I want to find out more about xiao lun bao, and my spelling is probably off. This is what my friend, who speaks some Chinese, told me I was all about.

Anyway, xiao lun bao are also called "soup dumplings" or "soup buns." They're steamed dumplings, but in addition to the little bundle of meat and spice, which is a delicious mix (usually pork, shrimp, and ginger, but who knows what else) but a bit of broth, usually crab broth, but it's so wonderful.

They're tricky to eat; I pick up a dumpling in chopsticks, drop it in a spoon, take a bite out of the top half somewhere, drink out the broth, and then proceed to eat the dumpling.

If you have a Chinese restaurant a few steps above your every strip-mall generic dragon, ask for them by name. Sometimes they're on the menu, sometimes not.

I know that Joe's Shanghai on 9 Pell Street and Sweet 'n Tart on 20 Mott Street have good ones in NYC Chinatown, and Hunan Cottage on the Montville/Fairfield border on Route 46 East in NJ have awesome xiao lun bao. I haven't tried looking for pre-frozen ones yet; they're best fresh-made and I don't want to get used to crappy-made.

Anyone else have advice on where to find good ones, good frozen ones if possible?

>>1
do you mean xiǎo lóng bāo (小笼包/小籠包)
those dumplings are like everywhere

>>2 yes they are...and not to scare you or anything, but the broth is mostly pork fat. Its good, its absorbed the aromas of the ingriedients and everything, but they need the fat to freeze the soup into little gelatin-like cubes, which they wrap with meat and stuff. then they steam it...

method for eating: for this, you need to master chopsticks and spoons. dip the bao once in vinegar (usually brown with some ginger in it), set in spoon. then balance with sticks and nibble the top. allow steam to escape, then slowly lift and tilt the soup into the spoon. leave a little bit in the bao, which should be significantly cooler now. consume, chase with the rest of the broth,which should also be cooler now.