Flushing, Queens' Best Soup Dumplings

You might be asking yourself two questions: Where is Flushing? What is a soup dumpling?

Flushing is located in the borough of Queens. The area of Flushing with the best Chinese food is easily reached from Manhattan by taking the 7 Train at either Grand Central, or Times Square, and riding it to the last stop, Main Street. It takes about 45 minutes. You can also take the Port Washington branch of the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station to Main Street, this takes about 20 minutes.

A soup dumpling, or xio long bao in Chinese, is a small steamed dumpling with an incredibly hot liquid soup inside, and some meat (usually pork, or pork and crab). They are like little bites of heaven. The secret to getting the soup in the dumpling is to mix the soup with a gelatin, once it turns solid mix the gelatin with the meat and put it in the wrapper. When you steam the dumpling the sold soup turns back into a liquid.

To eat a soup dumpling pick it up with your chop sticks (or tongs) and place it on your spoon. At this point do not place it in your mouth, or you will suffer third degree burns. Take a small bite from the top, to let out some of the steam. Pour in a little bit of black vinegar and ginger, and suck out the soup -- slowly. You may now consume the rest of the soup dumpling.

For a long time the best place to get a soup dumpling was Joe's Shanghai located at 136-21 37th Ave, with more locations in Manhattan. At some point in the last few years the quality of the dumpling as decreased significantly, and the rest of the food on the menu isn't really worth talking about. The dumpling's skin got thicker, and the soup and meat became bland. I still don't know why there are throngs of people lining up outside every weekend, I think Joe's is just getting by on reputation only.

The best soup dumpling, can be found at Nan Shian Dumpling House, located at 38-12 Prince Street. These soup dumplings are what Joe's used to be, fresh, hot, and delicious. The dumpling skin is thin, but holds together well, and the soup is beefy and flavorful. When you walk into the restaurant the first sense to hit your nose is vinegar, always look for this in a dumpling house. The rest of the menu is short, but everything on it is excellent. I always order two tray of soup dumplings, one pork, and one pork and crab. I also recommend a dish with fish cakes and diced beef. A surprise hit are the pancakes stuffed with beef. Pretty soon all the Joe's people will be lining up here, long live Nan Shian!

If you are looking for expensive and fancy there's a new kid in town, Mulan, located on the second floor of Queens Crossing on the corner of Main Street and 39th Avenue. I only had the soup dumplings here once as part of an appetizer sampler platter. They were very good, but too fancy. To me it was like those restaurants that shave some truffle on Mac-N-Cheese and charge you fifty bucks per portion. I still love Mulan for their steak, and duck dishes, but the soup dumplings left something to be desired.

Another source for soup dumplings is Hot Pot City, located at 40 Main Street on the second floor above the news stand next to the LIRR tracks. For around $22 per person you can have 2 hours of hot pot, unlimited beer, soda, or juice, and unlimited side dishes. One of the side dishes is soup dumpling! The soup dumplings here are fat, and full of hot soup. The skin is a little bit thick, and the dumplings are all of irregular size and shape, but they are virtually unlimited. As far as hot pot goes, watch out for the nasty bits, as you can easily find yourself with a plate full of chicken gizzards.

I should also mention all of these restaurants, except Mulan, are cash only.

After you're done gorging yourself on soup dumplings you can pick up a frozen batch in any of the Chinese supermarkets in the area, or make them yourself! I made them once, and now I just go to Nan's.