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Shouning Lu is known as Crawfish Street, with street food vendors often stewing, grilling and frying up the same seafood dishes up and down the one-block stretch. But there’s one land-lubbing vendor that has carved out a niche for itself: Ǎizi Xiànbǐng (矮子馅饼), or Dwarf’s Pastries.

The eponymous snack (which, admittedly, translates crudely into English) hails from Hubei, and, while the origin of its denomination is a mystery, it is likely that the first person to sell these particular pastries was indeed a dwarf. Now the name is a registered trademark, and only shops approved by the Hubei government can sell the branded pastries. In Shanghai, there are a handful of such shops scattered far outside the city center, so this downtown one on Shouning Lu does a booming trade. The boss claims that on a good day, he can sell upwards of 10,000 of the bite-sized pies.

It wouldn’t surprise us if he did. The man has an assembly line-like operation set up behind the storefront, with seven human cogs churning out the pastries at record speed. Each person has an assigned role: one person mixes the dough, the second squeezes it into a ball, the third and fourth roll it out, the fifth molds the filling, the sixth stuffs the dough and the last flattens it with a hand press. The team is like a well-oiled machine, churning out about one pastry every two seconds. When the tray of raw pastries is full, number seven tosses it to another worker manning five griddles that hold up to 50 uncooked pastries at a time. The xianbing are sold in packs of eight, for about RMB1 per pastry.

Dwarf's Pastries' specialty, photo by UnTour ShanghaiPrices vary by one or two kuai, based on the fillings. The owner admits that, although his pastries are as authentic as they come, he has localized a few flavors, like the most popular: salt and pepper (椒盐, jiāoyán), a fragrant, subtly savory filling. All of the bing are flaky on the outside, but one bite unearths a gooey dough filling, laced with whatever ingredient you’ve decided on. If you’re going for sweet, try black sesame (芝麻, zhīma) or red bean paste (红豆, hóngdòu). Pork floss filling (肉松, ròusōng) is another savory favorite that caters to Shanghainese taste buds.

A sign out front ensures people that the handmade process is suitable for eaters of all ages, including children, as the pastries do not contain artificial coloring or added sugar. Even the elderly can enjoy these treats, it proclaims, as they are so soft under the crispy exterior that you don’t need teeth to enjoy them! The sign also notes that when the outside temperature is under 30 degrees C, the shelf life of these pastries is 15 days (10 when the mercury goes over 30). But we’ve never met anyone who has tested this theory; usually they are gone in one.

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Published on February 03, 2015

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