Shanghai boasts a tradition spanning over a century during which Western cakes and pastries have become an integral part of the local culinary landscape.

After its port was opened for foreign trade in 1843, expatriates introduced pastry to the city. A variety of pastries from Germany, France, Britain, Russia and other nations were readily available in Shanghai. Consequently, the local populace swiftly developed an affinity for these foreign flavors.

Initially, the pastries were restricted to Western restaurants, cafes and food stores. Subsequently, bakeries specialized in cakes and pastries appeared on the streets.

In the 1920s, Kyriaco Dimitriades, a Greek entrepreneur, established a confectionary shop named Astoria on the former Broadway Road, presently known as Daming Road. The establishment primarily focused on bread, pastries and wedding cakes.

"From 1926 to 1949, my father, Kyriaco Dimitriades, owned and operated Shanghai's Astoria confectionary and tea room," Daphne Skillen has been quoted as saying.

"It sold buns and bread loaves, caramels and candies, and delicious French and Russian cakes with lovely names like milles feuilles, cream puffs, hazelnut slices, palmiers, cream horns, and outrageously expensive wedding cakes."

As time passed by, these pastries were flavored to suit the Shanghainese palate and evolved into the current Shanghai-style Western pastries.

Park Hotel Deli 国际饭店西饼屋

It is Shanghai's first bakery to serve crispy, buttery palmiers. The palmiers known as hudiesu (蝴蝶酥), or "butterfly cookie," are the most popular in the city, particularly among the elderly.

When the deli first started, it employed expensive foreign chefs and introduced French delicacies such as palmier.

A long line forms outside the bakery almost every day at 8am. It takes more than an hour to get the palmier; sometimes it can take up to four hours.

The "big butterfly cookie," which is reported to contain 256 layers of crust, is a popular item. The top is crisp at first before it softens.

Opening hours: 8am-8pm

Price: 32 yuan for one bag of original-flavor "big butterfly cookies"

Address: 170 Nanjing Road W.

南京西路170号

Tchakalian (Lao Da Chang) 老大昌

Lao Da Chang was founded in Shanghai in 1913 by the French Far East Commercial Company and was later managed by Armenian Pierre Tchakalian.

To attract Chinese clients, the bakery was given the Chinese name Lao Da Chang.

It was the city's first French dessert shop and used to be a high-end bakery that only the wealthy could afford. Renowned novelist Eileen Chang was a frequent visitor to Tchakalian.

Tchakalian is famed for its cold treat, binggao (冰糕), or cream sorbet, which existed before ice cream was introduced to Shanghai. It was known as "the Haagen-Dazs of old Shanghai."

Binggao resembles vanilla ice cream in appearance, but is created without a drop of water other than the moisture contained in the substance itself. It tastes like ice cream and cream with crushed roasted walnuts inside.

Price: 15 yuan for one piece of original-flavor binggao

Address: 558 Huaihai Road M. (9am-9pm)

淮海中路558号

453 Dapu Road (7:30am-8:30pm)

打浦路453号

361 Madang Road (7:30am-8:30pm)

马当路361号

Peace Hotel Victor's Bakery 和平饭店维克多西饼屋

The Peace Hotel, a city landmark, has hosted superstars from different walks of life, including Lu Xun, Qian Xuesen and Charles Chaplin.

Its northern building, known as Sassoon House, used to be the Cathay Hotel and is now operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts of Canada. It was built by Sir Victor Sassoon, who developed a Shanghai real estate empire in the early 20th century.

Victor's Bakery is on the ground floor of this historic hotel. Here you can have superb afternoon tea in an old Shanghai setting.

Glen Qian, an award-winning pastry chef, is the man behind the popular chocolate crispy roll. It features a crunchy chocolate sauce exterior dusted with crushed almonds, and the inside is encased in soft chiffon cake.

Opening hours: 11am-9pm

Price: 188 yuan/lb for chocolate crispy roll

Address: Lobby, 1/F, 20 Nanjing Road E.

南京东路20号1楼大堂

White Magnolia Food 白玉兰食品

Magnolia, named after the city flower of Shanghai, has been selling both Chinese and Western-style pastries since 1991. The bakery's three most popular items are butter buns, big shuimai, and big steamed twisted rolls.

Magnolia used to sell more than 100,000 butter buns, made with New Zealand butter, in a single day. A local who has been buying pastries at Magnolia for over a decade said that the darker the butter bun, the better it tastes.

