When we founded UnTour Food Tours back in 2010, the Changle Lu street food corner at Xiangyang Lu was one of our first spots we knew had to be on our tour route. This little enclave of street food, buried in the middle of the former French Concession, has been an integral part, not just of UnTour’s Street Eats Breakfast Tour route now for 14 years, but also the neighborhood and the city. It is with a heavy heart we say farewell to the Changle Lu street food corner today, as it goes the way of most street food stalls in Shanghai.
Good-byes are tough, but it also gives us the chance to share our gratitude and love for the space. To give it the send off it deserves, we asked a couple of UnTour’s guides (past and present) to share some of their thoughts and happy memories of the area.
Jamie Barys, Founder of UnTour Food Tours
It is so hard to say good-bye to the vendors and the neighbors of the Changle Lu street food corner, who have become more like family over the past 14 years. I look forward to visiting the vendors who are re-opening around the city, and will miss those who took this as a sign to retire and head back home (I’m not sure any Jianbing will ever hold as special a place in my heart as this one did – maybe one day I will get to visit “Jianbing Lady” in her hometown in Shandong). From the Hele masters of the wok who would always give our guests an extra long peek beneath the bamboo lid to snap a picture of their perfect potstickers to Mr Qian who ran the teeny convenience store and would let us poke our heads into his kitchen to show us whatever he was prepping for lunch… Alleyway walks will never be the same.
Linfeng Li
Saying good-bye to a place can be as hard and emotional as saying good-bye to a person, if not more so. We often associate experiences and memories with a place, and these places are managed and manned by the people, right? The eateries on Changle are a crucial part of these memories. We’ve led so many tours eating at all these places. Outside of the tours, I sometimes go by myself or invite my friends to join before we head out to somewhere else. They’ll remain a part of my memory with Shanghai and I do wish they will find suitable places to continue their operations. I will miss them.
Mags Sheng
One of the charms of early mornings in Shanghai is the hustle and bustle of the small breakfast stalls juxtaposed against relaxed grandmas and grandpas in their old era jammies and empty streets. Shanghai’s scene for me has always been enjoying the dichotomy between old and new, hurried and unhurried. My favorite recollections of Changle Street goes back to the little stall selling bǐng (饼, pancakes) and the shēngjiān (生煎, fried soup dumpling) shop. Chatting with the vendors in the morning was always fun. They shared great little stories and gossip. Sad to see the area go with all the memories it has afforded all of us: both expats and locals.
Paul Mike Ashton
I loved the alleyways that snaked back through Changle. No matter how early it was or what mood I was in, the narrow lòngtáng (弄堂) always brightened them with their surprises. At the entrance, a couple of the locals had two turtles as pets – one of them 20 years old. A couple of my guests once asked what their names were. Upon asking the owners, the response was: “They’re turtles! They don’t have names!”
Christopher Brantley
On mornings when the door to the lane is open, I take guests down a deadend lane to see some rare Red Guard graffiti. It only adds around 5 minutes to the tour, and it’s a part of Shanghai that most people don’t get to see (or realize is there).
On many occasions, we’ll get stopped by a 70+ old man who has lived in the lane his entire life. He’ll ask where guests are from and more often than not will reveal that he’s visited that country, too. It turns out he was on China’s National Bridge Team and would travel the world competing in international competitions!
A good reminder that life is always more interesting when we don’t just observe, but engage and interact with it!
We will miss you Changle Lu! Your legacy lives on! If this article has made you crave Shanghai’s breakfast and sights, never fear – UnTour is still here and will continue running its breakfast tour. You can check out our availability here!
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