It’s Trevor James

I’m in Shanghai, China

And we’re going for a full on street food exploration of this city

I’m so pumped

Let’s go check it out

Shanghai is now one of the world’s most modern and upscale cities in the world

Over the course of a few decades

The stereotype of bicycle packed streets is now one filled with Porches and highrises

I came here to eat

And as a city famous for importing other cuisines from across China

Locals take pride in the few dishes that they do specialize in

I started out by having a solo Foodrangin’ day in search of a few of those specialties

And then the next day I met up with a local friend for feasting

什么饼里面？ What’s the pastry in there?

这个啊？ This?

你吃一下就知道了 If you eat it you’ll know

是葱饼吗？ Is it made with onions?

这个是葱饼 This one has green onions

这个是什么？ What about this one?

这个是甜的 This one is sweet

这个是甜的吗？ Oh this one is sweet?

对 Yeah

然后这个呢？ What about this one?

这个咸的 It’s salty

咸的，那我可以吃一个甜的吗？ Oh salty, can I have a sweet one please

这个甜的有什么馅？ What’s the filling in the sweet one?

糖的 It’s sugar

对 Yeah

Lucky catch!

这个是糖的 This is made with sugar

对 Yeah

糖的 It’s made with sugar

甜的 It’s sweet

是红糖吗？ Is it made with brown sugar?

白糖 It’s white sugar

谢谢你 Thank you

那个是馅的 That one is salty

有盐 It has salt

那我尝一下 Then I gotta try it out

好吃很棒的 It’s delicious and awesome

香啊，中国的小吃啊，有名 It’s so fragrant, a specialty from China, so famous

很有名 Oh it’s famous

你们国家肯定没有 Your country definitely doesn’t have this

没有 Nope

这个是我们上海的特色 This is our Shanghai specialty

很甜的 It’s so sweet

你们喜欢吃面包什么咖啡的 You guys eat those bread and coffee things

我们只要这个的 We eat this

噢，我们喜欢咖啡，你们喜欢这个 Oh, we like coffee, you guys like this

很好吃的 It’s really good

你来自哪个国家？ Where are you from?

加拿大 Canada

谢谢你 Thanks

Oh it’s like a little pocket of sugar

The inside is really nice and flaky and soft

And the outside is crunchy

That’s what it’s all about

I needed something else to eat for breakfast

So I walked down the street

And I found a famous China snack

The jianbing

AKA the Chinese crepe

It’s made with sticky dough and topped with a raw egg thats spread overtop

Then add some coriander and scallions

A few chopped mustard pickles

And then the real magic

A special bean paste and a touch of chilies

And a final addition of a crispy cracker

Then BOOM, this beauty is ready to devour

谢谢你 Thanks

太好了 Awesome

We’re going to try it out

Look at this

Look at this crispy jianbing

That’s what its all about

And the jiang is so fragrant

We’re just going to go right in for that

We’re going to go right in for the kill here

That is the perfect flavour delivery in the morning

Oh yeah

那个有一点辣 It’s a little spicy

你要辣嘛? You like it spicy?

我爱辣 I love it spicy

That’s so good

The bean paste is really nice

It’s quite salty

That cracker is really crispy

Same with this outer skin

That’s a true classic Chinese breakfast here in Shanghai

And since it was Friday

I made my way over to the Friday weekly muslim market

A thriving hotspot of food and culture from the Uighur people of China’s far west Xinjiang province

This was like meat heaven

这个是羊肉是吗？全羊 So this is a whole roast lamb?

是 Yes

你们用什么香料？ What ingredients do you use?

吓？ Huh?

用什么香料 What sort of ingredients?

好吃的 We use good ingredients

很香的 It smells so nice

我可以吃多少钱？ can I please try some, how much should I eat?

现在可以吃一点吗？20块可以吗？ How about 20 RMB ($3.00)?

20块不可以，30块以上 20 isn’t enough, but 30 RMB ($4.50) is good

30块好好 OK 30 sounds good

我吃30块 I’ll have 30 worth

Wow this looks so good

40块行吗？ How about 40 ($6.00) Wow this looks so good

40块行吗？ How about 40 ($6.00)

这个30块？ This is 30?

40块 It’s 40

40块？ 40?

这里有标价的 The price is here

40，可以 40, sounds good

这个是什么味道的？ What’s the main flavour of the lamb?

咸的 It’s salty

好吃的 Good flavour

It’s salty

He wouldn’t tell me what spices are on there

So we’re just going right in for the taste test

Oh that looks so tender

Chopsticks with lamb

Let’s just go in

That is super tender

It’s like light cumin

It’s like a light sprinkle of cumin

给你一个尝尝 You have to try these

我要去尝一尝，看起来很好吃的 I’ll go over there and buy some, they look good

来，拿上 Have one here

噢，真的吗？ Really?

真的吗？ Really?

来这个大的 Take a big one

可以吗？ Really?

可以 Yeah

不好意思，我尝一尝 Oh I’ll just take a little try

这个是羊肉馅？ This is lamb filling?

We have a lamb jiaozi

A huge jiaozi

太好了 Awesome

再来一个 Take another one

不用不用，我去买 No no, I’ll go buy some

不用，再来一个 Don’t do that, just have another one here

真的吗？ Really?

