Xiao Long Bao @ Nanxiang Mantou Dian, The Curve

Monday, March 05, 2007



People went to Shanghai say that Nanxiang have the best Xiao Long Bao, some people say that Nanxiang is better than Din Tai Fung. Well, Nanxiang is more famous as it's started in Shanghai since year 1900 where Ding Tai Fung is originated from Taiwan. If I happen to go to Shanghai, I must give it a try, I want to taste if Taipei Ding Tai Fung better or Shanghai Nanxiang is better.

Nanxiang went into international business since 2003, Nanxiang has open in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and thank god, the famous Xiao Long Bao is available in Malaysia now at The Curve. I went there last Sunday to have some bite before my workout.


Xiao Long Bao (6 pieces, RM12)


Since it's a Xiao Long Bao shop, the shop offer varieties Xiao Long Bao compare to others Shanghainese La Mian and Xiao Long Bao shop. It has total of 7, i.e.

  1. Xiao Long Bao with vegetable
  2. Xiao Long Bao with pork (6 for RM12)
  3. Xiao Long Bao with mushroom pork (6 for RM12)
  4. Xiao Long Bao with shrimp pork (6 for RM15)
  5. Xiao Long Bao with sauteed crabmeat pork (6 for RM16)
  6. Xiao Long Bao with fresh crabmeat, crab roe pork (4 for RM20)
  7. Xiao Long Bao with imported matsutake mushroom pork (4 for RM32)

Judging from the look, the Xiao Long Bao look nice, at least 18 folds for each dumpling, and filled with plenty of soup and meats filling. The dumpling skin is slightly thick, but still within my acceptable range. The soup is fine, but the pork meat filling kind of dry, maybe it's insufficient pork lard. I doubt the quality is same with Shanghai main outlet standard, otherwise Nanxiang should not consider the best xiao long bao.


Crabmeat, Crab Roe Xiao Long Bao (4 pieces, RM20)


The Crab roe Xiao Long Bao is nice. The soup and the filling are sweat, due to the crabmeat and roe in the dumpling. Guess what, the crabmeat and roe is taken from Hairy Crab, imported from Shanghai. 4 pieces for RM20 is quite expensive though.


Dumpling Soup (RM15)


Have you ever drink soup with a straw? This is something new to me. I have seen this on TV and now I've try it myself. This is Steamed dumpling with crab roe soup. It's look like a giant Xiao Long Bao, with full of soup. The soup is sweat and ginger spicy, it's pricey but not bad. The soup was extremely hot, it's still hot even leave on the table for 5 minutes. The waiter did advise to be careful when sucking the soup.

Overall, the quality of the food is fine but service is bad. I waited 20 minutes to get my food served. I might give it a try again during off peak for other food. A lot customer ordered the fried rice, I guess it must be special or nice.

Other Review:
sooyindotcom

Nanxiang Mantou Dian 南翔馒头店
The Curve
Lot G41a, Ground Floor, Mutiara Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Posted by whistler at 4:56 PM  

12 comments:

I was there last Saturday and didn't find the xiao long bao that nice... yes, the skin is too thick. And, I was also disappointed that there ain't much choice on the menu. Nevertheless, I had one type of dimsum, the one with glutinous rice, quite nice. Oh, and the flower tea is nice too :)

rainbow angeles said...
3/05/2007 6:47 PM  

Read quite a number of postings on this place at other blogs & mostly not so favourable, esp their service. Hopefully they'll improve soon. *sigh*

Tummythoz said...
3/07/2007 11:59 AM  

i visited this eatery 2 months ago and i must confess that i am not going to return to this place ever! perhaps... we were just not that lucky that day having un-cooked "xiuloongbao"... and price wise, soooo expensive!

MeiyeN said...
3/07/2007 2:02 PM  

this is not the original shop from shanghai. the 'real' one have no branch watsoever, the only branch they opened (or yet to open, not sure bout this) is in hong kong. and it was big news, i mean, it was reported in tv news.

nicklauslai said...
3/08/2007 7:01 PM  

Been twice to this place and tried quite a few items. Didn't think the xiu loong baos were good even though they had crab roe. What was good was the soup dumpling - very sweet but too pricey. If you do go back there, the Shanghainese Fried Rice is excellent. Much better than the slightly oily and not so fluffy one from upstairs in Dragon-I. Glutinous rice siu mai - not great and nothing special.

boo_licious said...
3/09/2007 12:14 AM  

Yeah.. nowadays .. siu long pau is everywhere ..and the concept is the same. So far, I find Dragon-I is the best ... for my taste. I dunno what others think though...

There's another restaurant in Mid Valley.. I tried that day .. somehow.. ok. I'll try to review that place.. it's called To Long.

Timothy said...
3/15/2007 12:32 PM  

i don't even know there is a restaurant like this at The Curve although i visit there really often. if it's not too pack, will give it a try next time.

mh said...
3/17/2007 12:03 AM  

Xiao Long Bao .... that seems to be the trend nowadays. You get that everywhere ....

I just did a review on Dragon-i ... also on Xiao Long Bao ...

Timothy said...
4/02/2007 5:16 PM  

OMG...I heart xiao long bao! =)

Pepperpourri said...
4/23/2007 6:03 PM  

oh my god, that is the worst shop i have ever been! the service is slow, the staff's attitude is bad! i went in to that shop to try xiao long bao, but i never expect that they have so few choices, and all with pork, except one vegetarian one! i don't eat pork! but i also didn't have the feeling to eat vegetarian bao as well! since i have already seated with menu in front of me, i might as well try some other thing other than xiao long bao..although the price is expensive! i ordered two dessert dishes, one with bird nest and another one was ginger "tang yuan".
the bird nest dessert is just a very simple milk with egg pudding with just a few strips of lo hong ka ready to serve bird nest on top! and that simple tiny serving pudding cost u RM20!! oh my..u can get that type of milk pudding anywhere for less than RM3 or RM1 roadside!!! although the ginger tang yuan is not bad.. but exactly like normal black sesame tang yuan u can get from a supermarket..cost u RM6 for just 5 "tang yuan". where u can get a pack of 10 or twelve tang yuan with just RM3something in supermarket, just need to prepare ginger syrup..sooooo simple!!! im not going back to that shop again!!

Unknown said...
7/16/2007 5:03 PM  

Nanxiang is NOT the best XLB. I ate at the real Nanxiang in Shanghai, outside the 城隍庙,long line mostly because of tourists to the temple. The XLB there has very thick skin (which I remember I basically didn't eat the skin), almost no soup, and very bland meat fillings. The reason why it's so famous in Shanghai was merely because of its location.

The best XLB I had in Shanghai is probably Shanghai Uncle. Certain DTF chains definitely have better XLB than Nanxiang. ;)

Rasa Malaysia said...
1/14/2008 3:02 AM  

"Have you ever drink soup with a straw?" - not yet either! that dish was new to me i do not know that there was a steamed dumpling can put a soup inside and it will use a staw.very interesting i want to try that dish.

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PAMELA said...
2/22/2010 11:15 PM  

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