Cheap Eats: This One-Stop Street Will Knock Your Socks Off
The typical Shanghainese streets that once captured the city's local culture are disappearing. This is a fact that we all sadly know and have no choice but to accept. Hole-in-the-wall shops are shuttering their doors, neighborhoods are becoming gentrified, and street food carts are closing up shop.
Yet, right in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world, just a few blocks north of People’s Square Park, you can still find a bustling local street where Ayis flutter about soon after the sun rises, uncles sport the latest in pajama fashion, carts of veggies spill onto the streets, and an array of all the seafood under the sea are on display and ready for purchase.
Walk onto the block-long Shanghaiguan Lu at its intersection of Chengdu Lu (the north-south elevated road), and you’ll immediately forget that you live in an international city. You’re probably the only foreigner around, and you’ll most likely be asked at least 12 times: ni shi nage guojia de? Come on, like you’ve never seen a foreigner sporting a camera taking pictures of buckets of live eels…
Shanghaiguan Lu is like one long wet market street but instead of having to walk into the entire market itself you can just walk along it, grabbing whatever ingredients you might want for dinner that night. Most wet markets have an abundance of seasonal produce, fruit, and warm meat sitting out, attracting flies, and while Shanghaiguan Lu definitely has this, it is also a haven for seafood lovers.
With an abundance of fish, eel, crabs, shrimp, oysters, squid, toads, clams, crayfish, and everything in between, you can be ready for a fresh seafood feast – as long as you’re cool buying mostly live crustaceans and sea creatures. At least you know it’s guaranteed to be fresh.
This street is not for the squeamish, but great for those stuck in their western bubble, looking for an excuse to remember that they live in China. If you’re a seasoned cook and feel confident in the kitchen with fresh seafood, this is a way more economical option than always ordering frozen or imported protein on western websites.
The prices do fluctuate daily, based on quality, size, freshness, seasonality, and quantity being purchased but no matter what it’s always going to be cheap, entertaining, and fresher than the Avocado Lady.
Walking past the trays of crabs, buckets of jumping shrimp, flopping fish, and slithering eels, you can also grab your normal assortment of vegetables and fruits, grains, tofu, baos, eggs, and rice. It’s a one-stop shop street if you’re craving a wet market shopping experience vibe; dodging scooters and stacks of cardboard boxes are just an added bonus.
As you continue your daily shopping, Shanghaiguan and the adjacent Xinchang Lu are a haven for Shanghainese street snacks, especially those found during breakfast time. You can find all the bings, baos, noodles, zongzi and dumplings you could ever desire, along with Muslim-inspired grilled meats and naan bread, an assortment of dried fruits and nuts, and the fluffiest qiangbing (羌饼) you can imagine, so come hungry.
After perusing the seafood selection, your appetite has probably already piqued, so your first stop should be the small bakery at 136 Shanghaiguan Lu. Skip the loaves of takeaway bread - they’re nothing special - and instead jump in the long line of people waiting for the RMB 2.5 niu rou jian bao (牛肉煎包).
Similar to the crispy, fried pockets of heaven found at Friday's Muslim Market, these beef filled baos are everything you could ever dream of out of a terrible-for-you but way-too-good-to-miss street snack. Fried in a sheng jian bao (生煎包) style pan, these doughy balls are crispy all over, yet fluffy and gooey inside, filled with fatty, salty beef. Locals know how good they are and line up to buy them by the dozens, but don’t get disgruntled waiting, they cook up trays of them quickly.
Pro tip: if you want some sweetness to balance out the savory, their RMB 2 nangua bings (南瓜饼) are pillowy and perfect, fried with real pumpkin and sugar.
Pass the rest of the wet market stalls, and turn the corner to the right onto Xinchang Street, another winding alley road that makes you second guess if you’re really just three blocks away from Tomorrow Square. This street has got it going on in the snack department and encompasses everything I love about local Shanghai street food.
On your right-hand side, at 399 Xinchang Lu, you will almost immediately come to a well-known zongzi shop, selling out of hundreds of zongzi every day before lunchtime. Choose from sweeter options like those filled with red bean paste for RMB 2 each or opt for ones loaded with pork and egg for RMB 4 each. Since these are served cold, it’s probably best to buy some for later so you can save room for all the other upcoming snack options further down the road.
Jianbing is a favorite breakfast food and, while some argue that the Shandong or Tianjin versions are better, I am a Shanghai-style jianbing fan all the way. None of that stretchy, eggy dough for me; the crispier the better. You can find some great jianbing at 336 Xinchang Lu, where the woman somehow makes the thinnest, crunchiest jianbing crepe imaginable.
Choose from the standard toppings like egg, fried wonton skin, cilantro, and pickled mustard tubers, or go a bit wild with spicy chicken or fresh lettuce. No matter what combination you choose, you’ll be happy you got one.
After such a thin crepe on a jianbing, you can welcome some carbs into your life with a hefty piece of qiangbing (羌饼) for RMB 8 for 500 grams at 322 Xinchang Lu.
Cooked in a shengjianbao pan with probably a bit too much oil (I choose to just not look while they add the oil; ignorance is bliss), this fluffy, thick bing will knock your socks off. The character 羌 comes from the name of pastry made by the Hui people, yet the Shanghainese version of this bing is the opposite of sweet.
Like a deep dish Chinese pizza, I chose to schmear on some spicy chill sauce, and lose myself in the thick layers of squishy, crispy, warm carbs; screw you, keto diet.
If you happen to visit the area in the latter half of the day, do not skip out before getting to the end of Xinchang Lu where it intersects with Beijing Lu. Right at that corner is one tasty Muslim chuar joint pumping out succulent, meaty skewers by the dozens.
At 290 Beijing Lu, grab a freshly baked naan bread and wrap it around the meat to soak up all that fatty, spicy goodness. Inside, load up on dried apricots, red dates, raisins galore, and banana chips for a fraction of the price than you pay in western / import stores.
After visiting recently, I've already started to notice the signs of the area changing. Doors were shuttered, a few of my favorite spots had already been abandoned, and my go-to tangyuan place was no more. However, the charm is still definitely there, that feeling of old Shanghai that is becoming harder and harder to find. Although many of these areas are a thing of the past, some are still holding strong. Let’s hope that these remnants of true Shanghainese culture remain so we can continue to enjoy the local culture that attracted us all to this city in the first place.