{"id":17489,"date":"2015-02-02T07:01:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T15:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shescookin.com\/?p=17489"},"modified":"2019-07-15T08:22:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T15:22:10","slug":"night-market-tour-in-shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shescookin.com\/night-market-tour-in-shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"Night Market Food Tour in Shanghai"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NIght market food tour in old town, Shanghai. \u00a9Priscilla Willis<\/p><\/div>\n

Night Market Food Tour with UnTour Shanghai<\/h2>\n

On a food tour of the night markets in Shanghai, you’ll chow on Bbq, crawfish, lamb kebabs, wok-fried rice noodles, fruit pudding, Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles and much more from countless hawker stalls \u2014 if you have a second stomach. I experienced all this and more on a frigid January evening in Shanghai with the guidance of a knowledgeable, hungry expat who moonlights as a tour guide for UnTour Shanghai<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Dan, our UnTour guide on the night market food tour in Shanghai. \u00a9Priscilla Willis<\/p><\/div>\n

We met at the corner of Shouning Lu and Renmin Lu (Lu<\/em> is the word for “road” in Mandarin), an eclectic group of 10 visitors, all with an appetite for adventure. Unbelievably, one of the two other Americans in our group was from Arkansas and the other from Texas, both were in Shanghai on Walmart business, the other attendees hailed from Australia and New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

\"crawfish,

Spicy crawfish in Shanghai. \u00a9Priscilla Willis<\/p><\/div>\n

Crawfish and Other Sea Creatures<\/h2>\n

After a round of introductions and dining protocols, we made our way down the narrow street past crates and makeshift kitchens while our guide Dan filled us in on the strange (to us) sea creatures and other more familiar looking foods along the way to our first stop. He also assured us that the places we would be eating had been carefully curated after many dining experiences by the locals and long-term expats that make up the team at UnTour Shanghai.<\/p>\n

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Yes, those are sea snakes, and we did not eat any, oysters and scallops (lower left) and crawfish (lower right), which was the main course at our first stop.<\/p>\n

Quite literally a “hole in the wall,” we entered a tiny, cluttered space, washed in unbecoming, harsh fluorescent light and were led upstairs to a room devoid of decor as we know it, but “where the good stuff is,” as Anthony Bourdain would say.<\/p>\n

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First Stop: Night Seafood Market for Crawfish<\/h2>\n

Beers all around and instructions by Dan on the proper way to eat crawfish. Basically, you grasp the head, give it a twist to separate from the tail, suck the juices from the head, discard \u00a0the shell (some people eat it), pinch the tail to pull the meat out, discard the shell, remove the vein at the top of the crawfish and discard, then enjoy the delicate flesh.<\/p>\n

Lingering spices from the shells tingle your lips, heat-seeking icy insouciant beer to quell the numbing. With more street fare on the agenda, we were urged to refrain from filling up and clambered down the steep steps out into the night.<\/p>\n

\"Yuyuan

Night market at Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai. \u00a9Priscilla Willis<\/p><\/div>\n

Night Market – Old Town Shanghai<\/h2>\n

From there we headed to old town Shanghai near Yuyuan Garden. The Old City bustles with activity well into the wee hours of the morning, and hawker stalls crowd every street and alley, filled with tourists by day and locals by night.<\/p>\n

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Wok-fried noodles by Chaomin at the night market. \u00a9Priscilla Willis<\/p><\/div>\n

Noodles by Wokmaster Chaomin<\/h2>\n

It was here that we witnessed a wok master in action. Chaomin is his name, and noodles are his game! What he creates in seconds in a decades-old burnished wok is pure joy for your tastebuds.<\/p>\n