Soup Dumplings in Mini-Tart Tins: Why Hasn't Anyone Else Thought of This?


Ocean Star, in LA's new Chinatown in Monterey Park, now serves Shanghai-style soup dumplings, called 小籠包–xiao long bao. The problem with most services of soup dumplings is that they arrive four or eight to an order still in the steamer basket, and the act of transferring them to a spoon, dipping them in the sauce, etc. inevitably tears the dough, releasing the hot soup everywhere but where it's supposed to go.

Ocean Star has gone back to the true meaning of the morsels (the Chinese name means “little basket buns”) and steams them in individual, flexible mini-tart tins. Take one from the steamer basket and manhandle it into your mouth if you like; even if it bursts, the tart tin will catch the juice, allowing you to have the whole dumpling at once.

Why doesn't anyone else do this?

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