The dough is then flattened and cut into slices that are as thick as a deck of cards before they are placed in the oven. Timing is crucial as it determines whether the pastry turns out soggy or crispy.

Having been in the pastry business for more than 40 years, Lin served his apprenticeship with Bian Xinghua, one of China’s most famous pastry chefs who was awarded gold medal at the 17th Culinary Olympics, held in 1988 in Germany. Lin remembered that Deda sold its first bag of butterfly pastry in the 1970s when China first opened up to the world.

Called Cosmopolitan Cafe when it was founded in 1897, Deda earned itself a reputation for being one of the city’s best western restaurants serving authentic German cuisine. It was renamed Deda, meaning “German feast” after the government took over the business in 1949.

Lin said that ingredients in the past were limited and often of mediocre quality, but customers were still easily satisfied with his products. These days, however, with the influx of foreign bakeries around the city and consumers’ knowledge in the craft of making pastries, people are far harder to please.

Deda is not the only place in Shanghai that sells the butterfly pastry. From the snack counters in 24-hour convenient stores to the silver trays at hotel restaurants, it seems that the city can never get enough of it. The best ones are often deemed by the locals as those that are freshly made by home-grown bakeries.