A tale of two Xiao Long Baos
(L to R) Xiao Long Bao from New Shanghai and Shanghai Street
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the best of Xiao Long Bao, it was the worst of Xiao Long Bao.
Shanghai Street
Diane had been craving for some Xiao Long Bao that Saturday evening and she decided on Shanghai Street. We ended up at the branch on Little Bourke St in Chinatown. There are two other branches – one at La Trobe St, and the other on another part of Little Bourke St.
Shanghai Street apparently offers one of the best Xiao Long Bao here in Melbourne. I had eaten at the La Trobe St branch once with a friend. So this marks my second time at Shanghai Street.
I had not been to Shanghai so I’m unable to comment how authentic the Xiao Long Bao is compared to those in Shanghai. My only reference would be to Din Tai Fung in Singapore and Paradise Dynasty.
Don’t expect a myriad of flavours at Shanghai Street a la Paradise Dynasty. You won’t find any No truffle infused Xiao Long Bao, or cheese-infused Xiao Long Bao or the likes. Xiao Long Bao is just Xiao Long Bao. We had the Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao. The Xiao Long Bao here is not a picture of daintiness. It’s not petite nor demure. But I guess its selling point would be the plumpness, and being packed with porky goodness. However, this girth comes at a cost – the skins are a bit thick to hold the filling, which may cause some alarm bells amongst purists or those who like the skins thin. But nothing beats biting off a bit of the skin, and then slurping the rich broth that is so reminiscent of the precious first dew of dawn.
The Hong You Chao Shou or Sichuan pork dumplings in chili oil was given an interesting and liberal interpretation here. Instead of the just the peppercorn chili oil treatment, I believe that peanut butter and crushed peanuts were added. It wasn’t numbing. But I found this version rather interesting as I lapped my dumplings up with the peanut sauce.
The Pan Fried Dumplings or Sheng Jian Bao is essentially the pan fried version of the Xiao Long Bao. The skin is much thicker here than the Xiao Long Bao. Don’t eat it when it is just served or you may scald your tongue and throat. It was juicy and one could just slurp the juice. There was a nice char taste of flour which I liked.
Overall the meal came to about $15 per person. This was really an affordable meal and I found the food better than average.
New Shanghai
My next Xiao Long Bao adventure led me to New Shanghai at Emporium (Melbourne) after seeing Diane’s pictures.
The Xiao Long Bao here is like a slim China doll. It did well in terms of taste. The broth was flavourful and robust. The skin here is thin than Shanghai Street. My dining partner didn’t seem impressed by the Xiao Long Bao here though. However, the flavour here seems muted [less salty] as compared to the other dishes that we had ordered.
The Pan Fried Buns were a little burnt and charred. My dining partner didn’t like it. But It had a nice crisp when I took a bite out of the buns. I must say that the flavour is a little on heavy and salty side.
But the biggest let-down, or possibly what set the tone for a less than perfect dinner was the Shanghai noodles with meat and vegetables. It was served first, and boy was it really salty. It was probably one of the most salty noodles I ever had in my life. Avoid this.
At this end of this tale, which Xiao Long Bao would you prefer? The plus size chick or the slim model? For me, I would still go for the plus size chick anytime, any day.
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