The Best Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) in Shanghai
 

We spent last Saturday traveling around Shanghai in search of the best Xiaolongbao and Tangobao. Here is our review. For pictures of the dumplings at each restaurant visit www.sethliz.typepad.com

Please reply to this post with your favorite Shanghai dumpling joints.

Jia Jia Tang Bao (Go early. They sell out by 1:00)
90 Huanghe Lu by Feng Yang Lu (around the corner from the Park Hotel)

This place specializes in serving Xiaolongbao hot and fresh. They prepare them after you order, right before your eyes. The dough is perfect, thin and translucent, not gummy and not too tough. The bags are perfectly shaped teardrops, each one pinched lightly at the top. In addition to pork, this place also serves crab and shrimp dumplings. We tried a crab-pork mix and found that while delicious the crab absorbed the soup and left the dumpling a little hollow.

<u>Shanghai Ren Jia</u>
Jing'an Temple Area 1600 Nanjing Lu near Changde Lu

Shanghai Ren Jia was one of two places we found serving Tang Bao. Our giant Tang Bao were filled with warm soup swimming with bits of pork. The dumpling dough was tough and thick. Like a bread bowl, it seemed the dough functioned just as housing for the soup and was not worth eating. We had a great time drinking them through straws but they are definitely not as delicious as Xiaolongbao. They reminded us of fair food, novel, but impossible to eat regularly. Asking for Tang Bao in Shanghai is akin to asking where to buy funnel cake or elephant ears in the US. We've all eaten them but who knows where to find one?


Din Tai Fung
2F unit 11A South block Xintiandi

These were the best Xiaolongbao we tasted. However, they are ten times the price of Jia Jia Tang Bao's and only marginally better. The soup is rich and delicious. The bags are translucent and pinched perfectly at the top. The bags are so delicate, you must pick them up carefully. A false move and you'll pierce them with a chopstick, popping the bag and causing the hot soup to explode. This would be a fun place to bring a bunch of people and sample all the dumplings on the menu.

Yu Yuan

At this famous tourist destination, you can find both Tang Bao and Xiaolongbao. Many stalls sell Tang Bao, which were not served fresh. We found the dough dry and waxy and the soup oily and lukewarm. Shanghai Ren Jia's were much better.

The Xiaolongbao stall across from the giant water fountain is the most famous in Shanghai. You can't miss it. Look for the hour long line, crammed with Chinese tourists. Local Shanghainese are not impressed with this place and, after taking one nibble, we learned why. They're awful: thick, gooey, and bland. On the other hand, it's a real treat watching their operation in action!

Wang Jia Sha
Corner of NanjingXi Lu and Shimen Lu

Wag Jia Sha is a food court with mediocre dumplings. It is worth a stop if you're nearby but not worth a detour. The soup was tasty but a bit oily and the dumpling skin too robust.


[Insert Your Local Dumpling Joint Here]

Xiaolongbao joints are scattered all around Shanghai. These stands are not known for quality control. In any given order you will find fantastic Xiaolongbao on par with Jia Jia Tang Bao side by side with so-so dumplings. Our neighborhood joint is on the corner of Gongyuan Rd. and Tianping Rd.

Thank you! Perfect timing as we leave next week and I've been taking notes to find the dumpling joints.

Is it a point-to-order menu at Jia Jia Tang Bao? I've read that Din Tai Fong's menu is and that will be easy for us since we don't speak mandarin. (Not easy to decide which ones as they all sounds delicious!)

ATTN GPANDA

There is a point and order menu at Jia Jia Tang Bao. It is rather strange. The menu is a few hand written scribbles in a disorganized notebook. (we took a picture of it www.sethliz.typepad.com) The only menu items are seaweed soup and different types of xlb.

Does your guide book teach you the hand signals for counting from one to ten? The Chinese use one hand to count from one to ten. Getting those signals down is really helpful if you don't know mandarin. Especially if you are trying to communicate in a crowded restaurant.

I have not heard of hand signals. Do you have a guidebook recommendation?

I'll google it in the meantime. Thank you!

My mouth is watering already.

There's actually a Din Tai Fung on the outskirts of Los Angeles. One of my absolute favorite places to go to.

I was considering doing part of our last LA GTG there, but figured folks wouldn't be interested in the commute to get there.

FW-Beth and I will go to the real thing. We skipped the branch office at the LA GTG.

OK, S_I_S, let us know what the secret hand signals are. Otherwise, I will just make a scene in Shanghai.

BeachGirl, Let me know if you can find them online. If not, they are on page 41 of the latest edition of Lonely Planet's Mandarin Phrasebook.

DTF in Shanghai is amazing. Wonderful dumplings and lots of other good food. You have to go. Although they may be more expensive than Jia Jia Tang, the cost is still nominal. Very inexpensive to eat at DTF in any case.

Hey Bill...DTF outside LA is good but you've got to go to the one in Shanghai...the comparison is not even close. Yummmm.

Summer, is this what you are referring to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3gyO...eature=related

Or, is it this way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD77s...eature=related

They were similar until 6-10

Glad to know I can't flash my American number signs! I'd hate to cause an international incident.

Beach, Sounds like it. I'm in China right now, so I can't view youtube (or facebook :( If eight looks like a gun and nine a hook, then its right.

Oh dear. 8 and 10 both look like a gun.

hmm. I'll stick them on our website later tonight. Ten is a little confusing. It is both a balled fist and a two fingered x. At first, we thought people were telling us 'no'. Then we realized they were asking us for 10rmb.

Thanks for the review. We are leaving in the morning for Shanghai and our mouths are watering already!

Safe travels.

Thanks so much! NY to Toronto right on time...6 hour delay in Toronto. If you have to be delayed, Air Canada Lounge is great.

BeachGirl247: For 10, hold up both hands and wiggle your fingers one after another from one end to the other end, remember to hug your purse close when you do it.

Finally, pictures for counting from 1 to 10 the Chinese way are on our website (sethliz.typepad.com).

Q about different hand gestures.

I've seen three different ways to show "10", "7", "9".

Do I try each until they know what I''m trying to convey?

I've seen ten with both hands making a cross with the index fingers; 10 with a gun position with the thumb crossing over index finger; and then the way Shanghainese suggests above with hands open and waving fingers.


Do they all work?
Which ones are for Shanghai/Xi'an/Beijing?

The chinese hand gestures are the same in the 3 cities but people don't expect American tourists to get it correctly. If you are bargaining and not want to risk the vendors "misreading" them, they all carry calculators, politely ask them to hand it over and punch in the number with a smile.

Thanks, Shanghainese. I just want to make sure I can order the right amount of dumplings! It's all about the food here at our house. Shopping comes later. ;)