Zongzi brands in Shanghai

A Po Zong (zongzi made by Grandma)

Chinese people believe that festivals should be celebrated together with their families, yet not all everyone can make it. For those who feel homesick, they may smell something similar to their mother's zongzi from A Po Zong, which are completely handmade as well as soft and sticky.

Two flavors are recommended: the salty yolk and meat zongzi, which is stuffed with tender pork and preserved egg yolk. The other is the sweet corn. and honey Chinese date zongzi, which is stuffed with fresh corn and a big sweet sticky Chinese date.

Shipin Yidian
Location: No. 720, Nanjing Donglu, Huangpu District, Shanghai
Tel: 021-63517662

Mini Zongzi

Girls often find typical zongzi are too big and one is more than enough to fill their entire stomach. For fear of putting on too much weight, most young women prefer mini zongzi, whose size is only one third of normal zongzi.

Though small in size, mini zongzi boast many flavors. The best mini zongzi is the sweet bean paste zongzione. Babao Zong is also worth a try, filled with various nuts grains, like green bean, chestnut, and cashew.

Shipin Yidian
Location: No. 720, Nanjing Donglu, Huangpu District
Tel: 021-63517662

Vegetarian Zongzi

Vegetarian Zongzi is the first choice for many senior citizens. Vegetarian restaurant Gongdelin makes vegetarian zongzi each year. They are totally free of animal fat and this puts less pressure on the digestive system, which is suitable for those having a weak stomach.

The fragrant vegetarian meat and chestnut zongzi, whose meat is made out of soybean fiber comes highly recommended as well as luohanzong, a combination of many healthy foods like seaweed, chestnut, fungus and lotus plumule. Also available is a new kind of zongzi made out of purple glutinous rice, which tastes stickier than ordinary glutinous rice.

Gongdelin Counters
Location 1: No.97, Wukanglu, Xuhui District
Tel: 021-64718909

Location 2: No. 445, Nanjing Xilu, Jing'an District
Tel: 021-63270218

Wufangzhai: the most classic

Nicknamed as the number one zongzi brand in Jiangnan, south of the Yangtze River, Wufangzhai has an 80-year history featuring various meat zongzi. The meat Wufangzhai uses zongziis striped meat, the fat part of which usually melts into the glutinous rice when stewed in a pot. This makes the glutinous rice even more tasty.

This year Wufangzhai features many zongzi packages which includes various zongzi, eggs and special Wufangzhai soup.

Shanghai
Location: No. 136, Sichuan Zhonglu, Huangpu District
Tel: 021-63210018/632166472

Background: Duanwujie, also called Dragon Boat Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the lunar calendar. It is celebrated to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan who lived in the Warring States Period (475-221BC). There are two major ways to celebrate -- eating zongzi and holding dragon boat races.

Edited by Alice Yang

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