An Ode to Shouning Road 寿宁路: One of Shanghai's Fallen Old Streets
When I first moved to Shanghai, I was put up in the Fraser Residences on Shouning Road (寿宁路), near the Xintiandi and Laoximen areas. It’s actually a pretty short street - just the small block which the Fraser occupies the length of, and then across Xizang Road, there’s a slightly longer block.
When I arrived to Shanghai, I was picked up at the airport by the office driver Joe. On the drive to the Fraser, he gave a lot of advice about starting work in the office, telling me that I should rest well over the upcoming October holiday to mentally prepare myself, because the office work rhythm was very fast! He also told me that the block of Shouning Road next to the hotel was full of 上海小吃, or Shanghai snacks. So of course I went over as soon as I could.
Indeed, it was a bustling street, with tiny to nonexistent sidewalks, so pedestrians and motorbikes shared the road with the stores’ goods spilling into the street as well. You can see the Fraser tower rising behind the older buildings in this picture below.
Walking from the Fraser towards the east, in the middle of the road there was 矮子馅饼, or Shorty’s Filled Pastries.
They sell pastries with a bunch of different fillings, including sweet flavors like black sesame or peanut, and savory flavors like pork floss or salt and pepper.
You can see that the production of these flaky pastries happens right here, with the workers behind the counter filling the pastries and griddling them.
Just 10 RMB (~US$1.50) for 8 pastries! There’s something about this type of operation - pastries made on site for a very reasonable price - that seems like an endangered species. There are so many places now that sell pastries that are first par-baked in a central kitchen, and then are just kind of toasted on site, and one pastry sells for many times more than these 8 pastries.
I’m pretty sure the one on the right is a black sesame one, while I can’t remember what the one on the left was. I do recall that it wasn’t like a pure black sesame paste, but rather black sesame seeds in a kind of soft mochi-type filling. Very good!
A bit further east was the guy who prepared geese (I think) for roasting. Here he is washing them in big metal bowls on the ground.
And here are the geese hanging up. I’m not the only one who thought it was an interesting sight!
Next to the hanging geese was the fried pork cutlet and sticky rice cake 年糕 place. This is really a Shanghaiese specialty!
This place always had a line - you can see here the chef preparing multiple orders at once.
The rice cakes came in a sticky black sauce, and the pork chops were rather greasy. A lot of people consider Shanghai food to be rather crude - oily and sweet. At 18 RMB, it was worth a try.
Adjacent to the pork chop and rice cake guy was my favorite scallion pancake place which I wrote about before.
The girl stood on bricks to be in a more comfortable position!
And then around the corner was my favorite wonton place, which I also wrote about. This was a picture from when I first arrived in Shanghai in 2019.
After spending nearly a whole year in San Diego, the one thing I craved the most was that bowl of wonton soup when I came back at the end of 2020. I came once right away after arriving. Then I came back two weeks later, and was greeted by this empty store front. They had even invested in a new sign between 2019 and now!
Around the corner, thankfully the scallion pancake place was still open, but notice how all of the other buildings on the street have been vacated for demolition.
The buildings even looked recently renovated, with a fresh coat of paint and covers over air conditioning units. At least I could have my 葱油饼.
But then when I came back in May, I found even the scallion pancake place all cemented up!
What a sad sight.
The same view as the first picture, with the Fraser in the background and a new tower going up on the left. And even the Fraser isn't the Fraser anymore, but “Riverdale Residences.”
Such change, and so quickly it happens. I worried the most about the fate of all of these mom and pop stores that gave so much character and vitality to city life. Where would they go?
