By K F Seetoh

SHANGHAI truly is a world-class food hub.

As to whether the city's Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao Restaurant serves up the best, that is always fodder for debate and discourse on the craft behind that dumpling.

And that is one reason that I say the restaurant's xiao long bao are the best in the world.

For the record, I have eaten that famed 'xiao long' in the City God Temple at Yuyuan many times and I do think they are good, but not out-of-this-world good.

The skin is thicker than in the version I adore from Wuxi (just outside Shanghai) and the filling is substantial and soupy.

Some folks like the skin thicker as it fills the tummy. I don't, and it has to do with the fear of getting fatter - a concrete jungle warrior idiosyncrasy.

Performance kitchen

At Yuyuan, an army of cooks fold and press each xiao long bao individually in a glassed performance kitchen, designed to tantalise and tease visitors.

The steam that rises from the little steamers (xiao long) excites the palate. That's a visual signature - a style many copy and adapt in their eateries (think of the many glassed pastry and bread kitchens and similarly styled xiao long bao restaurants we see around).

Nanxiang has been at it for more than a century and is the oldest and the most respected dumpling restaurant in China.

People in other parts of China regard xiao long bao as a must-eat dish when in Shanghai. It is the Chinese's makan treasure, alongside stuff like peking duck and dim sum.

Even discerning foodies from lands afar use this Nanxiang version as a yardstick to measure others.

Patrons rave about the soup in the dumpling - and how it got in there (the cooks use chilled meat with fat and gelatinised juices, which turn into soup when steamed).

They analyse the dough mixture for the skin - break it down to its components and conclude why it holds the soup in so well. They discuss just what ingredients are best for the filling and why. That's food for thought.

Lift up one wobbly little bao with your chopsticks and marvel at how the fragile skin can hold the soup and filling without tearing. That's touch, one sensation that the dumpling offers you.

Then, sink your teeth (of course, the palate and the tongue are not going to be independent observers) into the bao. You will seduced by the sweetness, the steam and the taste, which is lifted with a dash of the vinegar and ginger sauce. That's the senses of taste and smell.

The xiao long bao is truly a multi-sensory dish. And that's what makes Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao - really just a hole-in-the-wall kind of eatery - world-class. It's not because of the awards and citation, although it has countless, nor the quality of the bao.

(Note: It has some private eating space upstairs but the extra cost is not justified.)

My last visit there was earlier this month.

I flagged a down a taxi and told the jaded cabby I was in dire need of some Nanxiang xiao long at Yuyuan.

He said nothing along the way and 20 minutes later, I was in a bao queue 60-people long. In between, I sneaked a trip upstairs to check on the number of seats available.

The scene reminded me of the opening of a new hawker centre, where everything is offered at half price. The servers with trays of steaming bao had to jostle with late-comers.

Even on the fourth storey, where the eatery supposedly offers the finest service and creates the best xiao long bao, which comes with crab roe stuffing, it was like a war zone - diners were fighting for space and the poor server's attention.

It was another 20 minutes before we finally could order at the 'hole in the wall'.

We shouted our orders and the food came double-quick in two styrofoam boxes (I did not really care), each box filled with 12 little steamy xiao long bao sitting on 3mm of vinegar and ginger sauce.

They were not as wobbly and translucent as I had expected but I knew the skins was holding a sip of soup in the filling within.

How to eat it

The way to eat it is to first nip a hole on the side and slurp up the soup. Then, while mouth is still wet with the soup, take a big chomp of the bao.

But I was not that patient that day. I used my own, different technique: One bite to expose half the bao and view half the filling sitting on the soup inside. Wah... food for the eyes and tummy all at once.

The filling was meaty and firm with a soft crunch and the saltiness was balanced by the sweetish and soft dough skin.

A perfect sliver of harmony that cost a little less than a plate of chicken rice.

We chomped on the dumplings while sitting on the steps by a souvenir shop, watching the world go by this world-class makan haunt which is a travellers' magnet in the centuries-old Yuyuan Garden. That was truly a world-class makan experience for me.

(Watch the video of the mad queue at Nanxiang Xiao Long, Shanghai at makansutra.com)

Makansutra, founded by KF Seetoh, is a company that celebrates Asian food culture and lifestyle. It publishes food guides in and around the region, produces a food television series, develops interactive mobile content and services, operates food courts and eateries, organises food tours and events, and consults on culinary concepts.

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NANXIANG XIAO LONG BAO RESTAURANT

WHERE: City God Temple, inside Yuyuan, Shanghai. (Tell the cabby 'Nanxiang Xiao Long' at Yuyuan)
OPEN: 7.30am-10pm daily

This article was first published in The New Paper.