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Get in line for a taste of street snack favorite
By Xu Wenwen and Wu Huixin |
November 1, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SHAOBING - literally "cooked cake" - is a typical Chinese snack and breakfast food. The pastry has a golden-yellow, crispy crust, a mouth-watering smell and comes in savory or sweet varieties.
Always served hot, shaobing is sometimes dubbed "Chinese pizza," because both are made from flour, and like its Italian cousin, it's delicious.
But while a pizza base is topped with all kinds of ingredients, shaobing is stuffed with preserved vegetables, meat, or comes in plain salty or sweet varieties.
Rarely featuring on restaurant menus, shaobing is more usually sold on street corners, especially in residential communities, and is cooked in a tall old-fashioned barrel-like iron oven plastered with mud and lime. Hungry customers often queue at the oven waiting for batches of baking-hot, fresh shaobing to emerge.
Making shaobing is a fairly straightforward process: insert stuffing into the dough; roll it into round or elliptical shapes; and top with black or white sesame.
Then, in the most nerve-racking part, one by one, place the dough discs on the palm of your hand, stretch your arm into the hot oven and place the dough down inside.
After about a minute, the shaobing is ready and vendors use long tongs to retrieve the hot and brittle goodies for customers to enjoy.
Today, there are many snack options, but Chinese people show no sign of ending their love affair with shaobing. At some outlets, the cakes are so good that customers want them not just for breakfast, but as part of lunch and supper too, and queue there morning, noon and night.
Shanghai Daily samples shaobing at three Hangzhou outlets.
Ah Long Shaobing
Ah Long and his wife run their shaobing business from a 5-square-meter store on Shengli River Food Street. Ah Long bakes and sells; his wife rolls and wraps.
The shaobing is made to order - all the stuffing, rolling, baking is done after the order is placed to ensure everything is fresh and hot. "Hot shaobing is the best, and I only make the best shaobing," explains Ah Long.
Customers seem to agree with these claims. From morning to night, shaobing fans queue at the tiny premises for the crisp snacks.
Ah Long favors a fairly flat snack - even though stuffed with meat and vegetables - so the crust is very crisp. A sprinkle of sugar is added to salty stuffing so it is especially tasty, plus the pastry is rich and satisfying.
In addition to the standard shaobing, Ah Long offers a mini version shaped like a bun, which can be eaten in a single bite.
Six kinds of stuffing are offered - all savory - including meigancai (dark preserved vegetables), zhacai (pickled mustard tuber) and shallots.
Address: No. 281, Xiawan Lane, Shengli River Food Street
Fatty's Shaobing
Few customers know the real name of "Fatty" - pangzi in Chinese - the owner of this shaobing outlet. But many say they do know that the sesame shaobing he makes is unparalleled in Hangzhou.
With an inconspicuous facade, the shop is located alongside the doorway of Hangzhou Xuejun High School and across from the back door of Xixi campus of Zhejiang University. During breaks, students come to snack on shaobing.
There are five kinds of sesame seed cakes on offer at the 12-square-meter shop: sweet, peppery, salty, fat and lean meat. All contain preserved vegetables, made to a secret recipe.
"Fatty" is actually Ying Xianguang, from Lishui in Zhejiang Province. Some 20 years ago, he and his family came to Hangzhou and set up a food stall around Wensan Road. While other food stalls disappeared as the city developed, Fatty's is still going strong.
Some fans of Fatty's shaobing arrive at the humble shop in luxury cars, just to buy 2 yuan (32 US cents) or 3 yuan sesame seed cakes to take home.
Address: 188 Wensan Rd
Ba La Xiong
Previously known as Xiongji Shaobing, this outlet changed its name as Ba La Xiong in May, as the brand Xiongji had already been registered. However, the name change has not affected its popularity; on the contrary, the new name and fresh decor have attracted more customers.
The shop is named after owner's surname, Xiong, and the shaobing is made in the traditional style of Quzhou, a city in the middle of Zhejiang Province. Xiong has tweaked the original recipe to cater for modern tastes.
Sesame seed cakes stuffed by scallion, preserved or pickled vegetable are 3 yuan; while meat-stuffed varieties are 5 yuan or 6 yuan. A mini shaobing is also available for 2 yuan.
There are four branches of Ba La Xiong in Hangzhou. And for customers who want to beat the queues, they take advance orders.
