This is the first time I will do a second review on a restaurat I have already visited, the Shanghai Restaurant located in Milpitas. I won't go into the details regarding all the dishes as they were similar from the last time we went, with the exception of one dish that I will get into here. I finally had an opportunity to try what I missed out on last time which is their Xiao Lung Bao. I will comment on this simply because I believe I'm a little pickier and have a little more expertise with this dish.
Rarely have I been to a restaurant that makes this really well with the exception of a few. In Times Square of Causway Bay, Hong Kong, there is a Shanghai restaurant near the top floor that prepares it really well. In Warms Springs Boulevard across from the old Lions in the center where Q-cup is, there used to be another restuarant that is now sadly closed down. Although I question the hygene of that restaurant, they made a killer Xiao Lung Bao. Lastly, there is this place.
For those of you who are not familiar with this dish, on the outside, it looks like any other dumpling. However, the initial bite in it should be filled with boiling hot soup that gushes into your mouth. This soup is usually a block of frozen pork stock or fat. As the dumpling is heated, this block begins to melt in the dumpling. All this, the soup and the meat paste, is wrapped around the "usual" dumpling wrap.
To eat the dumpling, there is also a special technique as it is usually eaten with a chopstick and soup spoon. You pick up the dumpling with your choptsicks from the tip of the dumpling where the skin was pressed closed with the fingers. You do this as this is usually the most durable point so you minimize the chances of puncturing it. Next, you slowly place it onto the spoon, and you eat it holding it in the spoon. This is so when you bite into it, the soup is retained in the spoon.
There are several things to look for when eating this, the meat paste, the skin, and then the soup. For me, the most important part is usually the skin because it is where most places go wrong. With skin, there is usually a tradeoff with regards to thickness and durability (durability to hold in the soup). Some places are able to hold in the soup well but we end up eating a slab of flour along with it. Too thick. Othertimes it's too thin, and the wrapping punctures during the steaming procees and the soup just seeps out leaving you with a relatively dry dumpling. The skin here is masterfully prepared. From my own eating, the skin was thin and soft. Not dry and rough and not at all hard and chewy. Check. Also, the soup was well retained. Double check. Already, by my standards, this would be considered pretty good dumplings.
So what turns this from good to masterful? A couple of scenarios turned up. One of my friends accidentally dropped this onto a plate as he was dipping for soy sauce. Usually with an other dumpling, the skin would rip, the soup would spew out, and we would start crying over our lost soup. Not here. Even with the really thin skin, it held it's composure really well saving the soup. Bonus points! Secondly another friend ate his dumpling really late into the dinner, about 15 - 20 minutes after it has been served to us. Usually, the dumpling would have been signifcantly dryer by now, and as you pick it up from the crate, the bottom would stick and it would tear the bottom leaving you with a soupless dumpling. Not here. This demonstrates the moisture and smoothness of the skin.
The meat and the soup were also good.
I was going through some of the yelp reviews, and one of them was commenting on how bad the skin was here and how it was dry. I really question whether or not 1) we went to the same restaurant, 2) they just got really unlucky, 3) we just got really lucky, or 4) they just have no idea what they're talking about. I can assure you the skin here was not dry, and as confirmed from several of my friends who are also Xiao Lung Bao fanatics and have been here numerous times, this place does prepare it really well. Although, I will not be biased about it and try the Xiao Lung Bao at
Shanghai Classic that this person speaks so highly of to do a comparison.
Update: I would like to confirm that the mistake is actually mine, and that the yelp link does NOT correspond to the restaurant in mention (I have made the change appropriately with regards to the address in the previous post, and will update the location once it is determined.) Alas sadly, the yelp link does correspond to the other place I do like (the unsanitary place) but I cannot completly reject Anita M's review (link for reminder) as that restaurant is not particularly consistent with their dumplings. But when they were good, they were really good. I do not believe a yelp page exists for this restaurant yet, and I may just start one. That is all for today.
theJade
On another note, posts to look forward to in the near future: Saizo dinner from a week ago, and Aziza from this weekend.
UPDATE: Oh, I forgot to mention, the Xiao Lung Baos are special's here. With any dinner over 25 bucks, you get a crate of 8 for free. Now it's $1.75...oh no....cry me a river...still a steal.
