In Shanghai, the dumpling known as xiao long bao is on the city’s list of “protected traditional treasures.” It was invented in Shanghai, which made an excellent setting for a witty and mouth-watering piece in the International Herald Tribune by intrepid travel writer and World Hum contributor Daisann McLane. During the course of three days, she taste-tested her way through the city, looking for the perfect dumpling. 

She had some basic qualities she was looking for—a flour wrapper that’s not too doughy and thick, or thin and brittle, a soup that’s not too abundant or greasy. “But when the dumpling is right, it’s golden—literally,” she wrote.

Much to her own chagrin, she discovered the perfect dumpling in, of all places, a tony restaurant in an even tonier shopping mall. The Din Tai Fung restaurant chain is based in Taiwan but has a well-regarded branch in Shanghai’s trendy Xintiandi complex.

“I’d ordered the special dumplings, which come garnished with sweet crab roe,” she wrote. “As the steam cleared, I could see the bright orange lumps of hairy crab roe peeking out from the twisted nipples of dough at the peak of each dumpling. A single dumpling fit exactly into the bowl of my porcelain spoon without flopping over the edge—a perfect size… The ratio of dough to meat to soup was spot on. The ingredients tasted fresh, and the minced pork was good quality, with not a trace of gristle or bone.”

Related on World Hum:
* Zagats on Chinese Cuisine: U.S. Needs ‘Dumpling Diplomacy’
* A Very Long Way to the Hong Kong Cafe
* Secret Shanghai: Old Streets and Etched Faces Tell the Tale

Photo of xiao long bao by MR+G, via Flickr (Creative Commons).