Ever since my study abroad program in Shanghai in 2002, I’ve been raving to Mr. Selfish about the soup dumplings. We’ve had soup dumplings in New York, California, and Hong Kong, and I never thought that they compared to the ones I had in Shanghai. Mr. Selfish and I therefore went on a search for the best soup dumplings in Shanghai. We had both the steamed dumplings (xiaolongbao) and the fried dumplings (shengjianbao).

First, we went to Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant (20号 Yuyuan New Rd.) at Yuyuan Garden for its well-known xiaolongbao. We visited the restaurant during the mid-afternoon on a Tuesday, and the outside queue was still ridiculously long. I scoped out the inside of the restaurant and discovered that you could order inside even though it was a little more expensive. After looking at the queue outside, Mr. Selfish and I figured that it would be worth it to eat inside the restaurant.

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