Fruit hot pot to pastries: the city's best Chinese dessert spots

Photograph: @五条人糖水铺 via Weibo

One of the best things about living in a melting pot like Shanghai is easy access to cuisines from all corners of the country, and thankfully, that doesn't stop with the main course. From time-honoured brands to new independent innovators, here are some of the not-to-miss Chinese dessert shops in Shanghai.

Xiaotuanyuan Tangshuipu (小团圆糖水铺)

Photograph: courtesy 小团圆糖水铺

Xiaotuanyuan is a hole-in-the-wall dessert shop hidden along quiet Yanqing Lu. Its green-painted doors paired with cement walls give the store a charming rustic vibe – no wonder it was chosen as the backdrop for an episode of drama series My True Friend.

Pop by this tiny shop (there are about five seats total) for its best-selling mango dessert with coconut milk and black glutinous rice (28RMB), as well as purple sweet potato with glutinous rice balls (25RMB).

📍No 1-34, 123 Yanqing Lu, near Huating Lu. 4pm-midnight daily.

Wahsum Tongshui (华新糖水)

Photograph: Janelle Chew

Located on the quieter side of Nanjing Xi Lu, stopping for dessert at Wahsum Tongshui is like being transported to Hong Kong. As a fan of the city's culture, the shop owner opened Wahsum with the intention to replicate Hong Kong's vibes – think intimate seating, vintage-patterned floor tiles, coloured window panes and neon lights. Amongst a total of 150 desserts, mango sago (40RMB), original soufflé (44RMB) and serradura pudding (48RMB) are some of its best-sellers.

📍790 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Shimen Er Lu. Midday-1am daily.

Five People Dessert Shop (五条人糖水铺)

Photograph: @五条人糖水铺 via weibo

What started out as a small dessert shop in Xiamen has morphed into a 400-store chain across the country. Five People won the hearts of many with its creativity in dessert-making and strong publicity – its jiggly, coconut-flavoured Piggy Pudding (22RMB for two) became internet famous earlier this year when the company offered to give 10,000RMB to any user on TikTok whose post featuring its sweets got more than a million likes.

Five People is also famous for its other picture-perfect sweets like caramel milk pudding (15RMB), assorted fruit ‘hot pot’ (88RMB) and rose pudding (5RMB).

📍First Floor, No 17, Bldg E, Powerlong Plaza, 3299 Caobao Lu, near Haojing Lu. 11am-9.30pm daily.

Baoshifu Pastry (鲍师傅)

Photograph: courtesy 鲍师傅

Baoshifu is a pastry chain from Beijing selling mayonnaise-stuffed pastries covered in seaweed and meat floss (31RMB/500g). Sounds meh, but this pastry had people queuing for more than four hours in the winter cold when it first opened its doors in February 2017.

Thankfully, the queues are less intense now. Baoshifu's snacks are freshly made in batches every hour and restricted to a maximum of two kilos per purchase. Other popular flavours include lemon floss (34RMB/500g) and salted egg floss (34RMB/500g).

📍221 Xizang Nan Lu, near Fuzhou Lu. 9.30am-11.30pm daily.

Cassava (木薯糖水餐室)

Photograph: Janelle Chew

Hailing from Guangxi, this shop is known for its cassava-based desserts. For 15RMB, you can get a very generous serving of sweet cassava root soup that is slow-cooked for hours, turning into a starchy and mushy dessert. Other options at this one inlcude coconut tapioca cakes (16RMB) and snow pear soup with white fungus (20RMB).

📍87 Yangzhai Lu, near Fahuazhen Lu. 10am-10pm daily.

Hashi Harbin Food Factory (哈尔滨食品厂)

Photograph: courtesy 哈尔滨食品厂

Harbin Food Factory is a time-honoured confectionery that opened back in 1936. While it’s a nostalgic flavour for older generations, Harbin Food Factory also successfully captured the hearts of many young people who appreciate the craftsmanship that this brand puts in to every one of its confections.

We recommend the butterfly biscuits (45RMB/500g), which you can smell from almost a block away. Its almond biscuits (60RMB/500g) and peanut butter chocolate cakes (60RMB/500g) also tend to sell out quickly.

📍603 Huaihai Zhong Lu, near Sinan Lu. 9am-9pm daily. 

Shen Da Cheng (沈大成)

Photograph: courtesy 沈大成

Opened in 1875, Shen Dacheng is the go-to brand for anything glutinous rice. Other than its traditionally famous red bean paste-filled qingtuan (4RMB) and salted egg yolk with meat floss qingtuan (8RMB), Shen Dacheng has also come up with new innovations like matcha and milk ‘ice cream’ qingtuan, pre-packed in fours and going at 35RMB on Tmall.

📍636 Nanjing Dong Lu, near Zhejiang Dong Lu, 9am-9pm daily.

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