Shanghai Food & Drink Buzz: June 2025
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June 21, 2024
Riding on the coattails of our China Dumpling Guide, we decided to set our sights further afield and explore Shanghai’s global dumpling offerings.
READ MORE: Your Essential Guide to the World of Chinese Dumplings
From Japan to Korea, Nepal to Russia, and even Turkey and Italy, we have made it our mission to eat renditions of the world’s finest pockets of joy, right in our backyard of Shanghai.
To do this, we must delineate what is (and more importantly what is not) a dumpling.
An abbreviated version of the wholly omniscient Google’s definition is essentially...
Cool, way to help us narrow that one down, Google.
An equally futile Wikipedia chimes in with, “the precise definition of a dumpling is controversial, varying across individuals and cultures.”
Well, we’ve never been known to shy away from controversy here at That’s Shanghai, so why break that trajectory now?
In short, we’ve decided to trust our (not-so trustworthy) instincts on just what visually, aesthetically, tastefully, and comprehensively feels like a dumpling.
And in doing so, we’ve thrown all our darts at the proverbial board that makes up the city’s dining scene, munching our way through as many menu items that include the word 饺子 (jiaozi) – the all-encompassing umbrella term for filled, crimped and sealed dumplings of any kind – across the city and listed it out in alphabetical order for your reading pleasure.
Chidori-Ashi
The Japanese Culinary Institute teaches that gyoza recipes made their way to Japan via China, gaining particular traction when Japanese soldiers returned from Manchuko following World War II with a craving for this beloved Chinese street food that is now considered to be one of Japan's national dishes. (1)
Even the written characters for gyoza in Japanese (餃子) share the traditional Chinese characters for jiaozi (餃子), further strengthening the storyline of how jiaozi became gyoza.
Gyoza tend to be filled with minced pork, steamed and then fried on the bottom, resulting in their signature 'lacey skirt' of brittle batter.
Diners can first dip in a tare and rice vinegar sauce before crunching away, the thin elastic dumpling skin tearing open to reveal this delectable dumpling’s overflowingly juicy center.
Where to get it:
READ MORE: 12 Izakayas to Satisfy Your Shanghai Yakitori Cravings
READ MORE: We Walked in a Mall in Shanghai and Fell Into a Tokyo Wormhole
Yi Ba Du
In Korean Cuisine: An Illustrated History, author and historian Michael Pettid writes that mandu – or Korean dumplings – were originally a part of Korean royal court cuisine, believed to have arrived on the Korean peninsula in the 14th Century by way of the Yuan Mongolians. (2)
The behemoth folded dumplings are most commonly steamed, but can also be enjoyed boiled in soup, grilled, or pan-fried.
As diverse as mandu are in preparation options, conventional fillings are equally expansive (and even vary based on seasonality), ranging from pungent kimchi to pork and scallions, from pheasant meat to glass noodles with chopped vegetables.
Where to get it:
READ MORE: Stuck in Shanghai? Spend a Day Crushing Life in Koreatown
So Mezze
Born from Armenian roots, manti are traditional Turkish dumplings – believed by many historians, such as Stewart Gordon (author of When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East”), to be the first dumplings in Central Asia.
These dumplings are thought to have spread through trade routes and war to the far corners of the East and West.
So Mezze
It’s no surprise then, that manti also make a showing in parts of the Balkans and Central Asia (like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan), and share the same Turkic root word (mantu) with Korean mandu, Greek manti, Afghan mantoo and Chinese mantou. (3)
Traditionally stuffed with spiced meat – most often ground beef or lamb – and boiled or steamed, these marble-sized bundles are pinched and ribbed in the middle, creating that pleasantly uneven noodle chew.
Tossed in a thick dollop of tangy yogurt and a drizzle of chili oil, a plate of manti translates to utter comfort food, a satisfying meal regardless of country of origin.
Where to get it:
Yak & Yeti
Believed to be borrowed from the northwestern Chinese dialect term momo (馍馍), a name for wheat-based steamed buns and breads (4) the term mome in the Newari language (that is spoken by the Newars of Kathmandu Valley) relates to cooking by steaming, according to New Everest Cuisine on the history of momo. (5)
With notably thicker skins, Nepalese-style momo tend to be rounder in shape, conventionally filled with either chicken or pork.
At times, yeast or baking soda is added for a doughier texture, allowing the dumplings to hold their shape when dipped in a variety of sauces – tomato chutney, sesame sauce, acchar, or even broths.
Most often steamed, momo can also be pan- or deep-fried.
Where to get it:
8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana
Arguably one of the world’s most recognized dumplings, the humble Italian ravioli consists of thin pasta dough, stuffed with any manner of savory (but sometimes sweet) filling, usually served in or with a sauce.
Unlike many other dumplings found on this list (and throughout the world), ravioli aren't individually folded, but instead, long lasagna-like egg pasta sheets are spread out, with fillings scooped and placed a few centimeters apart.
A second pasta sheet is the layered over the top and smoothed, a precursor to the crucial cutting step.
A fluted ravioli wheel slicer sections off each individual ravioli by cutting the dough into strips, simultaneously pressing closed and cutting the corrugated edges into the final ravioli square.
Yaya's
Running the size gamut – from miniscule to the width of an entire plate, there’s really no wrong way to ravioli.
Where to get it:
Borsch & Kompot
The land of potatoes, vodka, and camaraderie, Russia is also home to many dumpling varieties, the vareniki being one of the broadest of terms.
Bridging stomachs from Russia to Ukraine, the vareniki even dips its toe into Poland with the variation, known as pierogi.
While pelmeni – as a name – may be more globally recognized, they're typically only filled with uncooked beef or fish (whereby the filling and dumpling skin is simultaneously cooked), whereas vareniki can include pre-cooked mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, cabbage, and even sweet and sour cherries. (6)
Borsch & Kompot
Regardless, these denser skin dumplings are classically enjoyed with a scoop of sour cream as an all-day treat, adored by people of all ages.
Where to get it:
Understandably, this list is in no way fully comprehensive – and even within each country, there are regional differences in naming, preparation, fillings, and folding – but we vow to keep our eyes peeled and our tummies at the ready to start rounding up Part II.
Sources:
(1) Japanese Culinary Institute
(2) Pettid, Michael J. (2008). Korean Cuisine: An Illustrated History. Reaktion Books. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-86189-348-2. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
(4) Wayback Machine
(5) Slow Food
(6) The Moscow Times
My name is Sophie Steiner, and welcome to my food-focused travel blog. This is a place to discover where and what to eat, drink, and do in Shanghai, Asia, and beyond. As an American based in Shanghai since 2015 as a food, beverage, travel, and lifestyle writer, I bring you the latest news on all things food and travel.
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