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ince the past year or two, some of the fanciest coffee shops, bars and bistros have mushroomed around the intersection of Wangfu Da Jie (王府大街) and Nantai Xiang (南台巷). The Sauce, Wine Thieves, Bitter Brew, Southern Trip, Staff Only, Cherry Bomb, Y&T… the list could go longer. If you have been following The Nanjinger, chances are that many of the names sound familiar to you. But have you ever walked around that area early in the morning, like 08:00? “What for?”, You might wonder. The time is indeed too early for the bars or even the coffee shops to be open. However, if you do go there that early, you would find many people queuing in front of a small eatery right across the street from The Sauce. What makes them willing to stand in a long queue even on a busy weekday morning? The answer is both simple and obvious; breakfast. More specifically, they queue for a type of rice roll which is a classic breakfast food in the Lower Yangtze (Jiangnan) region. The name is “zhengfan" (蒸饭; steamed rice) in Nanjing, but it is more commonly known as “cifantuan” (糍饭团; sticky rice roll) in Southern Jiangsu and Shanghai. Simply put, this is a hand-sized rice ball stuffed with deepfried dough (油条; youtiao). If that is hard to picture, think about a lightly salted doughnut stick wrapped in a sushi roll. Carbs wrapped in carbs, I know, but that should not seem too surprising when you come to a land that has been so populous and agriculture-dependent throughout history. As its Nanjing name suggests, zhengfan is made of steamed rice, which is firmer than boiled rice as the grains absorb less water while cooking. In addition, glutinous rice (a.k.a. sticky rice) is used to make it even denser and chewier to the bite. The seemingly plain surface contrasts with a mixture of flavours and textures hidden underneath. The major part of the filling is youtiao, the deep-fried, aerated dough stick which is arguably the most widely loved breakfast item in China. You can have it in your rice roll as how it normally is: crispy on the outside, light and soft on the inside. Alternatively, you can ask for a crunchier type, which is fried for a longer time until the dough becomes crispy throughout.
Other ingredients are used to complement the youtiao and different vendors feature their own combinations. These are traditionally categorised as savoury or sweet; a universal breakfast debate, of course. The savoury contains a variety of pickled vegetables, whereas the sweet is enriched with a mixture of sugar, ground black sesame, and sometimes crushed peanuts. You may have already picked your side, but I always ask for both the savoury and sweet ingredients in the same roll. That, in my opinion, is the secret to extra deliciousness, with usually no extra cost. This type of rice roll was introduced to Hong Kong and Taiwan during the first half of the 20th century by immigrants from Shanghai. The Taiwan variant has been recently re-shaped in mainland China, featuring a wider range of fillings such as pork floss, eggs and grilled meat. Innovative rice rolls are now widely available in convenient stores and even KFC, whereas the traditional type is usually found with pavement-based breakfast vendors who disappear by 10:00. All that said, I was surprised at how many people were coming to buy zhengfan from this small eatery called “Fangpo” (芳婆) on Wangfu Da Jie. Fangpo is in fact a traditional dessert shop that has been serving the city since the late 1970s. Their baby taro soup and sweet rice wine are perfect afternoon refreshments for me on a shopping day in Xinjiekou, but I had never had rice rolls there. How do theirs differ from other breakfast vendors? Are they worth the long wait? At 08:02 on a Friday, I finally found myself standing at the end of the queue. Fangpo opens every day from 04:00 and the rice rolls tend to sell out in the first 5 hours. I was glad that I made it. Compared to my 17-kilometre journey from home, the 10-minute wait in the queue was nothing. The seating area was closed due to COVID, but the store was extremely busy nonetheless. Four women standing behind the front counter were wrapping rice rolls at full speed, while other staff members worked the rear of the store. A seasonal type of rice called “wufan” (乌饭; black rice) is used to make the rolls. Unlike black rice or 25
