Dishin': Back to Taipei for Xiao Long Bao

Last year we complained about the quality of the few xiao long bao options in Seattle. We mentioned that these soup dumplings originated in Shanghai, but that we’d found great ones in Taipei.

Taipei’s a terrific place to be during Seattle snowstorms, so we’re happy to report from afar to say we’ve been touring xiao long bao places here on the "beautiful island." It’s beautiful indeed, both in nature and in the bounty of the food.

Walk the streets of Taipei and you’ll find street food galore: night markets, streetcarts, window-cooking. (We’ll spare you details, but not the mention, of our eating chicken tail and uterus, duck head and tongue, cock’s comb, and stinky tofu.) Included in all of this is xiao long bao.

Din Tai Fung is most famous and still has the most beautiful dumplings, but our favorite place is Jin Din Rou. Their xiao long bao have fairly thin wrappers that hold a nice amount of delicious pork and broth. Pictured are a smaller variety that go in soup (tang bao) that we found at a place while walking along a street one day.

A good xiao long bao place would likely do well in Seattle. Din Tai Fung’s in several countries, including the States; with long lines reported in the LA restaurant, we wish they’d come north. Jin Din Rou has also opened overseas, though at this point only Japan—coincidentally, our next stop. Forget Shanghai Garden and the rest. They’re lightweight. They leak. We’re filling up with soup dumplings while we can, knowing that upon our return to Seattle, we’ll have to travel at least as far as Richmond (BC) to find anything that even approaches what Taipei offers.