Shanghai
Guided tour · 3 hours
Shanghai: 3-Hour Local Food Tasting Tour
Sample 10-15 traditional dishes from Shanghai on a tasting food tour in the former French Concession. Try some of the best dumplings in the city and...
from$68Check dates
History
The palmier arrived in Shanghai in the early 20th century through the Red House pastry shops, and Kaisiling and the Park Hotel later adopted and adapted the recipe for local tastes, reducing the sweetness to let the butter come through. The technique relies on repeatedly folding butter into dough to build up many thin layers, which puff and caramelise into a crisp, flaky wing shape when baked with sugar. The pastry stayed a fixture of Shanghai's Haipai bakery culture and drew fresh attention after the television series Blossoms Shanghai revived interest in the city's old institutions.
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Beijing
Guided tour · 3.5 hours
Beijing: Hidden Gems Guided Food Tour with Beer and Tastings
Get off the beaten path and eat where the locals eat on a walking tour in the oldest neighborhood of Beijing. Eat at local, family-run eateries that...
from$75Check dates
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120ml cold water
- 250g cold unsalted butter, in a block
- 150g caster sugar, for laminating and coating
Method
- Mix the flour, salt and water into a smooth dough. Wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Roll the cold butter between two sheets of baking paper into a rectangle a little smaller than the rolled out dough.
- Roll the dough into a larger rectangle, lay the butter on top, and fold the dough over to fully enclose it.
- Roll the dough out and fold it into three, like a letter. Chill for 20 minutes, then repeat the roll and fold three more times, chilling between each.
- Roll the laminated dough into a long rectangle, then sprinkle the surface heavily with sugar.
- Roll both short ends inward towards the centre until they meet, forming a double scroll, then chill for 20 minutes.
- Slice the scroll into 1cm rounds and lay them cut side up on a baking tray, spaced well apart.
- Bake at 200C for 15 to 18 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and the sugar has caramelised on both faces.
Tip from the editors. Keep the butter cold at every stage; if it softens and leaks out while rolling, the layers collapse into one dense sheet instead of crisp wings.
Where to eat hudiesu (butterfly cracker)
Hudiesu (butterfly cracker) in Shanghai
Park Hotel Bakery ★ 4.4
Park Hotel Bakery inside the Art Deco Park Hotel on West Nanjing Road in Shanghai draws block-long lines every day for its bagged butterfly crackers.
Worth the queueBagged butterfly crackers (hudiesu)
TipEach bag holds five crackers for about ¥30, from some 2,500 bags made a day; buy two if one is a gift.
Lao Xiang Zhai ★ 4.0
Lao Xiang Zhai on East Nanjing Road in Shanghai bakes a looser, crumblier butterfly cracker, sold by weight, that travels better for gifting.
Worth the queueButterfly crackers sold by weight
TipBuy by the 500 gram bag, about ¥110 to ¥130; the lower-moisture recipe keeps longer for travel.
Lu Bo Lang ★ 4.0
Lu Bo Lang at Yu Garden in Shanghai holds a Bib Gourmand for Shanghainese dim sum such as turnip pastry and eyebrow pastry, at fair prices in the Old City.
OrderOrder the Shanghainese dim sum: turnip pastry, osmanthus glutinous rice cake and 'eyebrow' pastry.
TipPrivate rooms on the second and third floors take groups; a 2019 refit added wavy silver ceiling panels to the main room.
More cities are in research. Want hudiesu (butterfly cracker) covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.