Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包

The alleged mecca of soup dumpling or xiao long bao is located north of People’s Square at Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包. At half eleven there is already a long line standing outside waiting for one of the 30 or less chairs in the dining area. It is best to get there in the morning or before noon as the restaurant closes when they run out of their offerings, which are made to order by a team of six women furiously filling and pinching together dumpling dough. The menu behind the cashier shows which items are no longer available as the red tags are flipped over to show that the kitchen is out. After all the cheap items are gone, all that is usually left are the more expensive crab dumplings.

Here's the translated menu:

Standard pork XLB - RMB 7.5
Shrimp and pork XLB - RMB 9
Chicken and pork XLB - RMB 9
Egg yolk and pork XLB - RMB 12
Crab and pork XLB - RMB 19.5
Chicken XLB - RMB 12
Shrimp XLB - RMB 12
Crab XLB - RMB 81

Chicken and duck blood soup - RMB 2
Seaweed and egg drop soup - RMB 2
Fresh shredded ginger - RMB 1

Our eyes must have been bigger than our stomachs as we asked for 3 orders of pork, crab and pork, and crab with 2 orders of ginger – the whole spectrum of crab and pork for 2 people. 81RMB for crab tang bao seemed like a lot for something that is considered cheap street food, but we decided to splurge because eventually we would have to endure the long line again just to try it. Most people ordered the blood soup to eat with the xiao long bao, most likely to help with the digestion of the heavy filling and to get the spoon optimize consumption. We did not go for the soup option.


First out was the steamer of pork xiao long bao. So beautiful, hot, and filled with delicious, savory soup. The perfectly pinched skins were very thin and the broth abundant and flavorful. This was an excellent start. The servers were right to bring out the pork xiao long first because the crab and pork and crab xiao long bao had a stronger, heavier flavor in comparison to the already delectable pork xiao long.


The skin on the dumplings is so thin that the roe inside the crab and crab and pork dumplings is visible. And on closer inspection, you almost swear you can see the soup floating inside.

While xiao long bao is the small, bite-sized dumpling, the tang bao is supposed to be its larger, goliath cousin, maybe even requiring a straw for consumption. The crab tang bao (filled with meat and crab roe) were slightly larger than a sand dollar. They were served as 2 steamers with 6 in each. The filling did not really hold together as a solid mass, but was more a delicious mess of crab, roe, and soup.

We were right to go from pork to crab and pork to crab soup dumplings because the flavor of each dumplings was stronger and more pungent than the preceding one. After a taste of the crab dumpling, the flavor of the pork xiao long bao was relatively bland although it is indeed excellent. For two people, this order was more than satiating as we could barely hobble out the door afterward.

This is definitely the best spot for xiao long bao. Not only does the long queues of locals indicate that the xiao long bao is good, the prices and informal atmosphere make it accessible for anyone to try.

Jia Jia Tang Bao 佳家汤包. 90 Huanghe Lu, Shanghai. China. People's Square near Fengyang Lu. 黄河路90号, 近凤阳路.