Kingsway’s efficient and unassuming Ningtu eatery focuses on Shanghainese cuisine. While there’s a lot to love on the menu (particularly their award-winning crab and rice cakes), it’s their vernacular breakfast items that draw me in on account of their quality and rarity.

Unlike the Cantonese steamed goodies found on a typical dim sum cart, Ningtu serves something simpler: the incredible trifecta of shaobing, Chinese donuts, and hot soy milk. The shaobing’s light sesame exoskeletal crunchiness envelopes a crispy-then-chewy Chinese crueller ready to be dipped in your choice of house-made savoury or sweet soy milk. I highly recommend the latter for something differently delicious.

Other ubiquitous breakfast picks include flaky, shredded daikon cakes that pair well with a dab of chili oil, and plump, crispy-bottomed shengjian buns ready to be dipped in black vinegar. Be a champion and try eating it all without making a mess. The crumbs from the shaobings alone are enough to explain why each banquet table is wrapped in crinkly plastic a la American Psycho.

2130 Kingsway | Vancouver, BC | 604-438-6669 | www.ningtu.ca

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