Tianjin’s three specialties refer to Goubuli steamed buns, 18th Street twists, and fried ear and eye cakes.

Tianjin’s three traditional delicacies are not only famous throughout the country, but also favored by international friends. Goubuli Steamed Buns has a history of more than 100 years. The founder, Gao Guiyou, nicknamed Gouzi, has a lot of customers because of the delicious steamed buns. He is both a shopkeeper and a waiter and has no time to talk to people. The locals made fun of him and ignored him. Later, Baozi became famous as Goubuli.

The 18th Street Twist Shop was founded in the 1920s on the 18th Street near Nanlou, Hexi District, Tianjin. It is called Guifaxiang Twist. It became famous at the Tianjin Food Fair in 1956. After the National Food Fair held in Zhengzhou in 1959, it spread across the country. In the 1970s, it became famous after participating in the Canton Fair. This is a stuffed twist, brown in color, with 10 thin strips twisted into 3 flowers, beautiful in appearance, crispy and delicious.

Introduction to the Three Wonders of Food

There are many kinds of buns sold in Tianjin, including Beimen Xiliuji Beef Buns, Dongma Road Enfade Mutton Buns, Gongnan Street Shitoumenkansu Buns, as well as Goubuli pork buns, the queen of the Hou family. Up to this day, Goubuli steamed buns are the best among them in terms of reputation and business development, ranking first among the three specialties in Tianjin. Er'eryan Fried Cake is named because the shop selling this fried cake is located at the entrance of a narrow alley, which happens to be called Er'eryan Hutong.

In order to compete with others, the founder was ingenious and carefully designed. In addition to changing the fried twist noodles to half-frozen noodles, he also sandwiched a strip of fried twist with osmanthus, sugar, peach kernels, green and red silk, Crispy filling with rock sugar and various other ingredients.

Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia—Tianjin’s Three Wonders