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I had some pretty good soup dumplings last weekend in Philadelphia at Dim Sum Garden. They were filled with crab and pork and the flavor was very nice, Also, they offered thinner wrappers than I'm used to (the dough at Phoenix is so thick), could be eaten in one bite, and when I picked them up to place in my spoon, they did not fall apart. All in all, probably the best I've had (although I've only tried them at a handful of places).

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Very, very nice!!

Not sure of the best thread, but saw that Din Tai Fung in Hong Kong received a Michelin star.

Will shortly be in Chicago for five days and planning on having dim sum one time. Any place in Chicago that has good soup dumplings (xaio long bao)? Doesn't have to the same place that has dim sum. Thanks in advance.

I know Lao Shanghai in Chinatown has them.

Have you seen the xiao long bao thread? Much of the discussion is of non-Chicago places but there's some local (if dated) information to be found. Unfortunately soup dumplings are not one of Chicago's strengths. The only restaurant I'd recommend is Tao Ran Ju, though I haven't been for a while. (Edited to add: I haven't tried XLB at Lao Shanghai, mentioned above.)

Thank you very much. I did a search for "soup dumplings" prior to posting the question, and got a lot threads with the words soup and dumplings in them, not too helpful. I should have also done a search for xaio long bao. The original post on this is incredible.

I thought maybe you'd tried to search (note that xiao is the correct spelling). You've come up against a major limitation of the board's search function. Try entering "soup dumplings" site:lthforum.com into Google (use the quotes). There's more information to be found here about XLB and it's a useful approach if you're searching this board for other stuff.

can't believe I didn't stumble upon this thread until just now. I'm going to China this summer and I plan to do plenty of field research, but have any of the XLB experts here had the XLB at Lao Shanghai? Those are the only ones I've had in Chicago (I've had a few in NYC), and I think they are pretty good. I'd like to know how the experts think they compare to the other Chicagoland version mentioned in this thread.

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Cathy2

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Had some fairly lame ones today @ Northern City. To quote a friend, Tony is still the tallest midget in the cirucs.

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I had some dim sum at New Furama on Wentworth and they have just added XLB to their dim sum menu (as steamed pork dumplings) - I thought they were quite good, although I don't have much of a frame of reference.

I tried the soup dumplings at Shanghai Terrace several months ago. No soup. Go figure.

Din Tai Fung needs to come to Chicago...

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The Windy Foodie
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The frozen xlb from Wei Chuan is actually pretty good. The pork ones are better than the pork and crab ones... Skin is thinner than Katy's and has a respectable amount of soup inside. 10 mins in the steamer and you have a quick lunch/dinner.

It's no DTF, but it is better than most of what you find in Chicago...

XLB in Bensenville?!?!?

Yep I had this place on the radar since my buddy who works at O'Hare mentioned it to me. He hadn't said anything about the "Shanghai Style Dumplings" listed on the menu but gave their deep fried snickers plenty of praise. He's a southside boy. Since the Pigmon was nice enough to share his findings on this treat I hadn't had before, I figured I should share this here. Anyone else out there doing any food exploring anymore? Eggroll Crunch says they're inspired by traditional Chinese dim sum dining. The menu is small and for the most part so is anything you order.



Dim Sum Eats

The namesake Eggrolls are different than most places and they offer a few different fillings for them. These are crunchier than most I've had, tastier too. I particularly liked the egg and Chinese sausage stuffed ones. Pictured with them in the collage is something similar to Jin deui. Red bean paste balls coated with sesame seeds and fried. The crab rangoon might not be authentic but they were awesome. Potstickers and green onion pancakes were pretty good too. The Soup Dumplings come four to an order and will set you back $3.25 per.


"Shanghai Style Pork Dumplings"

Let me first off state that I've never ate Xiao Long Bao outside of Chicago. So I'm no expert by any means. I'm guessing some people looked at the picture above and wondered why they "weren't served in the usual steam basket?" That I dont know. But I do know I enjoyed them and that they held up well as far as no holes and soup exploding into your mouth goes. I enjoyed the crab and pork ones enough to order 5 rounds for me and my buddies who were with me.


Tasty!

I cant say if this little spot on Main street across from the Metra station is worth the ride from the city but if you happen to be anywhere near I think it's worth seeking out. Its all in the family with the daughter who's idea it was to open the place up-front and in the kitchen. Her mother and sister handle the recipes while a brother does the legal work. She was very welcoming and everything except maybe the fried rice was worth ordering again. Including those deep fried Snickers bars my guy loves. I'll be back.


Mini Snickers bars wrapped in won-ton and deep fried

Eggroll Crunch
11 W Main St
Bensenville, IL 60106
(630) 608-4318

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Thanks for posting Da Beef - will have to hit them up. I suppose the primary concern with the way they are served is the potential for sticking . . . then the wrapper breaks and the soup pours out. And if they're not sticking, it could be that they're oiling the plate or bottom of the dumplings, thus possibly altering the flavor. But, can't necessarily knock 'em 'till you try 'em and I'm definitely going to give them a try. Thanks again for the post - true, I never would have expected to find XLB in any form in Bensenville.

Anyone know where to find these?

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