KUNG FU XIAO LONG BAO: REIGNING CRAB SOUP DUMPLINGS IN FLUSHING?

Craving the best crab soup dumplings on Main Street? Well, you’ll probably end up deciding between Shanghai Cuisine 33 (November 2014 profile here) and Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao. While Shanghai Cuisine 33’s crabby dumpling broth (barely) tops Kung Fu’s, Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao’s dumpling skins are more translucent.

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao boasts a clean and boldly contemporary setting in contrast to its soup dumpling competitors.* Our group of eight claimed the back corner booth:

After settling in, Flushing Food warmed up with $1.50 bowls of sweet soybean milk (tián dòujiāng, or 甜豆漿). As you know, these pair beautifully with deep fried dough (yóutiáo, or油條), which some see as the Chinese version of churros, minus the cinnamon and sugar.

Soybean milk and deep fried dough.

Our hungry group then began digging into round after round of $6.95 steamed crab meat and pork buns (xièfěn xiǎo lóng bāo, or  蟹粉小籠包) and $5.95 Kung Fu steamed pork buns (gōngfū xiǎo lóng bāo, or 功夫小籠包). The delightful crab broth quickly convinced our party to continue gorging on further rounds of crab rather than pork soup dumplings.

Kung Fu steamed pork buns.

Steamed crab meat pork buns.

We rounded out our visit with carb-heavy dim sum options such as $3.95 fried bun with chives egg (jiǔcài hézi, or韭菜盒子); $3.50 scallion pancake (cōng yóubǐng, or 蔥油餅); $5.50 scallion pancake with sliced beef (niúròu jiā bǐng, or 牛肉夾餅); and $5.50 pork vegetable wontons in spic(e)y sauce (hóng yóu chāoshǒu, or 紅油抄手):

Aforementioned.

May Flushing Food suggest: sampling the $5.50 steamed chocolate buns. These treats are basically chocolate-filled warm French pastries, but in dumpling form!

Steamed chocolate buns. No joke.

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* http://www.yelp.com/biz/kung-fu-xiao-long-bao-flushing

Media credits: Helen Y.
Gadget: Nikon® Coolpix™ AW110
Software: Fotor