As I was not planning on starting this blog when I went to this restaurant I do not have any pictures from Taoyuan Village, please see images on their Trip advisor page.
On our very first morning in Shanghai we ate at Taoyuan Village. Taoyuan Village is a restaurant that specializes in food that has deep historic ties in Taiwan and China. When Mao’s communist forces expelled the Chinese nationalist Army, there was a huge surge of Chinese refugees immigrating into Taiwan. Forced from their homes these refugees set up hastily made homes and villages; these villages became known as military village.
The type of food that is served at Taoyuan Village originated in these villages. The these Chinese Villagers wanted to keep the food of their homes alive, but lacked the traditional ingredients. They adapted and created their food utilizing the local ingredients. The breakfast food served here includes baked wheat cakes sandwiches served with various meats and eggs, Rice Rolls with meat and eggs (which basically burritos with rice instead of tortillas), traditional fried dough, and a local favorite Sweet or Savory Soy Milk.
The restaurant was relatively small and seemed to be extremely popular as it was always extremely crowded every time we went. However, the service was extremely efficient. With a very limited menu of options they were able to serve people within 5 minutes or so after the order was placed. The food itself was absolutely fantastic the first time we were there I ordered the Sausage and Egg Rice Roll with Green Onion and Stephanie ordered the Steak and Egg Wheat Cake Sandwich and we shared the Fried Dough.
Everything we had was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Other than the fried dough, everything was very light and didn’t sit heavily in our stomach. We found out later that evening on our food tour that breakfasts in China tend to be extremely heavy, oily, and greasy. Given that the entire time we were in Shanghai it was it extremely humid and in the high 90s having a delicious lighter option (other than the fried dough) was a blessing.
As far as price goes Taoyuan Village was more expensive than most street food options, but it was on the lower end pricewise for sit down restaurants. For two people we spent somewhere between $10-15 USD total each time we went (and we went every day for breakfast).