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October 16, 2018

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Expo restaurant is streets ahead on snacks

SPECIAL Shanghainese snacks such as steamed and pan-fried buns, soup dumplings, sticky rice cakes and beef cellophane noodles are now available at an “old Shanghai streets” themed restaurant inside the National Exhibition and Convention Center.

The Shanghai Specialty Snack Restaurant officially opened its doors to the public yesterday.

Wandering through scenes of old Shanghai, diners can learn about the city’s history and culture by reading notices, watch how snacks are made and have a taste.

Features include shikumen-style buildings, an old green post box, huangbaoche pedicab and old phone booth.

It is run by community business service provider Wanyou Market under the guidance of the local commercial commission.

It is expected to supply more than 20,000 snacks to visitors a day on average during the upcoming China International Import Expo.

Expo goers can sample snacks from the city’s oldest brands such as Xinghualou, Shendacheng, Dexing Pavilion, Dafugui which all started business in 1800s as well as post-2000 ones such as 21 Cake, Babi Steamed Bread and Mr Cai.

Diners can watch how the famous Nanxiang xiaolongbao, a kind of steamed bun, is made from dim-sum chefs with Yuyuan Garden’s Nanxiang Steam Bun Restaurant.

“We attach great emphasis to the CIIE and have selected three century-old restaurants along with a nearly century-old one to have stalls at the specialty snack restaurant,” Dai Qi, general manager of Shanghai Old-Town Temple Restaurant (Group) Co, told Shanghai Daily.

“The four brands are very famous and popular in the Yuyuan Garden and a ‘name card’ of Shanghai, especially the Nanxiang xiaolongbao.”

Dai said beside xiaolongbao, they also include Dexing Pavilion, originator of Shanghai-style cuisine; Chunfeng Songyue Tower, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai; and Ningbo Sweet Dumpling Restaurant, an always line-up restaurant during the Lantern Festival.

For Dai and his colleagues, the CIIE is a great opportunity to let people from all over the world try traditional Shanghainese food and showcase these local century-old restaurants to the world.

“Our biggest feature this time is selling snacks freshly made at the scene instead of heating up frozen ones,” said Dai.

Yu Weiming, chairman of Lao Sheng Chang Dumpling, said food security is assured.

“We have monitoring system for the whole procedure from leaving the factory to being sold at the exhibition center and have designated ingredient suppliers and logistics companies,” he said.

For the CIIE, Lao Sheng Chang developed two new products — one is jianbao, or fried buns, with beef or Shanghai-style shredded pork and preserved vegetable inside and the other is Shanghai-style beef and tomato soup.

Zhao Shen, deputy marketing manager of Sino-British Ruby Food Co which is renowned for its fresh cream cakes, said they have made as many cakes and newly developed ice creams combos as possible.

Besides eating at the scene, visitors can also buy some packaged pastry from Xinghualou to take home.

The new restaurant has received good feedback.

An exhibitor, surnamed Chang, said he left Shanghai more than three decades ago for Guangdong Province.

Yesterday he found the new restaurant and was very glad to have a “taste of hometown” again.




 

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