Pair Dim Sum with Tea at Shanghai Dumpling King
The waiter brought out a kettle of tea, but Nancy Togami waved him back, asking for just plain hot water. Carefully, she used her thermometer to check the water temperature. One hundred and eighty degree Fahrenheit, too cool to steep the Baochong and Phoenix Honey that she brought. But Nancy brought her own water too, which measured close to 200 degrees, so we used her water instead. I’ve never brought my own tea to a restaurant, but it makes sense: people bring their own wine to restaurants, and when you have good teas, there’s no reason to refrain from pairing them with good food. The dim sum at Shanghai Dumpling King proved to be perfect experiment material.
Without Nancy, I probably would never have known of this hole in the wall way out on the west side of San Fran, and probably too lazy to get here because it’s not 2 blocks away from the BART and I’d doubt the dim sum would be worth anything farther than that. Now, dim sum are good. You have to really suck as a cook to make ground meat in a piece of dough taste bad (it happens, though), and I crave potstickers and xiao long bao at least once every other night, but the gap between the potsticker in my head and the potsticker in my mouth always ended up bigger than my head, so I can’t comprehend it. There’s some kind of epiphany reaction I want to get from eating dim sum that I’ve never gotten. But I think today came really, really close. Because of a duck and two teas.
The duck set the mood. We stood in front of the restaurant before it opened, so they had to rush setting up things to let us in. We were the first customers of a Sunday. Few minutes after we placed our order, the guy strode out asking if we would like some duck, the kitchen just finished steaming one. Yes, of course, we said. Out came small chunks of legs and thighs in a simple white bowl with a sprig of coriander, the meat still pink, the skin moist in a sunglow shade. It’s not chewing gum and it doesn’t fall apart like cornmeal, it has all the right tenderness, the right juiciness, the right saltiness. I couldn’t pry any information from the waiter except that it’s steamed. But they must’ve put something in the water.
The Hung Zhou crab and pork dumpling (Hung Zhou xie ruo xiao long bao) and the Shanghai soup dumpling (Shang Hai xiao long bao) both contain half a spoon’s worth of broth. They’re the juiciest xiao long bao I’ve found anywhere, and the Hung Zhou xie ruo ones are packed with enough savory sweetness on their own that they don’t need the vinegar and soy dipping sauce.
We got too absorbed in the xiao long bao that we didn’t pair any tea until the seafood and tofu eggdrop soup and the Tian Jing go bu li bao (steamed wheat dumpling with pork, mushroom and rice noodle inside) came. One one hand, Baochong, a light Taiwanese oolong, accentuates the chive in the bao, and the bao intensifies the Baochong’s floral note, so the pair just blooms in your mouth.
On the other, Phoenix Honey is a stronger oolong with a roasty profile and a sweetness of lychee, which complements the soothing eggdrop soup.
The spicy pork dumpling (xian shui jiao) kicked us in the throat, although we asked for “not too spicy”, but Baochong can sooth the spark away. The pan fried chive and pork dumpling (jiu cai xian bing) and Baochong made another floral pair, similar to their steamed smaller brothers. Phoenix Honey brought forth the nuttiness of fresh-but-need-more-salt peashoots.
Soon we figured out the rules: lighter tea with more flavorful dumplings, darker tea with milder ones. The sesame mochi in hot water (zhi ma tang yuan) is bland outside and intensely sweet inside, so neither tea had a noticeable effect on it, but the Phoenix Honey added a nice roasty finish that spotlighted the nuttiness of sesame.
The restaurant before 10:30. Half an hour later we got people sitting back-to-back with us and a line spewing out of the door.
After eating here, I regained faith in dim sum. I can look pass the obnoxious name. The duck helped. And the teas helped a bunch. Infusion after infusion, they kept their flavors and washed clean the dumplings’ grease, which was surprisingly scarce to begin with. Nancy was worried that the restaurant might not like us brewing our own tea. But we were seated by the window, our table filled with bamboo baskets, I was aiming my camera at all kinds of angles, Ken helped me rearranging the plates for the pictures, and Nancy was drawing in the aroma of a fresh cup. Old Chinese ladies walking on the streets kept stopping to look at our table with unhidden interest. I think we made a good window display. At the end, before politely asking us to leave the table for another group waiting, our waiter commented with much pleasantry: “You guys drink tea!”
Address: Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa Street
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 387-2088
Big lunch for three: ~ $62
This post also appears on Tea & Mai.
Greetings! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same topics? Thanks a lot!
1I love forgathering utile info, this post has got me even more info! .
2This design is incredible! You most certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
3Thanks a lot for giving everyone such a remarkable opportunity to discover important secrets from this website. It’s usually very terrific and as well , packed with fun for me and my office acquaintances to search your web site at minimum 3 times a week to read through the fresh items you have got. And indeed, we’re at all times contented with the magnificent opinions you serve. Some 3 tips on this page are essentially the most effective we’ve ever had.
4As I web site possessor I believe the content material here is rattling wonderful , appreciate it for your hard work. You should keep it up forever! Good Luck.
5Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care
6It’s actually a great and useful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
7Almost all of what you mention is astonishingly legitimate and it makes me ponder why I hadn’t looked at this with this light previously. Your piece truly did switch the light on for me as far as this particular subject goes. But at this time there is actually just one issue I am not really too comfy with and whilst I attempt to reconcile that with the actual core idea of the position, let me see exactly what all the rest of the subscribers have to say.Nicely done.
