Xiaolongbao in Shanghai: Where to Eat Soup Dumplings (2026)

Shanghai's signature soup dumplings are done brilliantly at three institutions: Jia Jia Tang Bao at 127 Huanghe Rd near People's Square, where baskets run about 25 to 60 RMB; Nanxiang Mantou Dian inside the Yu Garden bazaar, from about 35 RMB; and Wanshou Zhai at 123 Shanyin Rd in Hongkou, where breakfast lands around 20 RMB. Go before noon or after 2pm to dodge the queues. I have dragged every visiting friend through this exact circuit, and I have watched every single one of them go quiet after the first bite. Xiaolongbao is the dish Shanghai gave the world, and eating it here, scalding and fresh off the steamer, is a different sport from whatever arrived at your table abroad. Here is where to go, what to pay and how not to burn yourself. What is xiaolongbao, and how do you eat one without injury? Xiaolongbao is a thin-skinned steamed dumpling holding minced pork and a mouthful of hot soup, born in Nanxiang on Shanghai's outskirts in the 19th century. The soup starts as gelatin-rich aspic folded into the filling; steam melts it into broth. The technique: lift the dumpling by its topknot onto your spoon, nibble a small hole in the skin, sip the soup, then eat the rest with a…