A culinary excursion to Wujian street

One of the highlights of a trip to China has to be the local cuisine. If you want to eat affordable and great tasting food, the best place to go is an outdoor food court. The delicacies sold in small kiosks that line the streets in China's cities are sure to appeal to the palate as well as the eyes.

Getting initiated into the Chinese fast food culture may be a bit difficult at first when one does not yet know what dishes would be most likely to please one's taste and what all is available. With this in mind, we took two brave test subjects with us on a tour of the fast food kiosks in Shanghai. And just to ensure we got a wider range of opinions, we chose Lena Rune from Sweden to accompany our China native Jennifer Wang on the adventure. The young women were treated to a brunch on Wujian street in Shanghai, where they had the chance to sample a selection of dishes ranging from spicy oysters to pumpkin cakes.

Our food sampling tour started out with an ample serving of dumplings. On Wujian street, 40 euro cents will buy you eight of these mouthwatering traditional specialties. Lena informed us that dumplings is one of her favorite dishes, and gave the ones she sampled a very high rating. "The filling was made of greasy pork meat and shrimp, which sounds like an odd combination but it worked well in this case," Lena exalted.

Jennifer remarks that dumplings are among the dishes that have managed to gain the most popularity among foreigners. She says that they are also among the top foods she herself likes to enjoy and that she often eats them together with her friends. In Shanghai, it also common for people to eat dumplings for breakfast, she adds.

Next on the menu -- oysters, or muli, in Chinese. The price is again very meager by European standards -- 50 euro cents each. Jennifer samples a dish of oysters with chili and green beans. Jennifer finds the dish, which is quite a recent addition to the Shanghai food scene, to be very spicy but tasty. Lena finds the delicious smelling dish of oysters with garlic and chili to be good, although she is a not great fan of shellfish.

After an encounter with oysters, it is time to head on to the booth selling pumpkin cakes, nan gua bing, in Chinese. Jennifer says that pumpkin pastries are a popular dessert and breakfast food. The cake is filled with sweet bean paste and one sells for about 40 euro cents. Sweet pastries are not among Jennifer's favorite foods and Lena is also left unimpressed by the experience. "This is like a big pumpkin donut," she laughs and describes the taste as resembling that of fried batter. The bean paste, on the other hand, gets the thumbs up from Lena.

The next food to shake up the taste buds is a Chinese pancake, dan bing, which is a popular breakfast food in Shanghai. The pancakes, which sell for about 30 euro cents a piece, are topped with egg, and you can choose either a sweet or a spicy sauce to go with it. Lena says that the Chinese version of a pancake differs slightly from its Scandinavian cousin, but finds it to be very filling in any case.

It's a hard job, but someone's gotta do it... A few foods still remain to be tried, including steamed baozi buns. "This is like eating some sort of pie," Lena says. The sizable buns are filled with vegetables or meat and cooked by steaming. They are frequently seen on breakfast tables in China but they are also eaten during other meals. On Wujian street, one baozi costs about 50 euro cents.

If one has a sweet tooth, candied fruits on a skewer is a good choice to satisfy the craving for something sugary. Jennifer samples the combination of chocolate and strawberries. Other options pineapple and kiwi fruit, which can be dipped in melted chocolate. A more traditional option is skewered fruit dipped in caramelized sugar. "These small apple-shaped fruits are the best," Lena praises and hints that walnuts bring a delightful addition to the food. The cost of fruits dipped in chocolate or caramelized sugar, 40 euro cents.

The food tour on Wujian street wraps up with a cup of whipped, milkshake-like bubble tea, zheng zhu naicha. "You can buy this anywhere in Shanghai, and it is especially popular among young girls," Jennifer says. The selection of flavors includes mango and chocolate, and the drink is served with small black tapioca pearls, which sink to the bottom of the cup. Lena finds mango flavored bubble tea to be too artificial in taste, but likes the black tapioca pearls. Lena has observed that they can be found in a wide range of Chinese soups and desserts. Jennifer confesses to drinking chocolate flavored bubble tea fairly often. One cup of the bubbly beverage costs about 30 euro cents.

All the food sampled by Jennifer and Lena during their morning excursion cost less than ten euros, which is sure to delight all Shanghai-bound gourmands.

Translated from Swedish by Petra Niemi.