"Famous" dumplings good but not great

In the midst of our day walking around old Shanghai, we found ourselves in the Yuyuan Garden and Bazaar. In the bazaar portion, we saw many food vendors. But at one place, there was a very long queue. And, at the end, lots of xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumplings). We hopped right in.

It turned out this was a very famous restaurant, the Nan Xiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. And famous plus China equals so many people. So it was a long wait, about 90 minutes in total. We got to the front, ordered two sets, and walked away with 32 dumplings for 40 yuan (about $7USD).

It was quite the assembly line inside, with many chefs in toques each playing their part to deliver as many xiao long bao as fast as possible.

We ate our xiao long bao dumplings scenically, standing at a fence at staring at the large pond full of carp. Alas, the dumplings themselves were only so-so. The wrappers were a bit thick, the soup a bit thin, and the meat lacking layers of flavor. While it is great to be eating dumplings in China, I hope we have some better ones to come!