Chinese
For Suzhou/Wuxi-style excellence, Jia Jia Tang Bao remains one of Shanghai’s most sought-after addresses. Its Huanghe Road outlet draws daily queues of devoted diners eager for dumplings with impossibly delicate skins and beautifully seasoned broth. The crab and pork version, generously filled with roe and sweet meat, is especially coveted.
In recent years, however, many modern Shanghainese have gravitated towards the Nanjing style — smaller, more refined, with an almost translucent wrapper and a lighter meat filling — a preference reflected in user votes on restaurant platform Dianping.
Xiaolongbao, the famed soup dumpling said to have originated in the nearby town of Nanxiang, has evolved into distinct regional styles, with Nanjing, Shanghai and Suzhou/Wuxi emerging as the most influential. Tourists continue to flock to Nanxiang Xiaolong in Shanghai’s Old Town for the traditional version — thicker-skinned with comparatively less soup. The Suzhou/Wuxi style leans sweeter, with larger dumplings and a richer filling.
See the blog post: https://www.jingtheory.com/blog/best-xiaolongbao-in-shanghai
