Yang's Fry-Dumpling on Wujiang Lu

For many who visit Shanghai, the be all and end all of their Shanghai food experience is the xiao long bao (小龙包). This suits the customers at Yang's Fry-Dumpling (小杨生煎馆 or xiao yang shengjian guan) just fine, as the line outside the door often snakes 30-people long down the street.

What could possibly be worth waiting in such a long line for? What do these patient patrons know that others don't? Yang's has the reputation of being Shanghai's premier destination for shengjian mantou (生煎馒头), the lesser-known fried cousin of the xiao long bao (if it helps to visualize, you can think of them as bite-size Hot Pockets). Like xiao long bao, shengjian mantou are considered soup dumplings, but are not steamed like their Yu Garden counterparts. Instead, these pockets of perfection are fried to seal in the soup and allowed to simmer so that the meat inside is cooked slowly. The result? Delicious, wholesome goodness that the whole family can enjoy.

If you are in the neighborhood of the Shimen #1 Road subway station (石门一路地铁站), take a trip to Wujiang Lu (吴江路) and check out Yang's Fry-Dumpling for yourself. A word of caution: don't be too quick to bite into anything fresh out of the pan. The soup inside the shengjian mantou can be quite hot and those who dive in unawares can expect to burn their tastebuds something fierce. For first-timers, Shanghaiist would suggest taking a look at the eating techniques of those around you. Most will bite a small hole into the pastry, suck the soup out, and then proceed to devour the rest in a bite or two. Order up one liang (一两, which is four shengjian mantou and costs RMB 2.50) as a snack or two liang as a hearty breakfast or late lunch.

Yang's Fry-Dumpling 小杨生煎馆 on Wujiang Lu, just south of the Shimen #1 Road subway station 在吴江路上 (近石们一路地铁站). Open for Breakfast and Lunch.

Eat Me is a semi-regular feature on Shanghaiist that highlights new or noteworthy restaurants in Shanghai. Know of a restaurant you think deserves consideration? Email us at tips(@)shanghaiist.com.