Any good soup dumplings in the burbs?

[tomaneng]

Preferably West or North of Boston. TIA

[kbw18]

I noticed that King Fung Garden had opened an outpost on Route 9 in Brookline, near Brookline VW. Don't know about that particular restaurant, but the King Fung in Chinatown has excellent soup dumplings.

Not sure how the Route 9 construction this Summer will impact it. Might be a good idea to go soon, before it's inaccessable.

[limster]

It's probably a matter of taste, but I was rather unimpressed with the xlb at King Fung - the skins were too thick, the crucial balance of filling to skin was off.

[EATTV]

New Shanghai has a version which were light on the soup. The best XLB I ever had were in Hong Kong at the Jumbo floating restaurant. (too far) Those at Joe's Shanghai in New York are the best I've had in the States. (The filling includes crab) I'd like to try the Taiwan Cafe version. Still wishing for Noodle Alcove hand drawn noodles stir fried w/veg and wok fired chili paste.

[kbw18]

I agree that KFG is not the best for soup dumplings - but the poster's requirements were West or North suburbs. The list isn't long.

Too bad it didn't include South suburbs. There are some good ones to be had in the more recently established Chinese communities in Quincy.

[Dr.Jimbob]

What places in Quincy?

I've gone to Wing's Kitchen and Shanghai Gate in Allston when I've been jonesing for XLB. They come closer than anyone else in the Boston area to getting that critical balance of soup, skin and filling right. I've liked the XLB at Taiwan Cafe, but they're a bit bigger than real Shanghai style XLB. And I was at Joe's Shanghai a few weeks ago and was surprisingly disappointed -- they were great at Joe's about a decade ago, but I think they've slid a bit (more on this in a post to come).

One possible alternative to explore in the north suburbs would be Fuloon Restaurant in Malden <http://fuloon-restaurant.com/>. I haven't been there myself yet (really need to organize a group out there some time soon), but there have been a number of raves about the place, it is in a northern suburb, and I saw XLB in the Mandarin dim sum section of the menu. Can anyone comment more intelligently on them?

[MC Slim JB]

From prior posts (not my own experience), the KFG in Brookline bears little resemblance to the Chinatown original. It offers a pretty generic American Chinese menu, a concession to their perception of neighborhood tastes.

[chowaholic]

I've only had soup dumplings once...Joe's Shanghai in Manhattan's Chinatown. They were interesting, but I found the soup pretty greasy and more like a red-brown, oily gravy than soup. I love the thought of soup dumplings, but wasn't so into the soup. Are they typically like that, or is the soup ever lighter and more brothy?

[MC Slim JB]

For practical reasons, the "soup" in XLB is more like a jellied consommé, semi-solid at room temperature, liquified as they are cooked.

[limster]

In my experience, the soup filling tends to be a bit on the lighter side, but fairly oily. It shouldn't be thickly textured, unless you're eating it cold. And there shouldn't be too much of it -- it's all about balance between the skin, meat filiing and the liquid. Red-brown probably means too much dark soy sauce.

[BJK]

You might have some luck searching the board for either Xiao Long Bao or XLB, where you'll likely find numerous posts on the following:

Wing's Kitchen
Taiwan Cafe (larger than the usual XLB)
King Fung Garden (light on the soup, not their best dumpling)
Mary Chung (weekend dim sum only)

BK

[Ladycale]

I was about to say something similar. I've personally tried Wing's Kitchen and Taiwan Cafe. Both versions are good, though the size is more manageable at Wing's Kitchen.

[Ladycale]

Alas, I fear the reason no one has replied is because no one really knows of a good location to find xiao long bao north of Boston. At least, *I* don't know of a good location. I would love to hear of one. All the places I know and frequent are in Chinatown.

[three of us]

Would you list a place or two in Chinatown?

[zcicala]

After visiting my friend's house for chinese news years I became a bit obsessed with these and became obsessed with finding them around boston. My friend did eventually find me some at Chau Chau dim sum (its next to the super 88 in chinatown). The one thing I noticed is that they don't seem to offer them to white people during dimsum. They have them if you ask though. They also have them at taiwan cafe. I think the soup at the ones at Chau Chau are better, but the ones at taiwan cafe have way more soup in them.
They're called something like shalumbal (my best attempt at mandarin)

[tomaneng]

I should have been more clear. The soupl dumplings to which I am referring are Chinese. Small pillowy numbers with hot soup on the inside.