The Elusive Xiao Long Bao Hunt

After reading about this xiao long bao report on Chowboard, I was totally embarrassed by my lack of knowledge regarding 德笼馆 the so-called best xiao long bao in Shanghai and I considered myself a foodie ?

Anyway, diet be damned, it was the eve of my birthday. Dreaming about dreamy xiao long baos, I made my way to the legendary shop.


Located on a dingy little street, I noted with a passing glance that many of the buildings were historically preserved by the Shanghai government.


The shop front was small, the interiors were old, dirty and run-down. I ordered my favorite salted egg xiao long bao and the mala xiao long bao. With 6 xiao long baos in a basket, they were slightly better than Jia Jia in terms of the consistency of the dumplings, the skin and the quality of meat. But the soup within the dumplings was a bit bland. For the mala ones, they were filled with chilli oil (never again!)

Considering the pain of locating the shop and the distance from the train station(Nanjing Dong), I would pick Jia Jia anytime for the convenience of the location of its store. The slight difference is not worth the trip.