Address: 15 Wen'er Rd; 356 Wensan Rd; 157 Jiaogong Rd; 178 Hedong Rd
Always served hot, shaobing is sometimes dubbed "Chinese pizza," because both are made from flour, and like its Italian cousin, it's delicious.
But while a pizza base is topped with all kinds of ingredients, shaobing is stuffed with preserved vegetables, meat, or comes in plain salty or sweet varieties.
Rarely featuring on restaurant menus, shaobing is more usually sold on street corners, especially in residential communities, and is cooked in a tall old-fashioned barrel-like iron oven plastered with mud and lime. Hungry customers often queue at the oven waiting for batches of baking-hot, fresh shaobing to emerge.
Making shaobing is a fairly straightforward process: insert stuffing into the dough; roll it into round or elliptical shapes; and top with black or white sesame.
Then, in the most nerve-racking part, one by one, place the dough discs on the palm of your hand, stretch your arm into the hot oven and place the dough down inside.
After about a minute, the shaobing is ready and vendors use long tongs to retrieve the hot and brittle goodies for customers to enjoy.
Today, there are many snack options, but Chinese people show no sign of ending their love affair with shaobing. At some outlets, the cakes are so good that customers want them not just for breakfast, but as part of lunch and supper too, and queue there morning, noon and night.
Shanghai Daily samples shaobing at three Hangzhou outlets.
Ah Long Shaobing
Ah Long and his wife run their shaobing business from a 5-square-meter store on Shengli River Food Street. Ah Long bakes and sells; his wife rolls and wraps.
The shaobing is made to order - all the stuffing, rolling, baking is done after the order is placed to ensure everything is fresh and hot. "Hot shaobing is the best, and I only make the best shaobing," explains Ah Long.
Customers seem to agree with these claims. From morning to night, shaobing fans queue at the tiny premises for the crisp snacks.
Ah Long favors a fairly flat snack - even though stuffed with meat and vegetables - so the crust is very crisp. A sprinkle of sugar is added to salty stuffing so it is especially tasty, plus the pastry is rich and satisfying.
In addition to the standard shaobing, Ah Long offers a mini version shaped like a bun, which can be eaten in a single bite.
Six kinds of stuffing are offered - all savory - including meigancai (dark preserved vegetables), zhacai (pickled mustard tuber) and shallots.
Address: No. 281, Xiawan Lane, Shengli River Food Street
Fatty's Shaobing
Few customers know the real name of "Fatty" - pangzi in Chinese - the owner of this shaobing outlet. But many say they do know that the sesame shaobing he makes is unparalleled in Hangzhou.
With an inconspicuous facade, the shop is located alongside the doorway of Hangzhou Xuejun High School and across from the back door of Xixi campus of Zhejiang University. During breaks, students come to snack on shaobing.
There are five kinds of sesame seed cakes on offer at the 12-square-meter shop: sweet, peppery, salty, fat and lean meat. All contain preserved vegetables, made to a secret recipe.
"Fatty" is actually Ying Xianguang, from Lishui in Zhejiang Province. Some 20 years ago, he and his family came to Hangzhou and set up a food stall around Wensan Road. While other food stalls disappeared as the city developed, Fatty's is still going strong.
Some fans of Fatty's shaobing arrive at the humble shop in luxury cars, just to buy 2 yuan (32 US cents) or 3 yuan sesame seed cakes to take home.
Address: 188 Wensan Rd
Ba La Xiong
Previously known as Xiongji Shaobing, this outlet changed its name as Ba La Xiong in May, as the brand Xiongji had already been registered. However, the name change has not affected its popularity; on the contrary, the new name and fresh decor have attracted more customers.
The shop is named after owner's surname, Xiong, and the shaobing is made in the traditional style of Quzhou, a city in the middle of Zhejiang Province. Xiong has tweaked the original recipe to cater for modern tastes.
Sesame seed cakes stuffed by scallion, preserved or pickled vegetable are 3 yuan; while meat-stuffed varieties are 5 yuan or 6 yuan. A mini shaobing is also available for 2 yuan.
There are four branches of Ba La Xiong in Hangzhou. And for customers who want to beat the queues, they take advance orders.
Address: 15 Wen'er Rd; 356 Wensan Rd; 157 Jiaogong Rd; 178 Hedong Rd
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