The time was the late 1980’s. I was in college, and on a visit back home to my parent’s house on Long Island. My mom insisted we needed to go to a restaurant in Flushing, NY. I groaned, since it was at least an hour drive to Flushing from our home on the eastern end of Long Island. Flushing, in case you didn’t know, is the real Chinatown of New York City. Tourists go to Chinatown. Anyone looking for real Chinese food makes the trek out to Flushing. My family discovered Flushing early on and my uncle and two aunts bought a house together there in the early 1980’s.
The restaurant my mom wanted to take me to specialized in Xiao Long Bao, also known as Shanghai Dumplings. Shanghai’s most famous dumpling roughly translates to “small soup purse.” These delicate dumplings have a paper-thin wrapper and are filled with minced pork and soup. It was a new restaurant and it was a first, as there weren’t any other restaurants we were aware of that served this delicacy. I was prodded to go, and in the end boy was I glad I went.
Xiao Long Bao are served piping hot in a bamboo steamer. You pick one up and place it on your chinese spoon, place a slice of ginger and touch of soy sauce on top and place the dumpling whole in your mouth. The idea is to savor all of the different textures and tastes all at once, including the surprise piping hot soup. If you take a bite out of the dumpling, you’ll end up losing the soup, one of the best parts of the dumpling.
We went back to this restaurant many times through the years, and I never complained about the drive again. I moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990, and didn’t find a restaurant here that served Xiao Long Bao, until right after the Millennium. Since then many restaurants have started to offer Xiao Long Bao, but as with any food, there are good examples and poor examples. I’ve had some restaurants serve Xiao Long Bao that didn’t have any soup, the component that I feel makes Xiao Long Bao, Xiao Long Bao.
In Flushing you can find Xiao Long Bao at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao and at Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant. Unfortunately I don’t think the restaurant my mom took me to in the 1980’s exists anymore. In the SF Bay Area, you can find Xiao Long Bao at Hu Chiang Dumpling House and at Shanghai Dumplings. Of course, if you’re actually in Shanghai, that’s the place to have some Xiao Long Bao.
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16 Comments to “Xiao Long Bao, aka Shanghai Dumplings”
blcsfo wrote:
TIM:
小笼包: Try 小笼包 xiǎo lóng bāo at The Taiwan Restaurant on Clement/6th Ave, SF, or their Berkeley location on University/Shadock for excellent juicy 小笼包 xiǎo lóng bāo.
Tim Sez: 'Shanghai’s most famous dumpling roughly translates to “small soup purse?”
笼：lóng: means basket/cage/flat bamboo basket used to serve dimsum. 点心。
So the literal translation for 小笼包 translation means 'small cage buns.
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
timat8asians wrote:
Thanks for the better translation. I borrowed that from another site. I knew “xiao” meant small, and “bao” meant package, or something similar.
-Tim
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
KKBB wrote:
Actually, I think you are supposed to dip it with Chinese vinegar, not soy sauce. The vinegar is also black in appearance and looks just like soy sauce. The sharp tart flavor of the vinegar compliments the full earthy flavor of the pork, which is why vinegar is used. If you use soy sauce, you would essentially be adding a salty taste to the dumpling that would mask the distinctive characters of the herbs and the meats (especially if you get the crab/pork dumpling).
However, people from Canton/HK region tend to never use much vinegar which might explain why some people eat it with soy sauce. The more north you go from Canton/HK, the more vinegar they dump to their meals.
Trust me on this one. I was in Shanghai last year…
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 9:43 pm | Permalink
timat8asians wrote:
I've actually always thought it was a blend of soy sauce and vinegar. But I could be wrong. I wrote soy sauce as just a short hand of describing the sauce they give you.
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
hadashi wrote:
thanks, Tim, for your ode to both Flushing and what my now-Americanized Shanghainese family lovingly refers to simply as “XLB.” ah, those pilgrimages to Flushing to buy giant buckets of dried black mushrooms…
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 10:22 pm | Permalink
timat8asians wrote:
@Audrey, according to the last article I reference on Shanghai the best place to get Xiao Long Bao in Shanghai is Din Tai Fung (The Taiwanese Restaurant) – and I have no problem with that whatsoever, since I'm Taiwanese (as well as Chinese)!
