One of the beauties of Shanghai, aside from its stunning architecture is its stunning street food. It is ever so tasty, available at every corner, mostly healthy, and more importantly it fills your belly for next to nothing!
One of the most filling foods is the youtiao and although a little bland for western taste it is puffy and delicious. They have also invented other ways to eat it such as stuffing them inside rice balls.
Rice balls filled with goodies including at times youtiao are delicious and super filling and for like 30 cents they hit the spot. I make them with Filipino adobo filling and westerners fill them with all sorts of goodies like Italian meatballs!
Fried Dumplings are not only super tasty pork goodies but they delight all the senses especially when you see them being made in front of you and fill all your senses, hearing the sizzle, viewing the browning take place before you, smelling the amazing aroma — just thinking about it makes your mouth water.
One of the best breakfast food in China (and one of the few foods I have seen made only for breakfast is the Jian Bing and it is crispy and delicious when eaten right away, if you wait long the flavor is there but the appeal of it is not. When eaten hot it is a great and nutritious food!
Noodles are the second staple of China after rice and they are super delicious and nutritious. Like Fried Rice they are made in a flash and you can never imagine how something made so fast and so simply can taste so good!
And don’t forget in most locations where they have soups they also make the noodles in front of you and you get the added benefit of a great show as you can never quite figure out how they make so many perfectly sized noodles in nothing flat and with such flair!
Of course who can forget the ubiquitous Chinese Fried Rice? Yes, they make it here but it is nothing like Chinese Fried rice in the states, it is way different in fact. But it is still quite tasty and the show and low price makes it quite worth it!
Everywhere you go, many streets in Shanghai you can get all sorts of street food. The ones covered here are nothing compared to the huge variety that this city serves you!
Shanghai street food is so good, often healthy, and so affordable that it is worth coming to Shanghai just for that!
