Shanghai Dumpling House

3319 Balboa St
San Francisco, CA 94121

Occasion: The bf was hungry after waiting for nearly an hour at Purple Kow for our boba drinks so we decided to grab a light meal here. He's been obsessed with Shanghainese style food, especially after our return from our Asia trip back in December 2011. 02.20.12

Spicy wonton

To my surprise these were not that spicy at all.  It was really different and mixed with some kind of peanut sauce, which gave it not only a kick but a little bit of sweetness to this dish.  We both really liked it, though the skin seemed a little thick.

Shanghai style noodles

Loved how they added snow pea shoots to this dish for the extra crunch.  The noodles were a bit dry and the flavor was just mediocre.  I've definitely had better.

Shanghai dumplings aka Xiao long bao

Henry loved them and it definitely satisfied his XLB cravings.  They give a generous serving of 10 XLBs for a really good price.  Though not as soupy as I'd like, the meat was quite flavorful.  The skin is pretty thin, but  too moist. 

Nan Xiang- 3rd Level

Shanghai, China

Occasion: One of our last meals before we leave Shanghai. Since we've tried the first two levels, we wanted to give the third one a try. Yes, it's a significantly pricier than the lower two levels, but the quality and the service is so much better. I guess it was good to experience all three levels.  This was definitely my favorite.  December 2011

They've definitely got some authentic Xiao Long Baos here.  The meat seems more dense than the meat I've had at most other places.  It reminded me of a beef shui mai from dim sum.

Din Tai Fung 鼎泰丰(环球金融中心店)

浦东新区世纪大道100号环球金融中心3楼
Shanghai, China

Occasion: Dinner after the World Financial Center tour. We were hungry and it was conveniently downstairs. Din Tai Fung location number 4! December 2011 

Coconut Milk for him

 

Warm soy milk for me

A very popular choice of drink for the northern Chinese

Snow pea shoots (dou miao)

One our favorite veggies.  It was sauteed with garlic and absolutely flavorful with a good crunch to it.

Fried rice

Actually quite delicious and filling. Rice was soft, moist and a little sticky just the way I like it.  It wasn't too greasy and flavorful.  Henry needed some carbs to fill up.

Xiao Long Bao

They do a good job here.  Thin skin filled with yummy goodness.

Egg rolls filled with seafood and mushroom

It was okay, nothing special to me.  I think we have better things in the states, or maybe I'm just not big on egg rolls. 

Almond pudding

Free with a coupon from the WFC.  It was decent, but it was free.

Yang's Fried Dumplings

Shanghai, China

Occasion: We seriously went on a journey trying to find this place. With my mediocre Mandarin and horrible sense of direction in a completely foreign country, we finally found this place! So worth the journey. It's a popular place for locals and tourists, so make sure you get there before or after lunch hour, otherwise, you'll be fighting for a seat.  It's not a big place, so you might have to wait around for a seat until someone leaves.  Turnover rate is quick, as most people just eat and leave, unlike how we do it in the states, where we sit and chit chat for hours.  December 2011 

Fish ball soup

There were about 10 things on the menu, I was cold and it happened to one of the items that I could completely read off of their menu, so I ordered it.  I knew I wanted a soup of some sort to warm me up, so that's what I got.  I couldn't ask for recommendations, since it was a long line and everyone seemed to know what to order.  I was too afraid to hold up the line since it seemed that everyone was there for their lunch break.  It was a simple soup with delicious fish balls in a cilantro soup broth.

Fried dumplings

Two orders

So worth the journey to come here and try these fried dumplings.  It was a fried bun that was topped with green onions and sesame filled with porky goodness.  The bun was fried with a crispy skin.  We dipped it into a vinegar soysauce that we each prepared.  Everyone had at least one order of this.  The guy next to me had two to himself.  They're cheap and absolutely delicious.  It's nothing fancy, but cheap and tasty.

Din Tai Fung- 鼎泰丰(新天地店)

黄浦区方浜中路168号豫城时尚内(近三牌楼路) Shanghai, China

Occasion: After walking around at the Bazaar where we had two meals at Nan Xiang, we stumbled upon Din Tai Fung at the Mall across the street. We just had to go and have another meal. We've already hit up Din Tai Fung in 2 other cities, so why not try it at a third. Since we've already eaten, we weren't that hungry. We tried to order something light. December 2011

Peanut Sauce Noodles

Delicious. I love the chewy bouncy texture of the noodles.  Toss it around the peanut sauce and it's perfect. Portion size is perfect, absolutely tasty with the delicious noodles. I love noodles!

