Nan Shian Dumpling House (Flushing)

Nan Shian Dumpling House
38-12 Prince St.
Flushing, NY

To all who appreciate, obsess, crave, or just simply need a good xiao long bao, here is one that represents. Nan Shian Dumpling House.
Their dumplings are perfectly steamed, with a rich soupy juice inside a well crafted thin dumpling skin.
I've gone 3 out of the past 4 weekends. I can't remember the last time I've gone to a restaurant with such enthusiasm.
I simply love it.











Things I look for when enjoying a Xiao Long Bao :
1. Skin - This is where you separate the men from the boys. To make the skin so thin... yet strong enough to hold the soupy juice from the filling and not let it break when you pick these things up with chopsticks is a culinary marvel. Remember, anyone can make a skin stronger by making it thicker and texturally harder. We want to go the other way and look for thin and springy.
2. Clear Soup - A good broth has a ton of flavor. And having that flavorful soup run clear is a sign of a skilled chef.
This shows that the master stock is made in house and should be the backbone of the restaurant's dishes.
Making the master stock for Chinese food can be just as laborious as making a French Consomme or even a Demi Glace.
3. The Filling, Flavor & Texture - After the first 2 check points, what a shame it would be to not have a plump, and slightly fluffy filling. The pork should be well ground and seasoned nicely.
(Remember, a ton of flavor will be coming from the soup inside. Which is simply gelatinized so that it's a solid, mixed into the seasoned ground pork and spooned into the folded skins)

Here are a list of dishes I've tried.
Xiao Long Bao *** (this alone is worth the travel)
Guo Tie * (fried dumplings)
You Tiao ** (a chinese churro if you will)
Dou Sha Guo Bing * (red bean crepe)
Tsong You Ban Mien *(scallion sauce noodles)
Dou Jiang (soy milk, sweet or savory)
Zong You Rou Bing ** (folded pancake with beef and hoisin sauce)
Jiou Tsai He Tzu * (chives, eggs and rice noodles in a dough pocket)
Sweet and Savory Glutenous Bean Curd *** (upper right hand corner of the 4 pics)



















An important thing you need to know about Chinese restaurants here in the states is they are never consistent.
Over a period of months, cooks come and go and more often than not, the flavors go with them.
So when a restaurant is scoring big on the recommended list, you just gotta go before it's too late.