Savor popular tangyuan to leave a memory on your tongue

Tangyuan are ball-shaped dumplings made from glutinous rice flour and cooked by boiling. In Chinese, the pronunciation of tangyuan (湯圓) sounds similar to the Chinese word tuanyuan (團圓), which means reunion and happiness. The dessert is traditionally eaten during the Lantern Festival that falls on the fifth day of the lunar calendar. Here's a compilation of popular and delicious long-standing restaurants in town that serve tangyuan.

Ningbo Dumplings 寧波湯團店

With the Lantern Festival approaching, the restaurant has recently reached a peak, selling more than 70,000 tangyuan a day.

Classic black sesame-flavored tangyuan is the signature dish, followed by crabmeat and pork tangyuan.

For first-time visitors, the double-flavored tangyuan with savory and sweet flavors are the perfect choice, while the durian and matcha bean paste flavors are more popular with young people and children.

The fastest to sell out every day are the hand-carved loong shaped glutinous rice dumplings.

Opening hours: 8:30am-10pm

Average price: 34 yuan (US$4.73)

Tel: 1801-6442-518

Address: 1/F, Hefeng Building, Yuyuan Mall, Wenchang Rd

文昌路豫園商城和豐樓1層

Meixin Dessert 美新點心店

On the eve of the Lantern Festival, the shop is always crowded with customers. Two flavors of raw tangyuan are sold: fresh meat tangyuan and black sesame one. If you want to buy, you have to queue for at least one and a half hours.

Opening hours: 8am-6:30pm

Average price: 30 yuan

Tel: 6247-0030

Address: 105 Shaanxi Rd N.

靜安區陜西北路105號

Qibao Old Street Tangyuan Shop 七寶老街湯團店

Located in the scenic spot, this 22-year-old soup tangyuan shop is considered one of the must-visit eateries, featuring tangyuan skins that are both thin and soft.

Here, you can see the black sesame tangyuan, rolled into rounded balls, while meat tangyuan are rolled into the shape of a pointed beanie to differentiate them.

Opening hours: 7am-9pm

Average price: 14 yuan

Tel: 1891-6017-880

Address: 26 South Street, Qibao Town

七寶鎮南大街26號

Wangjiasha Dessert 王家沙點心店

Awarded the Shanghai Intangible Cultural Heritage for its techniques, the restaurant is a popular spot always with queues.

The secret recipe for fresh meat tangyuan with two layers of lace and 18 pleats is the unique method, which ensures the meat filling can be contained in the thinnest tangyuan skin, making "thin skin and thick meat" the main characteristics of their fresh meat tangyuan.

Average price: 49 yuan

Opening hours: 7am-6:30pm

Tel: 6253-0404

Address: 805 Nanjing Rd W.

南京西路805號

Guangmingcun Restaurant 光明邨大酒家

The outer skin of the signature crabmeat tangyuan is soft and chewy, and when you take a bite, the fresh aroma of crabmeat comes to your nose, and the crab oil in the gravy makes it more flavorful.

Opening hours: 11am-2pm, 5-9pm

Average price: 82 yuan

Tel: 5306-1200

Address: 588 Huaihai Rd M.

淮海中路588號

Sixin Tangyuan King 四新湯圓大王

This is a long-established restaurant that has been in business for decades, and it is most famous for tangyuan, which are true to its name, "King of Tangyuan."

Among the many kinds of tangyuan, the traditional sesame-filled and meat-filled ones are the most popular, with the pointy head ones being sesame-filled and the round ones being meat-filled. Tangyuan here are thin-skinned and heavy-filled, waxy but not sticky.

Opening hours: 6:30am-8:30pm

Average price: 24 yuan

Tel: 5666-1977

Address:1908 Sichuan Rd N.

四川北路1908號

Shengxing Tangyuan 滄浪亭盛興湯圓

The shop, in existence for nearly a century, has recently relocated to Sinan Road. Despite the move, it continues to attract a substantial number of loyal customers who have been following it for years. The establishment offers two types of tangyuan: one filled with sesame and the other with meat. These delectable treats are renowned for their soft skin, which doesn't stick to the teeth, and are generously stuffed with flavorful fillings.

Opening hours: 7:30am-7:30pm

Average price: 37 yuan

Tel: 5306-7325

Address: 8 Sinan Rd

思南路8號