You Tiao, Sou Bing, Dou Jiang at Ningtu
Posted on 02/26/2011
Address: 2130 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC
A classic Shanghainese breakfast is Chinese doughnut (you tiao), Shanghainese pancake (sou bing) and hot soya bean milk (dou jiang). Since my eating partner just returned from a month in Sri Lanka & India and was craving this meal, we headed to one of his 'secret' spots to indulge in this fantastic combination experience.
Located on a nondescript portion of Kingsway, Ningtu Restaurant could easily be mistaken for yet another Cantonese-style dim-sum haven outlet.
With a clean and airy dining room, Ningtu beckons one and all to try northern Chinese cuisine.
Baked Sesame Pastries & Chinese Donut $4.
You tiao ("Chinese donut") is a long, and airy deep-fried dough with a crease down the middle providing for easy tearing in half. Good you tiao should not be too greasy nor taste of ammonia (like at Richmond Public Market, downstairs). They are extremely wide and round at Ningtu rather than long and thin such as at T&T Supermarket (and most everywhere else for that matter). Ningtu serves them not greasy, not ammonia-smelling and perfect for wrapping around sou bing.
The sou bing is seen lying flat on the plate beneath the you tiao. Also called 'Shanghai pancake', this flat-bread topped with sesame seeds is of very good quality here. It is not greasy, hard or heavy.
Sweet Soya Bean Drink $1.50.
Perfect for winter-time, a hot bowl of steaming hot soya bean milk. Taken together with the pastries, I understand why this combo is such a hit with the Chinese.
It is not accepted practice to dip the pastries into the bowl. Rather, the milk is sipped (I prefer slurp), from spoon while munching on the dry but slightly oily breads.
I was instructed by 'Uncle D' that these two are taken together. The proper way is to fold the you tiao into the sou bing. What a fantastic experience eating like a Chinese! These little tricks of eating -- like using chopsticks to pick up peanuts or holding rice bowl cradled between palm & thumb -- are part of what constitute the magic of Chinese dining for me.
Salted Duck $7.25.
I was amazed at how well the salty duck, a cold dish, went with the hot pastries and soya milk. I have tried salt chicken at restaurants such as Dai Tung and so am familiar with the concept of cold, salted foul. But what really surprised me was this duck dish! Such good flavor, such perfect amount of salt, so few bones! Impressed.
A perfect eating scene for a cold Saturday in February.
The proprietress, Tina. She moved here from northern China, beginning this restaurant 15 years ago. She is a very pleasant woman, a personality well-suited to the hospitality business. She even brought out some dishes for us herself!
Many thanks to Tina for enlivening Vancouver with her first-class Shanghainese eatery! I came hungry and left full, happy to know I can return soon to try the award-winning Rice Cake Crab...