Steamed pork with shark's fin and hairy crab meat Xiao Long Bao

Shanghai is known for their hairy crab meat and Henry loves shark fin, so of course that was a must for us to get.  I honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I did their usual pork meat XLBs.  The meat was more grounded and the texture of the shark fin was just not that enjoyable.  Not to say that it wasn't good, just not the way I like it.  Authentic XLB> frou-frou XLB.

Sesame filled rice ball in a ginger sauce

This is one of my favorite Chinese desserts! I love the soft chewy consistency of the rice ball.  The sesame filling is perfect as it's not too sweet and it's neither too watery or too thick.  Best I've ever had! I'm still dreaming about them. Best eaten during the cold weather, but I'll take it hot or cold.

Nan Xiang- 1st level (take out)

Shanghai, China

Occasion: After we had a meal at the second floor, we just wanted to experience the life of a local by standing in the to go line at the first level. Aside from the take out, there is also a sit down restaurant on the first level. We wanted to know why people would wait 15- 20 minutes in the cold, when they could just sit down and eat. And so we found out why. It was because it was so darn cheap.  The workers just slaved away continuously cooking baskets filled with XLBs and tossing together orders without a care in the world of it's presentation.  December 2011

 

Oh man look at all those trays of Xiao Long Baos. Workers slaving away!

 

Xiao Long Baos

I think we got 16 for 12 RNBs. What a presentation, but what a great steal!

The skin was thick and dry and it was barely filled with any soup.  It is quite obvious, that less care and love went into cooking these.  It's so cheap and so easy to fill your stomach up with an order.  You definitely get your bang for your buck here!  I guess if you're eating on a budget, it's definitely a great idea to hit this to go spot up for a mediocre taste of Shanghai!


Sometimes, it's worth it to pay for the services and to be able to eat indoors, especially during the cold weather.

Nan Xiang-2nd Level

Shanghai, China

Occasion: Our first food stop in Shanghai. We had done some research prior to our trip to Shanghai and knew that Anthony Bourdain had visited this authentic Shanghainese food spot. Known for their Tang baos and XLBs this establishment has 3 floors for you to wine and dine. As you go up each floor, not only does quality of food and environment get better, but so does it's price. We went straight to the second floor because we did not want to wait in the crazy long line at the to-go line on the first floor. Menu was limited and we ordered 3/5 things on the menu. I guess it's for those who are hungry and do not want to wait in line. Decemeber 2011

Fried Tofu

We were pretty hungry and I ordered anything I recognized on the menu.  How can you go wrong with fried tofu? You can't.  I think this cost us about $1.  If only I'd know that the portion was so small, I would have ordered another one.  Nothing really stood out about it, but we weren't complaining about them either.

Xiao Long Bao

I guess you can call this authentic shanghai xiao long baos (which supposedly originated in Shanghai).  It wasn't the best I've had, but it was decent.  Not as much soup as I'd expected, but their meat stuffing was dense and filling.  I liked that.

Tang Bao

This is a main reason as to why we came here. Henry really wanted to try these things, as did I.  Their big buns filled with soup.  It's cooked with meat, but due to the long steaming process, the meat cooks and turns into a soup.  It was nice and warm, but not enough soup!  Make sure you don't eat the bun, as it is not meant to be eaten.  Eat it and they'll know you're a tourist!

Beijing Restaurant

1801 Alemany Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94112

Occasion: Saturday night dinner.  We were too lazy to go out and eat so we ordered for delivery. 11.19.11

 Beef Stew Noodles Soup

We all agreed that this was the best thing that we ordered.  The handmade noodles are definitely the best I've ever had!  I love the bouncy, springy, chewy texture of the noodles!  The broth was pretty good and not too spicy and the meat was quite tender.   I also like how they had the chinese relish in it, which adds a crunchy component to the dish.

Three Flavor Dumpling

We love ordering dumplings and I would probably say that this was one of the better dishes of the night.  I still enjoyed it even though the skin was on the thicker side.   I don't know what exactly it is about vinegar and dumplings, but they are delicious eaten together!

 Steam House Special Bao Zi

We thought they were Xiao Long Baos, but nope! They were just steamed buns!  Since I was expecting something completely different, these little buns were a disappointment.  The buns were dry and the filling was mediocre.

 Onion Pancake

The dough was more bready than I'd like for it to be.  I usually like it more of a flaky dough instead of a bready dough, which results in drier pancake.  The pancake from Taste of Formosa was so much better!  Only good thing about this pancake over the Taste of Formosa one is that it's less greasy!

