The Unvegan

Always a line. Always pink.

Once upon a time, there was a street called Wujiang in Shanghai just outside the Nanjing West Subway Station.  At all hours of the day, the street was lined with food vendors and inside the old buildings were delicious, old-school Chinese restaurants.  On that street was a hole in the wall called Yang’s Fried-Dumpling, which served a delicious xiaolongbao (pronounced shiao-long-bow) with the special twist that it was fried (as opposed to the traditional steaming method).  Xiaolongbao is one of Shanghai’s signature dishes, a dumpling stuffed with pork that creates a soup inside when cooked.  The dumpling is sealed air-tight so the soup stays inside until it is eaten.  Even though Yang’s went against tradition by frying their dumplings, there was always a line outside their door.

They just know how to work that meat, and dough.

A lot has changed in Shanghai in the past couple years, especially on that street that literally does not exist anymore.  All of the old restaurants, including Yang’s and a place that had my favorite kung pao chicken, were knocked down to likely build some sort of shopping center.  Fortunately, at least Yang’s has been reborn in a little mall on the other end of Wujiang Street.  Yang’s looks out of place in the white-tiled, sterile mall, but they still have a line of people out the door at all hours.  The dumplings come in sets of four for five rmb and have to be paid for at the cash register in advance.  After grabbing a receipt, you can get in line and watch the dumpling-makers work away. Continue Reading»