Muguiying

Muguiying grew from a small osmanthus-snack stall opened in 1946 by the Ni couple beside the Huangni Bridge on South Long Street, selling egg flatbread, sweet rice balls and yulan cakes, later becoming a Wuxi brand famed for its rice-cake confections.

The shop offers a full repertoire of cakes, dumplings, pastries, buns and zongzi prepared by steaming, frying, boiling, baking and roasting. From spring green dumplings to dragon-boat zongzi and autumn cakes, its seasonal calendar is woven into local memory.

Its Taihu boat pastries are delicately sculpted and lifelike, while the rice cakes rely on finely milled flour and generous fillings; the yulan cakes wrap a filling in glutinous-rice dough and pan-fry it to a crisp shell over a soft, chewy center.