Photo Essay: Shanghai Pan-fried Buns

Sheng Jian Bao (生煎包), aka pan-fried buns, is an iconic Shanghai snack. The wrapper is made from yeast dough and usually the filling contains minced pork, spring onion and various seasonings. It’s quite small in size, similar to a golf ball or even smaller.

The name of the buns “Sheng Jian” comes from its method of cooking. The buns are lined up in an oiled, shallow, flat pan. Typical commercial pans are more than a metre in diameter. The buns are lined up in the pan with the "knot", where the dough is folded together, facing downwards and thus in direct contact with the oiled pan and fried into a crispy bottom during the cooking process. Water is sprayed on the buns during cooking to ensure the top (which is not in contact with the pan or the oil) is properly cooked.

After frying, the bottom of the bun becomes crunchy, and the gelatin melts into soup. This combination gives the Sheng Jian Bao its unique flavor. Because the buns are tightly lined up in the pan, they become somewhat cube-shaped after cooking. While waiting to be served, the chef may flip the buns so that the fried base faces upwards to prevent the crispy bottom from getting soggy in the process of cooling.

The traditional Sheng Jian Bao has pork fillings. Common variations include chicken, pork mixed with prawns, and pork mixed with crab meat.

In the hometown of pan-fried buns Shanghai, Sheng Jian Bao is traditionally served as breakfast at small local restaurants or just street stalls. They are often cooked in a large pan in front of the queueing customers.

In Hong Kong there are quite a number of well-known Sheng Jian Bao restaurants due partly to long relationship for migrants from Shanghai to Hong Kong since the 1930s. Cheung Hing Kee (祥興記) is one of my favorites. The store received the honour of a mention in the 2016 Michelin Guide, making it more famous in Hong Kong and beyond since then.

Now Cheung Hing Kee has several branches all over Hong Kong, including at least two shops in Central and Sheung Wan areas.

If you travel to Shanghai, the locally best-known Sheng Jian Bao shops are Da Hu Chun (大壺春), which literally means “a big pot of spring (flavor)”, and a relatively late-comer, Yang’s Dumplings (小楊生煎), which now even has shops outside China, like in Australia. Yang’s Dumplings are said to be backed by venture capital and may plan an IPO someday.

Dumpling (bun) is in fact already a billions-dollar business. Seriously!