There are many Magnolia outlets across the city.

Price: 25 yuan per bag (6 pieces) for sweet butter buns

Taichang Bakery 泰昌西饼

Taichang Bakery, which has been around since the 1940s, is the pioneer in Shanghai's pastry industry. Its biscuit products such as butter cookies, moss fried dough twist, palmiers, and crispy chicken cookies, were regarded as "luxury products."

One of its best-sellers, the "butter and pine nut leaf cookie," was once rated as Shanghai's most expensive Western pastry. It's a small cookie with pine nuts covered in syrup.

Price: 30 yuan per pack for butter pine nut leaf cookie

Address: 385-387 Yuyao Road (8:30am-5:30pm)

余姚路385-387号

109 Shaanxi Road N. (9am-8pm)

陕西北路109号

Ruijin Hotel Memphis Bakery 梦菲思饼屋

The Ruijin Hotel used to be the Morris estate, which was established in the 1910s by British businessman Henry Morris.

The Memphis Bakery is a typical corner shop at the Ruijin Hotel and is known for its walnut pastry.

The financier, a French tea cake, is another specialty. It has an almond and cream flavor and is best served with a cup of coffee for afternoon tea.

Opening hours: 8am-8pm

Price: 15 yuan per pack for financier

Address: 1/F, Ruijin Hotel, 118 Ruijin No. 2 Road

瑞金二路118号瑞金宾馆1楼

Ruby Foods 红宝石

Sino-British Ruby Foods was a trendy dessert shop in Shanghai in the 1980s.

It was founded in 1986, just in time for Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Shanghai. When the time arrived for a grand finale dessert fit for a queen, Ruby's cream cake was served.

Back then, when most cakes were made of butter, Ruby's cake with fresh cream nearly stunned the local dessert industry, and many young people fell in love with it.

The "little cream cube" cake is a light, fluffy cream-covered white cake topped with a characteristic red cherry.

Aside from the "little cream cube" prepared with fresh cream, its "chestnut cup" is also a best-seller. It features two layers: fresh cream on top and pureed chestnuts on the bottom.

Ruby has many stores in Shanghai.

Price: 15.8 yuan per cup for mini chestnut cup

Kaisling Cake 凯司令

Kaisling Cake turns 95 this year. This old-fashioned pastry chain with over 50 locations in Shanghai has preserved its intangible cultural heritage cake-making skills for generations.

In 1932, Ling Qingxiang quit his job at a German restaurant and became a shareholder of Kaisling. Later, his two sons joined the bakery. The older son, Ling Heming, models cakes while the younger, Ling Yiming, writes and paints on them.

In 1954, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited the two brothers to Beijing to bake cakes for international guests.

The brothers used pureed chestnut instead of low-gluten flour and topped the cake with fresh cream or buttercream to stand out among competitors. It proved to be an instant hit.

Aside from the butter chestnut cake, the cream cone is a must-have. When frozen at home in the refrigerator, the salty buttercream inside tastes like ice cream.

Kaisiling has many stores in Shanghai.

Price: 9 yuan for one cream cone

West Lao Da Fang 西区老大房

Lao Da Fang is one of Shanghai's oldest tea snack brands.

Chen Kuifu, founder of Lao Da Fang, used to work at a Chinese dessert store called Chen Da Fang in the Old Town area.

During the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) in the Qing Dynasty, Chen created Lao Da Fang near Dongjiadu in the former Nanshi District.

In 1921, Lao Da Fang built a new store at Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall called Xie Ji Lao Da Fang, which eventually became the West Lao Da Fang in 1932.

The century-old West Lao Da Fang is noted for its crispy and fresh beef mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A staff member said that the mooncake has 64 layers of crust. The fat and lean meats have to be pounded separately for the filling.

There are many stores in Shanghai.

Price: 6 yuan for one piece of fresh meat mooncake

Harbin Food Factory 哈尔滨食品厂

Harbin Food Factory, which specializes in Russian delicacies, opened in 1936. It offers a wide range of products, including chocolate éclairs, palmiers and whipped cream, and the majority of them are available by weight. The almond cake is a must-buy.

The caramelized almonds on top are baked with a reddish brown color and taste not very sweet, while the beneath crust has a distinct buttery flavor.

There are many stores in Shanghai.

Price: 130 yuan per kilo of almond cake