Soup Dumplings appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Soup dumplings · New York City
Soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are pleated pork-and-broth parcels steamed in bamboo baskets, eaten in one bite. A canonical Chinese American order in Flushing and Manhattan's Chinatown.
Xiao long bao left Shanghai's Nanxiang district in the 1870s and reached the United States via Taiwanese immigration in the 1980s. Joe's Shanghai, founded in Flushing in 1995 by Joe Si, popularised the dumpling among non-Chinese New Yorkers; a Manhattan-Chinatown branch on Pell Street opened in 1997. Din Tai Fung's American expansion in the 2010s set a polished comparison point, but the editorial centre of soup dumplings in New York remains the small Flushing rooms (Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao on Prince Street, Shanghai You Garden in the New World Mall) where the wrappers are pleated to 18 folds by hand each morning.
Where to eat in New York City:
- Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao
- Joe's Shanghai
- Tim Ho Wan
Taiwanese soup dumplings · Pittsburgh
Pleated xiao long bao filled with seasoned pork and a hot broth that bursts when you bite in. A signature of Squirrel Hill's Taiwanese kitchens, made fresh to order behind glass.
Squirrel Hill's growing Taiwanese and Chinese community brought soup dumplings to Pittsburgh in force in the 2010s. Everyday Noodles on Forbes Avenue put a glass-walled dumpling team out front, pleating xiao long bao to order, and the dish became a Squirrel Hill draw. It sits alongside hand-pulled noodles and beef rolls as part of the neighbourhood's East Asian food identity.
Where to eat in Pittsburgh:
- Everyday Noodles
- The Parlor Dim Sum