Posted on 26-Jul-09 at 8:08 am | Permalink
Dan W wrote:
I had that when I was in New York City. It was good. A very busy place so it might have been in Flushing. When we got our seats (which was cool because it was those old-fashioned Chinese seats, kinda look like drums no back to lean on), they just ask how many baskets then check what's on the menu. I've seen people put the dumpling in the spoon, take a small bit and drink the soup before eating the whole thing. Haven't tried it in So Cal yet, even though I live here…lol.
I don't know if you all seen this yet but there was one Shanghainese Bao which was large, just one, that filled the entire small bamboo basket and a large straw stuck into it. Don't know what it is but I still want to try it.
Yeah the more Northern Chinese cuisine, they do tend to use more Vinegar.
Posted on 26-Jul-09 at 12:52 pm | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
The much-ballyhooed Din Tai Fung in Arcadia (the San Gabriel Valley) 小籠包 was blogged about last year by John:
http://www.8asians.com/2008/07/08/din-tai-fung-...
Posted on 26-Jul-09 at 7:02 pm | Permalink
johnklin wrote:
Ha ha ha, I was going to comment about my previous post. I will have to now email Din Tai Fung to see when they are going to open up a Bay Area restaurant!
Posted on 26-Jul-09 at 11:17 pm | Permalink
JC wrote:
It's not as good as the original in Taiwan. In fact, none of the franchised places, including the one in Shanghai, is as good as the Ding Tai Feng on Zhongxiao East Road.
BTW, it's 小籠包. No self-respecting Taiwanese restaurant would use that simplified stuff.
Man I'm hungry now. Good thing I'll be in Taiwan in a month or so.
Posted on 27-Jul-09 at 9:53 am | Permalink
blcsfo wrote:
Tim, you may have been born in 你生在台湾，Taiwan, 但是你当让是 but you are definite 中国华人Chinese.
Where are your parents/Grandparents from Taiwan?
Nevertheless, they came from Mainland China; 闽 Fujian 福建省Province before they/ancestors moved to Taiwan. 台湾省。
I hope that you keep up with your Chinese heritage, and have your children learn Chinese too.
Posted on 27-Jul-09 at 12:04 pm | Permalink
ErnieAtLYD wrote:
Heads up: I want to keep this conversation thread about dumplings and
not China vs Taiwan, so any further comments that are off-subject will
be removed. Thanks!
Posted on 27-Jul-09 at 3:47 pm | Permalink
blcsfo wrote:
Posts by Tim
I'm a “Chinese/Taiwanese-American”, born in Taiwan, raised on Long Island, went to college in Philadelphia, tried Wall Street and then moved to the California Bay Area to work in high tech in 1990. I'm a recent dad and husband. Other adjectives that describe me include: son, brother, geek, DIYer, manager, teacher, tinkerer, amateur horologist, gay, and occasional couch potato. I write for about 5 different blogs including 8Asians. When not doing anything else, I like to challenge people's preconceived notions of who I should be.
Posted on 27-Jul-09 at 4:03 pm | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
JC, I know your comment about 小籠包 was not directed at me because unless I'm quoting something that is specifically written in simplified characters, I NEVER use them!
Posted on 28-Jul-09 at 3:20 pm | Permalink
cutebutdeadly wrote:
because i love xiao long bao so much….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOrVsBk290
Posted on 02-Aug-09 at 1:48 am | Permalink
RhodyRed wrote:
Thaks for talking about one of my favorite foods. In Boston – Gourmet Dumpling House on Beach St. in Boston's Chinatown serves great Xiao Long Bao. It's where I get my fix. Only about an hour from where I live and well worth the drive, although the parking can be problematic.
Posted on 03-Aug-09 at 11:13 am | Permalink
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