The perfect confection

Two of the best pastry shops

Shanghai is not just known for its delectable hairy crab dishes or the xiaolongbao, delicate dumplings filled with juicy pork. Explore the city a little deeper and one will soon discover that there is actually a vibrant snack industry revolving around sweets and pastries, some of which feature a confluence of Eastern and Western culinary cultures.

From traditional Chinese pastries made with red bean paste and sesame balls to egg tarts, sweet snacks have been a perennial favorite with the Shanghainese people. And because of the city's history, traditional Western desserts or pastries - such as French cream horn and the classic chocolate-coated eclair - have inherently become an integral part of the food scene as well.

Here are two of Shanghai's most well-known and ubiquitous pastry chains.

Ruby's Foods' little cream cube.[Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Ruby's Foods

The official name of this household bakery is the Sino-British Ruby Foods Company, but most locals affectionately call it "hong baoshi" or Ruby.

Many people say that this shop was founded in the 1920s, but the truth is that it was founded in 1986 by an overseas Chinese man named Guo Bingzhong who had returned to Shanghai after years in England.

Guo later invented a cake with a base made of light sponge and topped it off with cream and jam. The finished product looked as if it was a bright red jewel sitting atop a bed of snow. This cake was simply known as the "little cream cube" and it was the highlight of the day for many children as their parents would often promise them with "a bite of the cloud" if they were good.

Ruby's Food was the go-to place for desserts until the 1990s when Shanghai was swarmed with a wave of Western patisseries.

Today, there are more than 70 shops scattered all around Shanghai, but the bakery's iconic cream cake is still its signature dessert.