Xiao Long Bao Thread

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by purr1n, Dec 6, 2016.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    On a lighter note and a continuation from the Changstar thread.

    The Bao NYC
    20161018_140852.jpg

    Arrived from 2:00pm. This stuff is very good. Thin style wrapper, but they manage to keep it super hot, juicy, and pressurized inside that if you bite into it without poking a hole first, the pork juicy will squirt out across the table. Only downside is that the black vinegar of whatever dipping sauce they provided was kind of weak and no slivers of ginger.

    China Blue NYC
    20161019_133118.jpg

    Thicker style wrapper. Avoid. Not very juicy and pork lacks sufficient fat content and tastes a bit off. However, this place makes a fantastic Chinese beef noodle soup. 5 out of 10 on hot / spicy meter - Asian scale, not white man scale, where my max tolerance is a 7 on the Asian scale. To get an idea on what white man scale hot / spicy means: a dude from Big Bear Lake who participated in the chili contests up there gave me his chili, but said he screwed up that I should be careful because it was an 11 out of 10 (white man scale). It turned out to be 3 on the Asian man scale.

    20161019_134037.jpg

    Anyway, this was very good with legit stuff: plenty of star anise, preserved mustard greens, stewed beef with connective tissue, strong broth - not watered down.
     
  2. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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  3. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    The Bao NYC looks legit, at least from me eyeballing the photo. The shitty vinegar is a pretty big misstep though. f**k trying to get decent XLB in the States, I'm flying home for Christmas for my fix.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Yeah, I'd figured I'd poke it for the coagulated cooked pork blood to ooze out so you experts can see for yourselves.
     
  5. Drifterxny

    Drifterxny Friend

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    problem with nyc soup dumpling places is that they use a ridiculous amount of msg and usually other dishes are pretty crappy. China blue's soup dumplings are hot garbage.

    If you want the best xlb in NYC, go to flushing, although virtually all of the crab versions are pretty terrible.

    Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao is owned by same owner as Bao NYC and it's very similar in taste, to me the flushing branch is slightly better.
    Joe shanghai in flushing is the original staple and it's the greasiest (don't order anything else, all msg and grease filled dishes), Nan xiang is in between, and Kungfu probably the least greasy tasting. In this case grease here isn't necessarily a bad thing, depends on personal preference.
    I feel like Joe shanghai is closer to how it was in shanghai area in the 80s and 90s, and Nan Xiang is closer to what they served in the 2000s (not sure about now, haven't been since 2010). Kung Fu is more like the ones they serve in fancy chain restaurants in south east asia.

    There's also a stall that advertises as salted duck noodle that has xlb on menu in New World mall food court, i think 8 for 5 bucks, well made with thin skin, lots of soup, but too much msg for my taste.
    Yu garden in flushing on 40th rd is not bad either, but mainly due to a free order of xlb if you dine in and order for more than $10.
     
  6. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    The tendons in that noodle soup are making me sad out here. I will post photos of the real deal around Christmas.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Your are in D.C right? I guess you are screwed. Only good food around those parts are soul food. Black people know good food.
     
  8. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    Flying back to HK and then Singapore in a couple weeks for the holidays. I am fucked during school term for sure.
     
  9. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Only good XIao Long Bao in the DC area is in Rockville where Chinese people actually live. DC proper only has good soul food (mostly made by Chinese and Koreans), Ethiopian food, Hispanic food (Columbia Heights), and Indian food metro accessible in the city. There are real delis in Georgetown and NW where non-transient, non-hipster/"save the world hippie scum" white people actually live but you have to walk. DC proper also has one great Sichuan restaurant, Panda Gourmet, but you have to drive. It shares a building in the Day's Inn in NE where the Chinese embassy housed the workers renovating it a while ago and the chef that took over the kitchen just never left. There are no actually good British, French, or Eastern European places as of right now either; we have an Epcot center version of a French restaurant frequented by young white women that gets good reviews only as its DC.

    Outside of DC proper you can drive to where Asian people actually live and check out Peter Chang's restaurants, tons of great Vietnamese and Korean places, two locations of the A&J chain (Manchurian dim sum), and a couple legit Thai places (all the ones in DC have been dumbed down to former sorority white girl levels except for Baan Thai which is right above a shitty Thai place called "Thai tanic"). But yeah you need to rent a car to check these places out if you're flying into DC. Otherwise it's scaled up chain restaurant food (the Cheesecake Factor with better ingredients), dumbed down ethnic food for transients from flyover/drive through states, and ill-rewarded Michelin stars to overpriced not real food in molecular gastronomy.
     
  10. HitmanFluffy

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    >Good
    >British

    Pick one.
     
  11. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    Breakfast with blood sausage.
     
  12. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    This is the best thread.

    @sphinxvc and I were talkin' soup dumplings in NYC and The Bao came up, we'll have to check it out.

    For Manhattan, I have liked Shanghai Cuisine on Mulberry and Bayard, but I have a feeling it wouldn't satisfy the high standards here! I do like them better than the Manhattan Joe's Shanghai, which may not be saying much compared to the options in Flushing.
     
  13. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    Speckled Dick

    Favorite name for a thing eaten by British people.
     
  14. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    Handing you the new Ety loaners sounds like a perfect excuse to go to the Bao again. (Yeah, I confess, I tried it already.) It's quite good, there's a gingery freshness to the broth inside. Comparatively, my regular joint, Shanghai Cafe Deluxe, makes the wrappers thicker, with no nuance to the broth.
     
  15. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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    I'm definitely going there! Only issue with picking up the ety loaners is that I'll be away from the 24th until the 4th, so maybe push me to the end of the line.

    We should have a The Bao meet in the new year!
     
  16. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Spotted dick, I believe. Not sure if that makes it better or worse.
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I will follow up on this later. The Din Tai Fung in Dubai is a travesty. It sucks.
     
  18. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    pork-based xiao long bao in the middle east? o_O or we talkin' camel xiao long bao?
     
  19. shipsupt

    shipsupt Admin

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    Fly to the middle east for chain restaurant Xiaolongbao? Many better options in and around Dubai...
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    That's essentially the problem, although the hotel I stayed at did provide pork options. It's possible to make good dumpings with chicken or beef, but it does take some skill. I've been to a few muslim Chinese places that made beef dumpings. The Trader Joe's Chicken potstickers are passable, especially if you know how to cook them right. But XLB is more than just the meat, it's the the wrapper too.

    DTF isn't exactly a cheap chain, and most locations I've been to, outside of the US and some inside the US have been really good. Besides, it is my mission to explore all DTF locations, or as many as possible throughout my world travels. I don't expect DTF to necessarily the best at all locations, but I do expect a certain level of consistency and quality.

    The Indian food was good. Had some fantastic lamb biryani cooked in a earthware pot covered on top with a big piece of naan bread.
     

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