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.
Its great as your other posts : D, appreciate it for putting up. “To be at peace with ourselves we need to know ourselves.” by Caitlin Matthews.
1Very good blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally confused .. Any recommendations? Kudos!
2Real superb info can be found on weblog. “I said I didn’t want to run for president. I didn’t ask you to believe me.” by Mario M Cuomo.
3I will immediately grab your rss feed as I can not find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly let me know in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.
4Can I simply say what a aid to seek out someone who really knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know methods to convey a difficulty to mild and make it important. Extra people must read this and perceive this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more fashionable since you definitely have the gift.
5hey there and thank you for your information – I’ve definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this web site, as I experienced to reload the website lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and could damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again very soon..
6This site is mostly a walk-by for the entire info you needed about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse right here, and you’ll positively discover it.
7I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.
8I’ve read several good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how much attempt you set to make such a wonderful informative site.
9Lovely blog! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am taking your feeds also
10I have been reading out a few of your articles and it’s pretty good stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your blog.
11Magnificent items from you, man. I’ve bear in mind your stuff prior to and you are simply extremely wonderful. I really like what you have obtained here, really like what you are stating and the way by which you are saying it. You’re making it enjoyable and you continue to take care of to stay it wise. I can not wait to read much more from you. This is actually a terrific web site.
12Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I’d prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.
13I loved up to you will receive performed right here. The cartoon is tasteful, your authored material stylish. however, you command get bought an edginess over that you would like be delivering the following. sick without a doubt come further formerly again as precisely the similar just about very often inside case you shield this hike.
14I think this is one of the most vital info for me. And i’m glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The web site style is great, the articles is really excellent :D. Good job, cheers
15Admiring the persistence you put into your website and detailed information you offer. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed material. Wonderful read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
16The crux of your writing while sounding reasonable initially, did not sit perfectly with me after some time. Somewhere throughout the sentences you actually managed to make me a believer but just for a very short while. I still have got a problem with your jumps in assumptions and you would do well to help fill in those gaps. In the event you actually can accomplish that, I will surely be fascinated.
17Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
18Thanks , I have just been searching for info about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered so far. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?
19I truly enjoy looking through on this web site, it has got great content.
20I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on few general things, The website style is perfect, the articles is really excellent :D. Good job, cheers
21Hey, you used to write magnificent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring?K I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
22I do enjoy the way you have presented this particular problem plus it really does give us some fodder for thought. Nevertheless, coming from what precisely I have observed, I just hope as other feed-back pack on that men and women remain on issue and in no way start upon a tirade associated with some other news of the day. Still, thank you for this fantastic piece and whilst I can not necessarily agree with the idea in totality, I regard the standpoint.
23Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
24This is the precise blog for anyone who needs to find out about this topic. You understand a lot its virtually hard to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
25I’d need to examine with you here. Which is not something I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a put up that can make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!
26I got what you mean , thanks for putting up.Woh I am glad to find this website through google. “Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up by itself.” by Woodrow Wilson.
27I do accept as true with all the ideas you have introduced in your post. They are very convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for starters. Could you please prolong them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
28There may be noticeably a bundle to find out about this. I assume you made sure nice factors in options also.
29Appreciating the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you present. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
30Hi there I am so excited I found your blog, I really found you by accident, while I was browsing on Aol for something else, Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a tremendous post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great work.
31you’re really a good webmaster. The website loading speed is amazing. It seems that you’re doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a wonderful job on this topic!
32Valuable information. Lucky me I found your site by accident, and I am shocked why this accident didn’t happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
33I am impressed with this site, really I am a big fan .
34Some really nice and utilitarian information on this internet site, too I conceive the pattern contains wonderful features.
35Woh I love your articles, bookmarked! .
36Would love to always get updated outstanding web blog! .
37Really good information can be found on website. “The only thing you take with you when you’re gone is what you leave behind.” by John Allston.
38We absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be what precisely I’m looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content for yourself? I wouldn’t mind writing a post or elaborating on a few of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome weblog!
39Enjoyed reading through this, very good stuff, thanks.
40When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thank you!
41After study a number of of the weblog posts in your web site now, and I truly like your approach of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark web site checklist and shall be checking again soon. Pls take a look at my website online as nicely and let me know what you think.
42Hey, you used to write fantastic, but the last few posts have been kinda boring… I miss your great writings. Past several posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
43Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was searching for!
44What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & assist other users like its aided me. Good job.
45Hi , I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo , i will come back once again. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and help other people.
46I am really enjoying the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog visitors have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
47Perfect work you have done, this internet site is really cool with excellent info .
48A person necessarily lend a hand to make seriously posts I would state. That is the first time I frequented your website page and to this point? I surprised with the research you made to create this particular put up amazing. Wonderful process!
49You have noted very interesting points! ps decent internet site.
50