I had some above-average xiao long bao at the food counter of a local
market before heading up to the scarily misty slopes of
Lushan Mountain on Friday
morning. S., who was in town visiting from Nanjing, and I put away two trays of
these little bundles of goodness.
These xiao long bao (soup dumplings) were about 1/2 the size of the juicy monsters that I am used to at NYC Chinatown's New Green Bo. Rather than a single bite causing a gusty spray of hot juice and a scramble for a soup spoon to collect the wayward juice, I could take take a small bite of these bao, and slurp the juice out of the opening. Or I could just open wide and pop the whole thing in my mouth.
I could see a bored-looking staffer making them absent-mindedly behind the counter, so they were definitely fresh (if prepared somewhat listlessly).
Posted by Astrid at November 14, 2004 08:40 AM