The Tour of the Dumplings

On Lindsay's final full day in China, we decided some tasting was in order. Eating in China can be quite tricky as a vegetarian but we signed up for a walking tour with Untour, a small business run by American expats with an excellent command of Mandarin.

At 450RMB, the tour itself was a bit on the pricey side considering a plate of dumplings will cost you upwards of 10RMB. But the knowledge of the city, the local information and the dumpling making class at the end made it all worth it. Our guide was knowledgeable and even managed to have local shops cater to my vegetable eating ways. I'll be honest, most of the day was very veggie unfriendly but I have a soft spot for dumplings so that seemed kind of okay.

We started our tour at 10am in the dripping humid heat of the Former French Concession. From there, we meandered to dumpling stands, jianban (Chinese crepe-esque pancakes), Harbin dumpling houses and had a mid-tour stop for a coffee. We were already full at this point but opted to persevere--it seemed only kind, only economical.

Our next stop took us to Dongping Lu in the Former French Concession where we enrolled in a dumpling making class with a local, and very charming, Shanghainese chef:

 

 Finished product!

By 12:30 I was beyond full, a feeling that lasted the rest of the day. In an attempt to walk it all off, we made two more stops before finishing. The first was at a local wet market, an experience I always enjoy. We wandered through produce variable in colour, texture and size before stopping for the Chinese version of Portuguese egg tarts at Lillian Bakery, a Shanghai institution. As if we needed dessert. We waved a farewell to our tour guide and waddled slowly home in the heat and humidity feeling more than contented. It was definitely worth the money.

Besides the dumpling tour, Untour also offers a range of other culinary experiences. For a similar price, you can go on the Street Eats Breakfast Tour which caters to vegetarians or on the Shanghai Night Market tour which will take you on a journey to the dying Shanghai art of outdoor food markets. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.