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Calling all restaurants: Shanghai Soup Buns!

VictorFiorillo

By VictorFiorillo
in Pennsylvania: Dining

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VictorFiorillo

VictorFiorillo

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So I appreciate the fact that I can get all sorts of foods here that I couldn't get 10 years ago, but after a long weekend in Chinatown NYC, I'm wondering, is there no restaurant here serving those mysterious soup dumplings, the kind where you cut into them and soup spills out? I believe the secret is in an aspic inside the dumpling which dissolves into "soup" when cooked. They are all over New York, and I know that our "Chinatown" pales in comparison, but please, someone, tell me that there ARE soup dumplings here.

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Andrew Fenton

Andrew Fenton

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So I appreciate the fact that I can get all sorts of foods here that I couldn't get 10 years ago, but after a long weekend in Chinatown NYC, I'm wondering, is there no restaurant here serving those mysterious soup dumplings, the kind where you cut into them and soup spills out? 

The late New Joe Shanghai used to turn out respectable soup dumplings. They've gone bye-bye, alas. But Pagoda (on 2nd, by the Ritz) has soup dumplings which, though not first-rate (they're a little small, and not too soupy) are still pretty good. ( In the way that any soup dumpling is better than no soup dumpling.)

I believe the secret is in an aspic inside the dumpling which dissolves into "soup" when cooked.

Nonsense. Everybody knows that it's elves who put the soup in there. Elves working black, black soupy magic.

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shacke

shacke

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A search on "soup dumplings" reveals lamentation for New Joe Shanghai, as well as a couple of other recommendations: Sang Kee (so-so, according to Diann) and Chinatown Cafe in Langhorne.  Anybody tried this place?

Are they listed as "soup dumplings" on the menu? I don't recall seeing them at sang kee before. Do they have another name?

Evan

Dough can sense fear.

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Andrew Fenton

Andrew Fenton

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Are they listed as "soup dumplings" on the menu?  I don't recall seeing them at sang kee before.  Do they have another name?

I haven't tried the SK dumplings, so I'm not sure. I was hoping I had a Pagoda menu around to find a description-- same ownership as SK, I believe-- but I don't. But it's something like "juicy dumplings", a name that provides me no end of amusement.

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cdh

cdh

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I haven't tried the SK dumplings, so I'm not sure.  I was hoping I had a Pagoda menu around to find a description-- same ownership as SK, I believe-- but I don't.  But it's something like "juicy dumplings", a name that provides me no end of amusement.

Reminds me of an NYC take-out menu classic: steamed little juicy buns... which were sorta soup dumplings...

Christopher D. Holst aka "cdh"

Learn to brew beer with my eGCI course

Chris Holst, Attorney-at-Lunch

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MysticMilt

MysticMilt

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We went to Chinatown Cafe last night. It's a little tiny place, and I'm glad someone mentioned the CVS plaza, because we surely would have blown right by if we weren't looking for that landmark.

No soup dumplings on the menu, though, which is a shame, since that's what I was craving so severely after reading this thread.

Nevertheless, the food was excellent, far superior than your average suburban Chinese restaurant. The place is small but well-decorated, and the staff was very friendly. We got the specialty of the house: the Peking duck. The duck was some of the very best I've ever had, as the skin was crispy and the meat tender, but none of it was overwhelmingly greasy, as poorly-prepared duck can be.

My only complaint is that the Peking duck was served with standard-issue tortillas, rather than the steamed dough rounds that I prefer. The tortillas themselves didn't hold up well to being wrapped, so that was kind of a bummer, but the duck and plum sauce was so tasty we barely noticed.

$30 for two people got us a large bowl of wonton soup, a half order of Peking duck, fried rice and General Tso's chicken. The wonton soup was outstanding -- lovely clear broth, tender baby bok choi, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and delicate wontons that were more like shiu mai than the boring ground pork ones that you usually see.

Likewise, both the fried rice and General Tso's were great. The fried rice was fluffy and light -- closer to white rather than soy-soaked brown -- and was specked with chunks of tender roast pork, onions, and large sweet shrimp. The General Tso's was the most pedestrian of the three main dishes, but it was still good; crispy and tangy, and not totally drowned in sauce.

So we enjoyed it a whole lot, even if my craving for soup dumplings continues unsated.

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Diann

Diann

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Margaret Kuo's restaurants out in the 'burbs have them.

Stephen, you mentioned this when I was asking about soup dumplings earlier. I really need to get to one of her restaurants...

As for Sang Kee, assuming the online menu is up-to-date, they are listed as "Steamed Juicy Buns". At Sang Kee Asian Bistro in Wynnewood, they're "Steamed Shang Hai Juicy Buns". :smile:

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