Xiao long bao

We spent last weekend in New York City to visit some friends. One of my labmates recommended we try the award-winning xiao long bao or steamed soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. They have the regular pork-stuffed ones, as well as pork with crabmeat. We tried both (8 each). Now, eating xiao long bao is a craft by itself. You have to pinch the top carefully with your chopsticks to lift them without breaking them and spilling the soup allover, and place it on a spoon. Then, take a small bite off the top and sip some soup. After that, it's just a tricky mess of balancing the soup in your spoon, and the rest of the dumpling with your chopsticks. Kenneth liked them, but I find them a little too oily. The fatty oil makes the soup and your mouth sticky! The ones from Din Tai Fung in Singapore are lighter and better, in my opinion.