 Beijing Noodles with Special Sauce

The sauce was was odd and not what we had all expected.  It's not like the ZhaZhangMien Sauce that I'm familiar with from other Chinese restaurants or Korean restaurants.  Though the sauce was just whatever, the noodles were perfect!  You can tell that they're hand made, as they are springy, chewy and bouncy.  There's nothing I enjoy more than home made noodles!

Szechuan Chicken

Delicious! Especially when we have low expectation of this dish.  I didn't know what to expect and what it would come with, but I loved the baby corns and the watercrest in this dish because it definitely added texture and flavor to it.  I was a bit hesitant of the spice level since it's a szechuan dish, but surprisingly I ended up really enjoying it.  This was the second best dish of the night!

Joe's Shanghai

Occasion: Our last day in New York and we just had to get our Xiao Long Bao fix! 10.19.10

Crab Xiao Long Baos

Ever since our last visit in New York September 2009, we've been craving these little delicious dumplings.  I've been on a search for some good xiao long baos in the bay and nothing has been comparable to Joe's.  I love love love the crab ones here.  The dumplings are very soupy, skin is not too thick nor too thin and the flavors are all there! Oh how I've missed you so!

Din Tai Fung

1108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007

Occasion: Lunch after a rough partying night and before we hit up disneyland!

Braised Beef Noodle Soup
After a night of partying this is just what we needed! I've never had taiwanese Beef noodle soup and in my opinion, since I have nothing to compare to I think it's pretty good. I love home made noodles because it has a bounce to it when you bite into it. The meat was very tender. Overall a satisfying dish.

Noodles with minced meat sauce and ground pork

It was pretty simple and reminded me of something I've had before. The noodles went well with the sauce. I love noodles so I was definitely a fan of this noodle dish.

Shanghai Rice Cakes

I love rice cakes and though the portion was kind of small compared to other places where I've had it, it was still pretty good. Another dish I enjoyed.
Pork Soup Dumplings
It's good, but it still doesn't compare to New York's: Joe's Shanghai. Maybe I was just expecting a lot because I've heard a lot of good stuff about their dumplings. It's definitely way better than their crab soup dumplings. I guess because it was in such high demand, only 1 out of our 3 trays came out. By the time our last trays came out we were so full we had to cancel one. I like how there is a good amount of soup in it. I wish the skin was just a little thinner. As for the taste it was pretty good but not as good as I had expected it to be.

Shrimp and pork xiao mai

I've never seen or had anything that looked like this. When I bit into it, it actually found that it resembled the xiao mai's that chinese restaurants serve at dim sum. What I didn't like about it was the skin. It was too thick and too dry.

Crab soup dumplings
They were able to decipher between the pork and the crab with a little carrot in the middle. This was not good to me at all. I would have so much rather gotten three more trays of the pork than to have these crabs. I was expecting it to have a similar taste, texture and ingredients as Joe's Shanghai in New York. It did not taste anything like joe's shanghai. I was really disappointed after my first bite. The crab meat itself as well as the flavor...did not do it for me.


Pork and glutinous rice xiao mai
It reminded me of sticky rice you can get at dimsum, but less flavorful. I don't like the skin at all because it's too thick. It was kind of bland. We did not like it at all.

Shanghai Dumpling King

3319 Balboa Street
San Francisco, CA 94121

Occasion: Late lunch!

Jar Jar Men

Shanghainese style. I've had it prepared Japanese style, Korean style and chinese style. This one was pretty good and simple. It just contained some chopped cucumbers, ground pork and the sauce. Cheap and good. I like noodles and these noodles were definitely not bad.

Crispy Eel (not exactly sure, but it was definitely fish of some sort)

This reminded me of those chinese preserved canned fish that is sweet with black beans. Maybe it's just not my style, but I'm glad I tried it. Been there done it, now I'm done with it. I didn't really enjoy it much. I guess I didn't like the fact that it had a smokey sweet taste to it.

Xiao Long Baos

Ever since I've had Joe's Shanghai in New York, I've been on a search for the bay area's best xiao long baos. I still haven't found one that hits the spot for me yet, but so far this is the best I could find. Yes, it's a bit small in size, but at least it has soup inside, where as at Shanghai Dumpling House in Millbrae there was no soup in the soup dumplings. I guess small is good because it fits right into my mouth. SF BIG EAT 2010: 100 things you must eat and drink before you die:#13. Soup dumplings at Shanghai Dumpling King

Xiao Long Bao up close