When Wuyuan Bingjia first opened in 1936, it was one of many Shanghai-style bakeries around town, churning out trays of benbang dim sum dishes to be eaten on the go or taken home and enjoyed with the family. Now, as the city grows skyward and Shanghainese palates skew more international, these old-style bakeries are slowly dying out.
Wuyuan Bingjia is one of the last ones standing, and it’s not thanks to the service. (Word to the wise: Be ready to order when you get to the cashier or you’ll get an earful from the waitstaff.) Locals followed this laozihao (Time-Honored Brand) when it had to relocate from the corner of Weihai Lu and Shimen Lu to make room for the Four Seasons Hotel in 1995, and they still come in droves to order the bakery’s most famous menu item: crab shell pastries (蟹壳黄, xiè ké huáng), a dish whose history goes back two centuries, to the late Qing Dynasty.
There’s nothing crabby about this snack (unless you count the service you’ll receive when ordering one). Baked in a clay oven, the flaky pastries get their name from the shape and color of their shell, which are reminiscent of Shanghai’s famous hairy crab. The crispy buns come with two options for fillings: savory (鲜, xiān), that is, green onion-flavored, or sweet (甜, tián), stuffed with granulated sugar. Both varieties are liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds to form a crunchy coating atop the flaky crust. At 1 RMB per bite-sized piece with a minimum order of four, you won’t have to choose between the two.
Wuyuan Bingjia is one of the few places still selling the classic Shanghainese snack, but no matter how popular it is, with price points like that, it’s hard to keep the venue afloat. So the bakery has branched out, offering roasted Cantonese meats and a pan-Chinese menu so lacking in focus that we advise against even bothering to sit down inside the restaurant. Best order your crab shell pastries to go from the takeout window that opens onto the street, so you can avoid both the angsty staff and the mediocre side dishes.
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