Old Tianjin people are famous throughout the country for their ability to eat dim sum. From a ninety-nine-year-old man to a child who has just learned to walk, as long as you are from Tianjin, you must have eaten Tianjin-style pastries.

Among the many Tianjin-style pastries, the most popular ones are white-skin pastries.

What a piece of white skin tastes is the taste of memory

In the 1970s, materials were still relatively scarce, and there were no snacks on weekdays. During the New Year holidays, I exchanged food stamps to buy some snack chips.

Most of the snack residue is the "skin" that falls off the white snacks, which can be mixed with boiling water to make a bowl of "dessert paste", or just serve with a cup of strong hot tea. Even so, our grandparents would be happy for several days if they took just one bite!

Times have changed, and today’s dim sum dregs are not worth mentioning at all, but they contain memories that are hard to erase for the older generation.

After the reform and opening up, the economy developed rapidly. At that time, Baipi'er had become the most common and most readily available gift when visiting relatives. During the Chinese New Year, the bicycle handlebars all over the street are filled with snack boxes, which is very popular.

Especially our old custom in Tianjin, Grandpa’s Day. Two boxes of decent white snacks, one layer of eight pieces and one layer of cake. Take a bundle of red nylon rope and take it out in front of your father-in-law. It will definitely look good!

In the 1990s, Tianjin children grew up eating white skin. It has a strong scent of sesame oil, and when you bite it, it becomes crispy, soft, glutinous and sweet.

Whenever we were hungry at that time, our grandparents would always give us a few pieces of white skin to eat, and we would eat them in two or three mouthfuls, and we would even have to lick the residue off our mouths to be satisfied.

Those delicious dim sum shops

Siyuanxiang Pastries

You may think that there are not many Siyuanxiang branches, but this is also a real century-old store—— It was founded in 1883 on the east side of Beimenwai Street and has been open ever since. It specializes in traditional pastries, including white crust and moon cakes, which all taste very good.

Siyuanxiang is most famous for its longevity peaches. The white and plump birthday peaches are stuffed with stuffing inside. They are soft and delicious, and are perfect for birthday celebrations for the elderly.

Siyuanxiang Cake (Changjiang Road Store): No. 36, Changjiang Road (50 meters west of Huashan Hospital)

Daqiao Road Food Store

Although it is not a century old History, but the pastries of Daqiao Road also hold sufficient weight in the hearts of Tianjin people. During festivals, many people come here to buy pastries. White skin, moon cakes, rice dumplings, glutinous rice balls, etc. are all popular.

In addition to selling traditional pastries, as a local food store, there is also a wide range of drinks, ice cream, canned food, snacks, dried fruits and other small foods here. Residents who live nearby come home from get off work to buy snacks, and many of them are regular visitors here.

Daqiao Road Food Store (Xihu Road Branch): No. 4, Xihu Road, Xingyeli

Guishunzhai

The "top topping" of traditional pastries, Tianjin People still have to give this title to Guishunzhai. During the holidays, carrying a box of Guishunzhai’s snacks will make you feel different from others.

When you say how good Guishunzhai is, it is actually the "friendship" we have had since childhood. This is probably the taste memory rooted on the tip of the tongue - when the taste of white skin and sesame oil are intertwined , this is the ultimate impression Tianjin people have on dim sum.

Guishunzhai (Huaning Beili store): Shop on the ground floor of No. 17, Huaning Beili, at the intersection of Nanchengjiang Road and Huaning Road, Tiantuo