Xiao Long Bao!

The most famous item in Shanghai cuisine (at least in my family's book) is xiao long bao, often called Shanghai soup dumplings.  The bite-sized, steamed dumplings are filled with a small amount of broth, served piping hot.  The girls like to wait til they're slightly cooled, put them into their mouths, bite down and get a hot soup explosion - they call it the "Pop"!  We get it often in the Bay Area, but wanted to make sure we had it every day during our Shanghai stay.

So we headed out to Yu Gardens, a beautiful 400 year old classical Chinese garden.  Not surprisingly, it's surrounded by a large Bazaar and is a big souvenir shopping destination.  It was teeming with people.  TEEMING!  Did I mention how hot it was yet?!

And of course, the ubiquitous Starbucks.

We lined up with all the crowds at Nanking Dumpling House - a line of 60+ people that snaked halfway through the bazaar.

We watched one of their workers make the little baos at lightning fast speed, and about 30 mins later, got our little tray of xiao long bao - I think it was 20 little bao for under $2.

 We ate them standing up, like everyone else around us - and tried not to burn our mouths.

Then we found a stand with extra large xiao long bao served with a straw so you could suck the soup out.  Fun but definitely just a novelty!

Finally, we did our share of little souvenir shopping and found this man who very adeptly shaped wire into Chinese letters.  We had him make them for the girls with both English and Chinese writing.