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Week Around the Ists
We just noticed a street food that may not be new, but it is new to us. We spotted it last night just outside our neighborhood (we were walking to dinner at Guyi ... fantastic Hunan cuisine) and made a mental note to check it out today. What caught our eye on Weihai Lu near Yan'an was the vertical spit and the man shaving off juicy slices of pork (gyro style) with a long blade. We had not seen this before in Shanghai, but then again we didn't see our first Tujia pizza stand until last weekend.
Here is a rough translation of the sign that sits beside this guy's stall, which occupies the space in front of a fruit stand at 922 Weihai Lu:
TOP: "Turkish Barbecue"
SIDE: "10 kuai for a box"
FIRST ITEM: "Pancakes with meat, 3 RMB"
SECOND ITEM: "Hamburger, 4 RMB"
THIRD ITEM: "Pancake roll with meat, 5 RMB"
BOTTOM: "No oil or smoke, healthy food"
Healthy? Doubtful. Tasty? Definitely. We can also quibble with the term "Turkish." While we haven't been to Turkey, we have eaten at Turkish restaurants and haven't ever tasted anything quite like this. That's not a bad thing -- it's just that this is most likely Turkish with Chinese characteristics. It's a pretty simple food: seasoned pork, cilantro and la jiao stuffed inside either a pita-ish roll (the result is gyro-ish), a hamburger bun (BBQ pork sandwich-ish) or an oily tortilla (burrito-ish). In the name of research, we tried all three. We prefer the first two (and cheaper) options. They are easier to eat -- the burrito fell apart -- and less oily.
The guy said he starts serving these at around 7 am -- we can't imagine doing that to our stomachs -- and closes around 9 or 9:30 at night. We have to warn you: We have made more trips to the bathroom than usual this afternoon. This could be because we don't eat as much street food as we used to. Or perhaps it is best not to eat this stuff the day after dining at Guyi.
Photos from Shanghai Diaries.
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There are identical stands (same menu & prices) up at the front and back gates of ECNU (hua dong shi da), so I presume they're all over. I have been more impressed by the rapid proliferation of those "Chinese pizza" stands - suddenly they're everywhere.
They existed in Beijing 6 years ago, though they seem more common now. The pita like ones are called rou bing.
I think I had rou bing outside Shanghai Uni a few years ago, but it was a little different. And I have never seen meat shaved gyro style here before.
There's one right outside Xiangyang market at Xiangyang and Nanchang - there's a line up all day although the lady taking the money will try to rip you off every time by saying you only gave a 10 when in fact you gave a 20 etc...
the one near xiangyang market is beef I think. And there is one of those Chinese pizza stands right next door. Nice. 3 kuai for the pita, and 2 for the pizza. That's a five kuai dinner baby.
there's one near my office on the Muslim bit of Zhejiang Lu between Fuzhou Lu and Yanan Lu opposite the new school. Strangely they call it Malaysian but it is a classic doner kebab similar to those consumed at closing time across London every Friday night. I've tried it a few times and am yet to get sick or anything - that's as good a recommendation as I can give them really.