We Didi’d from Ningbo to Shanghai on November 15th, sporting shorts and light shirts, glad for the A/C in our EV. Two days later, winter caught up, fast!! Brrrr
A wee bit underdressed for the weather, we still very much enjoyed a morning of strolling and eating on the Old Street at Qibao Water Town. A historical town with a thousand++ year history, complete with Temples, Canals, Stone Foot Bridges and… Plenty of shops and restaurants offering foods mostly from the Shanghai region, past and present. A Happy Place for Food Lovers!!
The variety and quality of food was in a word: INCREDIBLE!!! Prices yet so reasonable that we Alipaid and QR’d without any regrets or contraints!! 
AND, just about every vender was genuinely friendly and continued to smile, even if we only chatted and then walked away without a purchase. No Chinese Two Face here.
Without further ado:
CONG YOU BING (Scallion Pancakes)
These had to the best ever. Flaky, multi-layered and brilliant Scallion Scented. Fresh Fried and Crisp Finished in the charcoal oven.
YOU DUN ZI (Fried Turnip Patties)
Savory Daikon Shreds in a crunchy toothsome deep fried “Patty”. This bite just worked, I’m still drooling at the memory.
Beautiful streets, architecture dating back centuries, lovely Lotus blossomed canals. Almost enough distraction to draw our attention from all the good food!!!
TANG TUAN (Glutinuous Rice Balls)
A Specialty of the area. We squeezed into a tiny four table shop. Our table wedged in between the steaming soup cauldrons and the area where the ladies were chattering and hand rolling these Rice Balls. Just like eating in Grandma’s Kitchen when I was knee high to a water buffalo!!
Silky Purses!!! One stuffed with Minced Pork, one deliciously filled with Jìcài (Shepard’s Purse)
In china, it is perfectly acceptable to snack on your own outside Food and Beverages at other eating establishments. I was quite surprised by this accommodation at first, but have gotten used to this over time.
As a courtesy, we did ask the proprietor’s nod before whipping out our outside food. She graciously agreed, only asked that we don’t leave a mess. With her delicious steaming bowls of Rice Balls, we munched our outside Pork Belly and Ham Hocks.
BLACK RICE with DATE and WINTERMELON SUGAR
Steamed in intricately woven baskets. Gorgeous!!!
LOTUS ROOT with SWEET GLUTINUOUS RICE
A very Shanghai Specialty.
DUMPLINGS and POTSTICKERS
BING with NUTS, DATES and…
GLUTINUOUS RICE with DATES, PRUNES and RAISINS
Very impressive Steamy presentation!!
STINKY TOFU
Yes, I had my mandatory One Bite Per Trip.
MUNG BEAN CAKE
WINE BAR
Just a bit early in the day, we reluctantly passed.
RICE WINE
We did pick up some Rice Wine (various flavors) for sampling later.
BAK CHEET GOAT
Bak cheet Guy (Poached chicken) is quite common, same prep for Goat? Not so much. We had bought some previously at another street market. DELICIOUS!!!
SALT-BAKED QUAIL EGG and GOOSE EGG
The oven is made of Salt and Gypsum. The only rude vender of the day. She tried to make us pay 5 RMB for the priviledge of taking pictures of her oven. Sorry, I don’t speak Mandarin.
Please, someone take this DUMB ASS TOURIST sign off my back.
These are just some of the amazing spectrum of tantalizing goodies on this amazing street. There was also foods that were less palatable to the Western Palate. I will post some of those more local items in a follow up post.
