Tag Archives: dumplings

Nanxiang Mantou Dian: Drink Your Xiao Long Bao with a Straw

Posted in Shanghai by

If you’re curious to know where to find the monstrous xiao long bao (xlb), go to Nanxiang Mantou Dian (aka Nanxiang Steamed Bun). It’s on the way to Yuyuan Garden.

This restaurant has several levels. At street level, you can order your extra large xlb to go. To find the take out window, look for the long line and people walking away with xlb and you’ll know you’re in the right line.

I chose to dine in the restaurant upstairs. I ordered the ginormous xlb. It’s so big that you have to drink the juices with a straw. Slurp slowly because the juice is steaming hot.  I found the meaty juice flavor to be mediocre, which was disappointing due to its hype.
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Yang’s Fry Dumplings

Posted in Shanghai by

Shanghai is infamous for its soup dumplings, xiao long bao. Here in Shanghai, I was introduced to its cousin, the sheng jian bao, at Yang’s Fry Dumplings. It’s a total game changer!

Sheng jian baos are made with a thicker skin, filled with soupy meat and then FRIED. The crispy and crunchiness of the sheng jian bao brings this soup dumpling to a whole other level. Eat like you would with xiao long bao. Take a bite of the skin and let the soup cool. Once it’s cool, drink the soup and then consume the rest of the heavenly fried bao. yangs-dumplings-1
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Harajuku Gyozaro

Posted in Tokyo by

This place is located in an alley, filled with restaurants, just off the main street. There are no English signs to indicate the name of the place. In fact, there are no English signs in general. Their short menu list, which consists of fried or steamed dumplings, a few veggie options and drinks, is posted on the wall in Japanese. They will kindly offer an English menu.

Cucumber in a special miso sauce- This was delicious! Perfect combination of refreshing and salty. I presume the special sauce to be a mixture of miso and mayo.

Fried pork dumplings- These came only in orders of 6. For ¥290, they were decent dumplings.

Fried pork and chive dumplings- I preferred these as they had more flavor to them due to the chives. This too came in an order of 6 for ¥290. Such a steal!

(6-2-4 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo Prefecture)