess even in Shanghai it is not easy to get them right. I also had a serving of another Shanghai specialty, fried buns 生煎. These turned out to be a non event as they tasted rather ordinary. The only saving grace was that they were freshly fried. Shanghai has a long list of snacks but I don’t really have the time to try them. This was just a sample, hopefully you can and find a better place.
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