No trip to Shanghai is complete without a visit to Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in the Yu Gardens.(No not the fake Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao they have in Singapore or New York or other major cities around the world) If you enjoy the Xiao Long Baos from Ding Tai Fung, you will surely enjoy these even more. Why you may ask? Well...
1. Shanghai is the birth place of these Little Dragon Dumplings
2. They are filled with crab meat from the famed Shanghai crabs
3. You can stick a straw in one of Xiao Long Bao's Big Brothers Tang Bao and suck the scorching hot juice...Who doesn't enjoy burning the roof of their mouth
Entrance of Yu Gardens... Surrounding Yu Gardens is basically a bazaar filled with shops selling touristy souvenirs
Love the old Shanghai Architecture
Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao is housed in a 4 story building by the entrance of the garden. Each floor houses different dining environments from take out on the first floor to fine dining on Floors 2, 3 and 4. As you can imagine, as you make your way up the floors, the price for the buns become progressively more expensive. Our preferred floor is the 3rd floor where the dumplings are high quality and the pricing is still reasonable. The 2nd floor is restricted to offering only one type of buns while the 4th floor is restricted to a set menu. The 3rd floor is a happy medium offering a sit down restaurant environment with the ability to order as much or as little as you like.
The Xiao Long Bao crew busy at work
Our first round of Xiao Long Baos
Yummmm!So there is an etiquette to eating these bad boys...
1. Pour some vinegar to the shredded ginger.
2. Gently pick up a Xiao Long Bao with the chopsticks and make sure that you don’t break the skin.
3. Gently dip the Xiao Long Bao in the ginger vinegar sauce.
4. Lift it up and place it on the spoon.
5. Nibble the side of the Xiao Long Bao and suck the soup/broth inside the Xiao Long Bao. (This is the best way of savoring the meaty, juicy, and flavorful broth/soup inside the dumpling. And o yeah, suck gently so you don't burn yourself!)
mhhhhh....
Our neighbors got a Tang Bao filled with soup. You use a straw to suck the soup out. Not my cup of tea but interesting idea.
Check out how much juice is in there!
My Brother Tommy and I had a friendly competition to see who can eat more Xiao Long Baos. He had heard I ate 16 last time I was in Shanghai so we made a friendly wager on who can eat more this time around. I ended up breaking my own record with 20 while Tommy came in at 21, only because he had a sneaky fast chopstick grab that snatched the last one from me. grrrr, I'm definitely calling for a rematch next year.
Sights from the bazaar...
After a heavy breakfast at Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, we decided to walk off the fats by doing some shopping. There are 2 major shopping boulevards in Shanghai, Huaihai Rd and Nanjing Rd. Nanjing Rd is a pedestrian only shopping street stretching close to 5 miles. We settled on Nanjing Rd and I took a few pics along the way...
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