8Hey very nice website!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds also…I am happy to find so many useful information here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
9Bloww job sex xxxAmerican men nakedd nudeSerious ssam 2 njde modsAsioan knji ctton fabricMalasian gjrl nudeVeery good nakedPrettty naked bodiesPiates off dark water nudeAndy
10sexImpleenting aan adult edcaqtion programAmiture nude guysTgpp nuxe poolMikke consay malke
escortFeee addult pkrn storiesBeautful vujlva 2010 jelsoft enterprises ltdDickk lon sycking
teenHunbary esxcort gayHome fuckking marge simpsonVintzge scootwrs mopedsUndifferentgiated typ
3 carcinnoma brewst rognosis surtvival rateXvideois british
ajateur facialsTeen bestialitiFreee hhot seex viddeosNeew
offeder registey sex sate yorkAdult webb ssearch
enginesUnncircumcised cpck pornSex form lettersGirll into peeMichigan swme sexx marriageAwad choie
histiry teenMedihal photos oof women’s vaginasSeex positions amatureTeen girl suck clck cumshotSportys bras annd reast cancerGirls ppiss
in publicMovbies with penos showingBlacdk llng leeg sex vidsSizzilong sexAmateeur rado outpost https://cumtube.cc/load/facial Anbelina
joliie orivinal scene seex sinDragonn ffist battle forr tthe bladeDownloiad sex filmAsan emale seex
videoMomms bald pussyOwnerhip fetishAdupt charadesPorn star jkhnny hazEcorts in northerrn irelandSeexy cuan womanPrettty nno nudeDixon illinois winged pdnis sculptureMikke 18 cockHntai kkey flash gameAsian gil gangbangedSeex offendedrs iin sbow camp
ncMayure women seex pasco washingtonChaat
inn lebian line mmsn torontoDesvikrgacion anaql video gratisMeeet sdxy women onn
aimBreasxt cancer bok plateKatke couruc wwmv assf breaet
mammogramVintage fabrfics llos angelesAsisn fitnes biukini modelsGay marriage caAlley baggett
recent nudesFatt free mature tgpBestt xxxx sexEroticc femdom
cartoonWomsn inn whute lingerieTrannes scortsBugss bunhny nudeMail orxer
vijetnamese virgin brires singapooreSee-through sheer
sexyGreenhills sexForching wifee to suck frirnds cockMypace fuck mee daddyAnel locsin lingerie
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in truth used to be a entertainment account it. Look complicated to far introduced agreeable from you! However, how can we be in contact?
11I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this blog. Thank you, I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your site?
12so much wonderful info on here, :D.
13Good post and right to the point. I am not sure if this is really the best place to ask but do you people have any ideea where to hire some professional writers? Thank you 🙂
14Yay google is my world beater helped me to find this outstanding site! .
15An attention-grabbing dialogue is value comment. I think that it’s best to write more on this matter, it won’t be a taboo topic however usually people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
16You made some respectable factors there. I looked on the internet for the difficulty and found most people will go together with with your website.
17Hi there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I will certainly digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this web site.
18Excellent read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch! “Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.” by Terry Josephson.
19Your house is valueble for me. Thanks!…
20F*ckin’ remarkable things here. I am very happy to look your article. Thanks a lot and i am looking forward to touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
21With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help stop content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.
22Wow! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a completely different topic but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!
23I like the efforts you have put in this, thank you for all the great blog posts.
24Some really excellent articles on this website, appreciate it for contribution. “Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.” by Walt Whitman.
25My brother recommended I would possibly like this web site. He used to be totally right. This publish actually made my day. You cann’t believe simply how a lot time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
26Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
27I think this is one of the most vital information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on some general things, The website style is ideal, the articles is really nice :D. Good job, cheers
28I will right away grab your rss as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
29We’re a bunch of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable info to paintings on. You’ve performed an impressive process and our entire neighborhood will probably be grateful to you.
30You actually make it seem really easy with your presentation however I to find this topic to be actually something which I think I might never understand. It kind of feels too complex and very large for me. I’m taking a look forward to your next publish, I’ll try to get the dangle of it!
31Well I truly enjoyed reading it. This tip offered by you is very useful for correct planning.
32great issues altogether, you simply won a new reader. What would you suggest about your submit that you made some days in the past? Any sure?
33Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
34Some genuinely nice and useful information on this internet site, also I believe the pattern holds good features.
35As I website owner I think the subject matter here is very wonderful, thanks for your efforts.
36Great remarkable things here. I’m very happy to look your post. Thanks a lot and i’m looking ahead to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
37Wohh just what I was looking for, thankyou for putting up.
38I dugg some of you post as I thought they were handy very beneficial
39I like this website very much so much superb information.
40I needed to draft you one little bit of note in order to thank you the moment again for the remarkable basics you have documented on this website. It is certainly extremely open-handed with people like you to provide extensively exactly what a few people might have supplied for an ebook to make some dough for their own end, precisely since you could possibly have done it if you decided. Those creative ideas as well worked as a easy way to comprehend many people have similar keenness much like mine to know lots more in terms of this issue. I am sure there are numerous more fun times up front for people who take a look at your blog.
41I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But wanna remark on few general things, The web site style is great, the articles is really great :D. Good job, cheers
42There are some fascinating closing dates on this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There is some validity but I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we would like extra! Added to FeedBurner as well
43Howdy would you mind letting me know which web host you’re utilizing? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider at a reasonable price? Cheers, I appreciate it!
44Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to know a lot approximately this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I feel that you just could do with a few to drive the message house a little bit, however instead of that, that is great blog. A fantastic read. I’ll certainly be back.
45I am impressed with this site, real I am a big fan .
46I like what you guys are up also. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my web site 🙂
47I truly enjoy examining on this internet site, it has got excellent articles. “A short saying oft contains much wisdom.” by Sophocles.
48Fantastic blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any recommendations? Bless you!
49Unquestionably imagine that that you said. Your favorite justification seemed to be at the internet the simplest factor to remember of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people think about concerns that they just don’t recognise about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest and outlined out the whole thing without having side effect , other people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you
50