Among Tianjin’s legendary culinary treasures – alongside Goubuli buns, Guifaxiang dough twists, and Erduoyan fried cakes – there is a vegetarian delight that has quietly fed the city for over a century. Its name, Shitou Menkan (石头门坎), means “Stone Threshold” – and behind it lies a tale of flooding, fortune, and an empress’s favour.
The Birth of a Legend
The story begins in the late Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty (c. 1795), when a vegetarian restaurant called Zhen Su Yuan (真素园, True Vegetarian Garden) opened on Gongnan Street in Tianjin. Located near the Haihe River and the bustling Mazu Temple (Tianhou Gong), the restaurant served a clientele of fishermen and pilgrims who observed Buddhist vegetarian practices.
But the shop had a problem: the area was low-lying, and summer rains frequently flooded the premises. To keep the water out, the owner built a low stone embankment at the entrance – a stone threshold that became the shop’s most distinctive feature. Locals began referring to the place as “the shop with the stone threshold,” and the nickname stuck.
The Empress Takes a Bite
The real turning point came in 1898. The Empress Dowager Cixi was visiting Tianjin to attend a temple fair at the nearby Mazu Temple. After paying her respects, she stopped at Zhen Su Yuan and tasted its vegetarian buns. According to legend, she was so delighted that she exclaimed: “These buns are even better than those from the imperial kitchen!”
Returning to Beijing, the Empress found herself still thinking about the buns – but she had forgotten the restaurant’s name. All she remembered was the tall stone threshold at the entrance. So she issued an imperial decree: “Send someone to that ‘Stone Threshold’ vegetarian bun shop and bring some back.”. The emperor’s endorsement gave the buns a new, official name: “Shitou Menkan Vegetarian Buns” – and the name has endured ever since.
Some accounts also suggest that Cixi saw the stone threshold as an auspicious symbol – “stepping over a threshold” (mai guo kan) in Chinese carries the meaning of overcoming life’s obstacles. By bestowing the name, she was not just praising the food but also blessing the shop with good fortune.
What Makes Them So Special
So what made these humble buns worthy of imperial praise? The answer lies in the extraordinary care that goes into every single one.
The filling is a masterful blend of 19 premium ingredients. The exact recipe varies slightly depending on the source, but traditional versions typically include:
- Mung bean sprouts
- Dried tofu (xianggan)
- Mung bean starch sheets (fenpi)
- Gluten puffs (mianjin)
- Wood ear mushrooms (muer)
- Cauliflower (huacai)
- Dried mushrooms (koumo)
- Fermented bean curd (furu)
- Sesame paste (majiang)
- Sesame oil (xiangyou)
These ingredients are sourced from across China: Hebei’s fragrant sesame oil, Jilin’s premium wood ear mushrooms, Shimen’s finest cauliflower, and Beijing’s finest fermented bean curd. The filling is meticulously prepared: fresh ginger is lightly fried in hot sesame oil, then combined with minced mushrooms and broth, seasoned, and thickened. The other ingredients – blanched bean sprouts, fried gluten cubes, wood ear mushrooms, daylily buds, diced dried tofu, and crushed mung bean sheets – are mixed in with fermented bean curd and sesame paste.
The dough is made from fine wheat flour, leavened to just the right degree. Each bun is hand-wrapped with exactly 18 to 21 pleats, arranged like the petals of a chrysanthemum. When steamed, the buns turn snow-white and translucent, with thin, tender skins and generous fillings. The result is a bun that is fragrant, savoury, satisfyingly chewy, and never greasy.
A Philosophy of Craftsmanship
The brand lives by a family motto known as the “Three Musts and Three Must-Nots”:
- The skin must be as thin as paper yet as resilient as silk
- The filling must be pure, vegetarian, and never greasy
- The seasoning must be fragrant, savoury, and rich
And conversely:
- No meat or animal products are ever used
- No shortcuts are taken in the process
- No compromise is made on quality
From Near Extinction to National Treasure
The 20th century was not always kind to Shitou Menkan. The brand ceased operations during the Cultural Revolution. But in 1985, it was revived when it moved into the newly opened Nanshi Food Street in Tianjin. In 1987, the buns won the prestigious Qunxing Cup at Tianjin’s culinary competition. In 1988, they were showcased at a Chinese expo in Tokyo, where Japanese media hailed them as “authentic vegetarian cuisine”.
In 1998, entrepreneur Zhang Yongli took over the struggling brand and led a remarkable transformation. He introduced new packaging, developed eight new flavours, and pioneered frozen production techniques. The brand was recognised as a “China Famous Snack” in 2000, a “Tianjin Time-Honoured Brand” in 2009, and a national “China Time-Honoured Brand” in 2011. In 2016, the Shitou Menkan bun-making technique was inscribed on Tianjin’s District-level Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It is also recognised as a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage item.
Where to Find Them Today
For the most authentic experience, head to the Shitou Menkan flagship store at Nanshi Food Street in Tianjin’s Heping District: Nanshi Food Street, Shenyi Avenue, Heping District, Tianjin (天津市和平区慎益大街南市食品街).
The restaurant spans 1,200 square metres and serves not only the classic vegetarian buns but also a wide range of vegetarian dishes and full vegetarian banquets. There is both a dine-in area and a takeaway window. The buns are very affordable – around 2.5 RMB each (less than 40 US cents).
Today, Shitou Menkan has expanded beyond its flagship location, with multiple branches across Tianjin and plans for national chain-store operation. The brand has also developed frozen products that are available in stores.
A Bite of History
In Tianjin, a city famous for its buns, Shitou Menkan stands apart – not because it competes with the meat-filled legends, but because it offers something entirely different. It is a taste of Tianjin’s Buddhist heritage, a testament to the city’s canal-boat past, and a living link to an empress who once stepped over a stone threshold and found a snack worth remembering.
So the next time you find yourself in Tianjin, follow the locals to the stone threshold. Order a steaming basket of these snow-white buns, take a bite, and taste for yourself the flavour that conquered an empress – and has been winning hearts for over a century.
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