真的 Yeah really

不用不用 No no

没事，再来一个 No problem, take another

谢谢 Thank you

It fell apart

谢谢 Thank you

That is deep, strong mutton flavour

这个羊肉的味道很重 The lamb flavour is so strong

对对对 Yeah it is

很重，很好吃的 It’s so heavy

And after that marvellous lamb dumpling

I explored a few other stalls and I found a puffy and juicy Xinjiang style fried beef bao

That was ultra oily

It was definitely one of the oiliest baos that I have ever tried

牛肉煎包 Beef fried bao

一个多少钱？ How much for one?

2.5块 It’s 2.5 RMB ($0.37)

那我吃一个 Great then I’ll buy one please

好的，吃一个尝尝 Great, try one out

牛肉煎包 The beef bao

太好了 Awesome

太好了 Yeah awesome

你们特色的馅 Your specialty filling

很好吃的，你吃一个尝尝 It’s really good, try it out

谢谢 Thank you

Oh it’s hot!

We’re going to go right in

Did you see that?

Did you see the squirt?

That is super oily

I didn’t get much of the filling though, let’s go deeper

Look at that beef filling

Oh yeah, that is layered

The core is completely juicy heaven

The outer crust is so crispy

And the middle is like a fluffy gooey dough layer

Look at it it’s so juicy

Next level pocket of glee right here

And after exploring a little more

I made my way to try the famous Shanghai sesame butter noodles

These were off the hook delicious

I can smell the sesame

That sesame smell

你有麻酱面？ You have the sesame paste noodles?

特色的麻酱面 The special sesame paste noodles?

一碗麻酱面还有牛肉汤 One bowl of those and also a bowl of beef curry soup please

20块 It’s 20 RMB ($3.00)

谢谢 Thanks

Nowhere to sit

This is busy

给你可以吗？ Can I give this to you?

谢谢 Thanks

听说你们的麻酱面很特色的 I hear the noodles here are the best

这个是芝麻酱吗？ This is the sesame paste?

对 Yeah

还有牛肉汤 And a bowl of beef curry soup

然后这个是什么？ What about this

这个是辣肉辣椒烧的肉 This is pork stewed in chilies

辣椒？辣肉 Spicy pork

谢谢 Thanks

Look at this!

Look at that presentation

It’s really nice and folded over

我肯定要点那个 I’ll definitely have to order that

We’re going to add the larou

Oh it’s covered in all that chili oil

Larou adding to the majiang sesame paste noodles

This is very delightful to the eyes

这个是咖喱的味道，对吗？ And this is like a light Chinese curry flavour?

对对 Yeah

咖喱的味道 Curry flavour

放一点咖喱汤 Put a little curry soup in there

搅拌一下 You gotta mix it up

我尝一下 Let’s try it out

那个特别香 That is super flavour packed

That is delicious

That sesame paste is really strong and buttery

And thick

这个辣肉有一点辣，很好吃的 This pork definitely spicy

你能吃辣吗？ Do you like spicy?

我爱辣 I love it spicy

Those are extraordinary

Some of the best noodles I’ve ever had

This is noodle heaven

I’m in noodle heaven right now

And for the final meal of the day before meeting up with my local friend the next day

I went to a classic time honoured restaurant that’s been open

And serving hungry customers their signature shengjianbao for over 80 years

The deep fried bao are cooked Shanghai style

With shrimp and minced pork thats just slightly sweet

这里的生煎包可以吗？ The shengjianbao is alright here?

可以 Yeah they are good

你吃过吗？ You’ve had them before?

吃过 Yeah

好吃吗？ How are they?

这个是老店，有名气的 This is a really old and famous joint

有名气的 Super famous

很长的历史? A long history?

它叫大壶春 It’s called “Dahuchun”

大壶春 “Dahuchun”

吃的话一定要到这里吃 If you eat shengjianbao, you have to eat them here

在上海肯定要来这里? You gotta come here?

我们家在这里还在这里买 Yeah we all buy them

真的吗？ Really?

买了带回家里 We bring them back home

买了带回家? Bring them home?

谢谢你 Thank you

That what is all about! Look at these

So we have some authentic Shengjianbao here in Shanghai

Look at this

Stuffed with pork

Look at the bottom

It’s got that brown crispy layer

Almost like a stamp from a seal

Wow!

That meat is actually a little sweet

And I can taste

There’s like this crispy

Almost burnt like, but good burnt like flavour to this outer bun shell

You can taste the wokhei

The charry-ness of the wok

Of that pan that they grill them in

It’s beautiful

美味的 A beautiful flavour

这个外面的皮很脆脆的 The outer skin is so crispy

脆脆的 Yeah it’s so crispy

还有一点锅气的味道 And there is a “wokhei” black flavour to it

对对对 Yeah

那个锅很黑的 The flavour from the black pan

我们这个肉馅是咸中带点甜 Yeah the flavour is mainly salty with a slight touch of sweetness

带甜，对对对，一点点甜 A touch of sweetness, that’s right!

一点点甜 Just a little sweet

上海最有名的，很好吃的 They must be so famous in Shanghai

这个最好的上海Number1 Number1 These are number 1 in Shanghai!

好 Great

很好 So good

上海话叫有名的 They are so famous in Shanghai

名的 Famous

上海话叫有名的 In Shanghai language we say “ming de”

这个是上海最地道的小吃 This is the most authentic spot

最地道的! The most authentic!

对 Yeah

And after a relaxing evening walking around downtown

I met up with my local friend Xiaoyun the next day

She offered to take me out for a full day of eating