Shanghai Eats: Xin Wang

You can feel the blood pulsing through your head with each beat of the music, even after you've stepped outside. Your mouth is dry, thick with saliva and the faint taste of beer. Your eyes take a moment to adjust to the street lights, just in time for you to notice the green sign on the top of the taxi. Your hand flies up and you quickly crawl into the backseat of a beat up Volkswagen.

And then from your lips, you stutter the magical words, "Woměn xiāng qù Xin Wang" (If you actually want the cab to take you there, I suggest you give them the address too because that sentence alone will just get you an odd look).

Xin Wang is a popular Cantonese diner, specializing in dishes of the greasy spoon variety. Stir fry, noodles, turnip cakes, and pineapple buns. Open until 6am on the weekends (and a reasonable 4am during the week), Xin Wang is my favorite pit stop on the way home from a night out with friends.

I just have no idea if it's as good at 5pm as it is at 5am.

Thankfully, they have bōluó bāo, which is my own personal measure of a good place to eat. You remember my obsession with pineapple buns, right? Xin Wang's are even better.

And then there is this dish that has earned the nickname mac and cheese tofu among my friends due to the creamy texture and florescent color which is reminiscent of a certain Kraft food product.

If you too are in need of a late night snack (and don't want to brave the street noodles), head to Xin Wang at 175 Changle Lu, near Maoming Lu or one of the other additional locations across the city.