Happy New Year 2017!

Hope you all had an amazing start to 2017. I want to thank you for continuing to support and read my blog.

I wish you a wonderful year ahead filled with joy, good health and prosperity!

Today I reflect on the past year and look forward to this year. New goals, new challenges and new beginnings. While ever year has its ups and downs, I try to look at the bright side of things and focus on the positives. Believe that anything is possible if you put your heart into it. As the saying goes, 'life is what we make it to be' so live in the moment.

2016 allowed me to travel to my favourite country Singapore and re-visit Hong Kong. Towards the end of the year I got to travel to China again and see it in a different perspective, visiting new cities Shanghai and Beijing. I'm thankful for these travelling opportunities and hope to visit more countries in the near future.

My beloved dog of 11 years passed away a few months ago. He was my best friend and while no longer by our side, he will forever be in our hearts. I dedicate this post to my beautiful dog King Kong. Thank you for all the precious memories you have shared with our family and for the years of unconditional love. Goodbye, friend.

And now we welcome the New Year. Cheers to 2017!

~Jenny

Jia Jia Tang Bao Dumplings 佳家汤包 - Huangpu Qu - Shanghai, China

Can you believe Christmas is in a few weeks? How time flies. This year seems to have gone by quicker than the last and I seem to say the exact same thing every year. 

Jia Jia Tang Bao is a casual and hole in the wall restaurant serving what is reputed as the best xiao long bao in Shanghai. They started operating back in the 1980’s and have become a household name. If you do a search on Google for the best xiao long bao restaurant in Shanghai, this place would most likey pop up.

I do have a soft spot for dumplings and I couldn't have left Shanghai without having tried their speciality. the xia long bao. We came here twice for the record. Do expect to wait during peak hours as the restaurant is small and long queues do form.

Ordering is done at the small counter at the front as you enter and as there isn’t a large menu to choose from so it shouldn't be that hard to choose. They also have an English menu available  if you need it. On our first visit to this restaurant where we visited in the late afternoon, the pork dumplings were sold out.

Dumplings are made to order and prepared fresh on the premises by a group of staff behind the glass wall. They churn it out at amazing speeds. 

We found the interior to be relatively clean and hygiene levels looked decent.

A retired couple from the United States shared the same table with us. The man told us that he tried the dumplings from here over 10 years ago but his wife hadn’t so he brought her here to try it and she loved it. That says a lot given that the standards haven’t dropped in those many years since he last visited. 

There aren’t many tables and if you are a small group, expect to share a table. 

On our first visit we had two trays of the ‘Pork and Crab Dumplings’ and they were just delicious and bursting with flavour. It had a nice subtle crab flavour. 

The dumplings are delivered piping hot to the table and with one bite, the soup within oozes out and is super sweet.  Let some steam out before devouring or end up burning your tongue!

The  skins are paper thin and near translucent.
  

We came the second time to try their variation of the pork dumplings. At 16 RMB for a basket of a dozen dumplings, it’s a steal. 

These were also on point but we preferred the pork and crab dumplings. There was something about the combination of the juices from the pork and crab that gave it that extra hit. 

Soup dumplings are usually eaten with a dipping sauce made up of vinegar and shredded ginger. I personally don’t like vinegar but if you do, definitely  order this. I preferred the spicy sauce.

This is a restaurant that I would definitely recommend for its affordable menu choices, location, ease of ordering and tasty dumplings. It can't be missed. 

Where?

90 Huanghe Rd

Huangpu Qu

Shanghai

China 200000

Phone no: +86 21 6327 6878

Opening Hours

7 Days a Week

7:30am – 8:00pm

Website

N/A