I heard that people in Shanghai are so crazy about crabs and xiao long bao. That’s why, from day 1 we decided to visit Jia Jia Tang Bao, known as the home of the best Shanghai Steamed Dumpling restaurant or Best Xiao Long Bao in Shanghai. This place is small, and thankfully, there’s no long queue outside when we went there on Friday, Sept 15, 2017. But inside it’s already crowded, and packed with people slurping hot soup dumplings. We had to share a table with the others, which is a common thing in Shanghai.
On the back wall of the cashier, there is a menu list in the form of a red plastic plaque, but usually, the menu displayed shown the rest of the menus that are still available on the day and written in Chinese. But if you can not read Chinese (like me, ha-ha..) you can ask for the English menu; the owner will give you a tattered paper with menu items. She recommended us to try the Full Crab Xiao Long Bao (99RMB) and Crab & Pork Meat (30RMB). Because we’re half full, we decided to order one steamer of Crab & Pork meat for 30RMB (equal to IDR 60K). Since all the dumplings are made to order, we have to wait about 10-15 minutes, but it was worth the wait!!
One steamer consists of 12 dumplings that came piping hot straight from the kitchen to our table. The dumpling skin was nice and thin, yet strong enough to hold the soup in it. And the filling was so delicious, bursting with a strong crab flavor and juicy pork meat; we loved it! I forgot to order additional shredded ginger (extra 1 RMB) to accompany the Xiao Long Bao, but still, we enjoyed it very much! When compared to the price of xiao long bao in Jakarta, Jia Jia Tang Bao is really good, and the price is very affordable!
And surprisingly, when we finished eating and left Jia Jia, the queue seemed longer again. We’ll definitely return to Jia Jia Tang Bao when we visit China again. If you’re looking for classic and popular local food, you should put Jia Jia Tang Bao at the top of your culinary list. Highly recommended!
NOTE: Come there early, because I heard that they would close once they sell out of everything! It’s recommended to visit Jia Jia Tang Bao on Huang He street (黄河路) right near People Square, as right across the street, there’s another popular place that you should try, fried-style Xiao Long Bao, named Yang’s Dumpling. I will share about Yang’s Dumpling in separate posts.
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Read more of our fun experience Shanghai (China) September trip 2017 as follow:
~ [SHANGHAI] TIPS Travel Itinerary 7 Days Backpacking Shanghai Guide
~ [SHANGHAI] Visa, Social Media Use & Rent Bicycles Tips
~ [SHANGHAI] Top 10 Foods Must Eat in Shanghai, China
~ [SHANGHAI] Wai Po Jia / Grandma’s House, Must Try!
~ [SHANGHAI] Famous Sheng Jian Bao at Yang’s Dumpling
~ [SHANGHAI] Disneyland Park and Disney Town at Disney Resort
Jia Jia Tang Bao
90 Huanghe Lu, Shanghai, China
Opening Hour: 7.30am – 8pm
Price: starts from IDR 60K
Phone: +86 21 63276878