See again an article in the Wujiang Micro News public account in 2016. The author of the article is called Zhou Xiaofang, who is the editor-in-chief of the Wujiang Foodie Team column. The article began: This week, following the footsteps of the micro-newspaper "Wujiang Foodie Team", we came to the beautiful Fenhu Lake. This trip to Fenhu Lake is not so much to explore delicious food, but to awaken "nostalgia".
The article begins with "There is a kind of bun in the Xinta chapter, which is the memory of youth", introducing two steamed bun shops in Xinta, one is Wang Xiaojun's steamed bun shop. The shop specializes in meat buns, vegetable buns, white steamed buns, flower rolls, etc., and the address is at No. 269 Xinchuan Road, Xinta.
Wang Xiaojun's steamed bun shop at that time
The article said: "This bun shop is opened opposite Xinta Middle School, accompanied by the study career of a batch of Xinta students, and also witnessed the green years of Xinta's children. Nowadays, the students have learned to set up a career, or have settled in various places, but as long as they return to their hometown, they will always go to Wang Xiaojun's steamed bun shop to buy a few, in fact, everyone eats not buns, but youth memories! "At the time, the store had been open for eighteen years.
Next, we will introduce the Amusheng Steamed Bun Shop. Main business: customized cake dumplings, yellow pine cakes (15 yuan / steamed), glutinous rice dumplings (2 yuan / only). Address: Xinta New Transmission Road. The text reads: "Whenever Xinta people get married, full moon, enter the house, go to college, and even buy a new car today, these family members who do big things and invite guests will go to Musheng Shop to order yellow muffin cakes, according to customs, they are generally set 6 steaming or 8 steaming, and the old people of Musheng also witness the happy times of the Xinta people..."
As a Xinta person, I have never heard of these two stores. Because breakfast is basically eaten at home and not much is eaten outside, I don't know much about Xinta's breakfast shop. Although I had read at Xinta Middle School, when we were studying, there seemed to be no breakfast restaurant near the school. I graduated from Xinta Middle School High School in 1978, and Wang Xiaojun's steamed bun shop opened in 1998.
In my memory, the father of my classmate Lu Tubing made cake dumplings, and the storefront was 100 meters west of Liren Bridge, built of iron sheets, and Lu Tuping wrote the words "Old Lu Cake Dumpling Shop" on the iron sheet. Lao Lu opens its doors early every morning to provide local residents with breakfast. In the morning, we mainly serve small ravioli, tofu flowers, rice balls, etc.
Small ravioli
Tofu flowers
There are also malt cakes, green dumplings, brown sugar cubes, white sugar cubes, hair cakes and other pastries.
Malt collapse
Green dumplings
Brown sugar cubes
I don't remember if I ever bought something at the Old Lu Cake Dumpling Shop. Lao Lu participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. He was an early self-employed man in the town and had gone to Suzhou for a meeting.
In addition, on the east side of the People's Bridge, there are several small tricycles every morning, which are several local women, serving rice dumplings, cake dumplings, etc., and do not make steamed buns. I bought it a few times a few years ago. In recent years, it seems that due to the impact of foreign breakfast stalls, there are fewer breakfast stalls for locals, and the stalls serving breakfast near the People's Bridge are almost dominated by foreigners.
In the impression, there are not many breakfast shops (stalls) in Xinta. There was only one dim sum shop on Xinta Old Street, which served noodles and wontons in the morning. The Volkswagen Hotel also serves noodles and wontons in the morning, and meals are served at noon and evening. It is said that the Public Hotel also adds traditional snacks such as soup buns and shochu sales during the New Year's Festival. According to the "Xinta Town Chronicle", there are a number of dim sum shops on the east and west banks of the Shihe River, of which the two dim sum shops of the Zhang family have been operating for a long time, which lasted until the founding of New China.
Three shrimp noodles
This is the only one that makes flatbread fritters. On the west bank of Old Street, between the Tea House and the Xinta Hotel. There are many people who buy it, and the flatbread fritters are freshly made, so they can only queue. Flatbread comes in two flavors, salty flatbread is long and sweet flatbread is round.
Long cakes
Round flatbread
The salty flatbread has a little lard in it, and chives. Inside the sweet flatbread is white sugar. In contrast, there are more people who like to eat salty flatbread, which is crispy and delicious. The appearance of the flatbread also has some sesame seeds sticking to it. Fritters and flatbread are usually eaten together. Flatbread with fritters is the most important breakfast for us here, especially the fishermen, for a long time.
Flatbread fritters
Flatbread with fritters
About twenty years ago, near the current Lirenqiao Vegetable Market, there was an unnamed noodle shop, the owner was called Ada, about fifty years old, the facilities in the store were very simple, the variety of supplies was not very much, I remember there were snow vegetable meat noodles, squeezed vegetable meat noodles, large row noodles, fried fish noodles, large and small wontons and so on. His fried fish noodles were particularly delicious. Due to the low price and good quality, many customers come to the store every day. By now, the unnamed noodle shop may have long since closed. A spring restaurant next to the People's Bridge, A quanpai and several others are opened by locals. It is said that the noodles and guest meals of the family are well done. But I haven't eaten in this shop. The old Suzhou noodle restaurant next to Xinta Middle School has also been open for nearly ten years or so, it seems that the reputation is better, I eat more in this shop, and generally eat fried fish noodles.
Squeezed vegetable shredded noodles
Large rows of noodles
Fried fish noodles
There seem to be very few noodle shops opened by Xinta locals. The old flatbread fritters are gone.
The Amamo bun shop also seems to have closed. Wang Xiaojun's steamed bun shop is still open, and the owner seems to be his son.
Many of the trattorias in the town have disappeared, but the memory is still there. Perhaps, that is nostalgia, or rather, part of nostalgia. "I haven't drunk bean juice, I haven't been to Beijing," Mr. Wang Zengqi wrote. You can also change it like this: "I have never eaten the cake dumplings in the water town, and I have not been to Jiangnan." ”
Author: Zhang Jianlin
Editor-in-charge: Gu Xiaohong, Wang Qiulei
Technical Editor: Wu Ying
Image source: Zhang Jianlin, Collections & Network
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