Shanghai breakfast: dabing, youtiao, cifantuan and soy milk explained

The short answer. A Shanghai street breakfast is four things, known together as the four heavenly kings (四大金刚, sì dà jīngāng): a baked flatbread (dabing), a fried dough stick (youtiao), a sticky-rice roll (cifantuan) and soy milk (doujiang). Three of the four are wheat, and the savoury soy milk has dried shrimp. You buy them at small stalls and shops that open early; point, pay by phone and eat standing up or on the way.

The four heavenly kings

The Shanghai government’s food guide lists the four like this.

Dabing 大饼 (dàbǐng)

A flatbread baked in a clay or metal oven. It comes savoury, with spring onion, or sweet, with a sugar glaze. Most have sesame seeds on top.

• Contains: wheat, sesame. The savoury kind may be made with lard or other fat in the layers; ask if that matters to you.

Youtiao 油条 (yóutiáo)

A long stick of dough, deep-fried until puffy and golden. People eat it on its own, dip it into soy milk, or roll it inside a cifantuan.

• Contains: wheat. Fried in oil that is used for other things too.

Cifantuan 粢饭团 (cífàntuán)

A fist-sized roll of steamed glutinous rice, pressed round a piece of youtiao. Stalls add sugar, pickled vegetables or pork floss (肉松, ròusōng), depending on the shop and what you ask for. The guide notes that older versions were simpler, with just youtiao or sugar inside.

• Contains: wheat (from the youtiao). Pork floss is pork. Ask for 不要肉松 (bú yào ròusōng, “no pork floss”) if you are vegetarian.

Doujiang 豆浆 (dòujiāng)

Hot soy milk, in two very different forms:

• Sweet (甜豆浆, tián dòujiāng): soy milk with sugar.
• Savoury (咸豆浆, xián dòujiāng): seasoned with soy sauce and topped with pieces of youtiao, seaweed, dried shrimp and spring onion. You eat it with a spoon, like soup.

If you are vegetarian or allergic to shellfish, order the sweet one or ask for 不要虾皮 (bú yào xiāpí, “no dried shrimp”).

Other breakfast favourites

• Scallion oil pancake (葱油饼, cōngyóubǐng): a flaky fried wheat pancake full of spring onion.
• Shengjian and wontons: many breakfast shops also sell pan-fried buns and wontons. Both normally have pork. See Xiaolongbao, shengjian and wontons.
• Scallion oil noodles (葱油拌面, cōngyóu bànmiàn): a local paper calls them about the most traditional Shanghai snack, born in years when food was short. Wheat noodles, fried spring-onion oil and soy sauce; the fuller version adds dried shrimp.

How to order

1. Point and hold up fingers. 一个 (yí gè) is “one”, 两个 (liǎng gè) is “two”.
2. Say sweet or savoury for soy milk: 甜的 (tián de) or 咸的 (xián de).
3. Pay by phone. Most stalls have a QR code to scan. Some still take cash. See How to pay in Shanghai.

Breakfast stalls are busy and quick. A card on your phone is easier than a conversation: our dietary card tool can say “no pork floss, no dried shrimp, no lard” in one line.

At a glance: what’s in each

Breakfast	Wheat	Pork	Shellfish	Soy	Sesame
Dabing	Yes	Possible (fat)	No	No	Usually
Youtiao	Yes	No	No	No	No
Cifantuan	Yes (youtiao)	If pork floss	No	No	No
Sweet soy milk	No	No	No	Yes	No
Savoury soy milk	Yes (youtiao)	No	Yes (dried shrimp)	Yes	No

“No” means not a usual ingredient. Stalls share oil, boards and ladles, so traces are always possible.