Old-city morning breakfast lanes

The side lanes south of Dongguan Street in Yangzhou's old city, in Jiangsu province, come alive with breakfast trade from about 06:00. Yangzhou is famous in China for its morning-meal culture, known as guozao, in which residents start the day with tea and a spread of small dishes, and the neighbourhood stalls here are where that tradition is practised daily rather than staged for visitors. Typical offerings include Yangzhou steamed buns filled with minced pork, vegetable or sweet bean paste, tofu-strip soup (dagan si), thin-sliced pastries, soup dumplings, noodles and soy milk. Visitors can walk the lanes before 08:00, when most stalls are at their busiest and the best items sell out. A sensible approach is to try a few small portions at different stalls rather than commit to one sit-down meal, which keeps the cost to a few dozen yuan in total. The visit takes about one hour, though a leisurely breakfast can stretch longer. The lanes are narrow, with steam rising from bamboo baskets, locals queuing with plastic bags, and low tables set outside doorways, and these scenes make good photographs in the soft early light. Crowds peak between 07:00 and 08:30 and thin out rapidly afterwards, and by 09:00 many stalls have closed or run out of stock. Weekends are busier with local families. Payment is usually by mobile app, so visitors should carry some cash in case a stall does not accept foreign-linked payment. Vegetarian choices exist in the form of vegetable buns and soy milk, but visitors with dietary restrictions should ask about fillings, as pork and lard are common. The lanes pair naturally with a walk to the canal tea houses nearby and with an early start at Slender West Lake.