Food & Drink

Soup Dumplings

2015 Winner: Dumpling Cafe

Photo Credit: Nicole Popma

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Shanghainese soup dumplings, aka xiao long bao, are a food-geek holy grail: baggy, teardrop-shaped steamed dumplings of minced pork or pork and crab with an aspic admixture that melts into (very hot!) broth inside the wrapper. Bite off the top, carefully slurp out the contents and dip the rest into black vinegar with slivered ginger. Chinatown Taiwanese spot Dumpling Cafe trumps all XLB pretenders with the wondrous delicacy of its wrappers, producing a phenomenal gourmet appetizer for less than eight bucks.

Dumpling Cafe

695 Washington St., Boston • (617) 338-8859
dumplingcafe.com