If you ever find yourself in Tianjin (天津), do yourself a favor and get up early. The morning market breakfast scene here is something else entirely — and most of what’s on offer you simply cannot find anywhere in America.
We came back from the market with five different things and worked through all of them. Here’s the rundown.
煎饼果子 (Jianbing Guozi) — The star of Tianjin breakfast. It’s an egg crepe cooked on a flat griddle, wrapped around either a fried dough stick (youtiao) or a flat crispy fried bread (bing). The crepe itself runs a little dry — this is not a soft French-style crepe — but that’s where the sauce comes in. Bean paste, sesame, savory sauce layered inside. The fried dough version is the one I’d recommend. Who doesn’t like fried bread inside an egg wrap?
Fresh Soy Milk — Made in big vats right there at the market. Completely unsweetened, which is jarring if you’re used to the sweetened American version from the grocery store. There’s also a faint char flavor from the cooking pot that gives it something unique. The move is to dip your fried dough stick right into it — essentially dunking a donut in milk. It works extremely well.
大饼 (Da Bing) with Fried Lotus Root and Eggplant — Da bing is a layered flatbread made from flour, water, and oil, cooked on the same hot plate as the jianbing. You split it open and stuff it with whatever you like. We went with fried lotus root (breaded, crispy, genuinely excellent) and fried eggplant. The lotus root alone is worth seeking out — great crunch, great flavor.
Sticky Rice with Jujubes and Red Bean Paste — Dense, chewy glutinous rice with jujube dates (closer to jujubes than date palm dates, so less sweet) and streaks of red bean paste throughout. The red bean adds just enough sweetness to pull the whole thing together. Watch out for the seeds — they don’t remove them for you.
Cold Sesame Noodles — This one caught me off guard. Rice noodles, fried crispy tofu, fresh cucumber, cilantro, and a sauce that includes sesame paste, vinegar, garlic, and what they called a “secret sauce.” The tofu had soaked up everything. The flavors were — and I said this on camera — kind of indescribable. There’s a specific pepper spice they use in Tianjin that you simply cannot replicate back home. This was the surprise of the morning.
Tianjin knows how to do breakfast. If you’re visiting China and have the chance to come through, set your alarm early and head to the market.
