Shanghai Dumpling King

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Sugar Egg Puff at Shanghai Dumpling King-  2013 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

When the 7x7's 2013 Big Eat came out, I was a little perturbed that a part of the list included previous restaurants with different dishes.  With an exasperated "again", I hauled myself to Shanghai Dumpling King.  Shanghai Dumpling King made it appearance on the 7x7's 2011 Big Eat, but for its soup dumplings (see post HERE).  It was a big fail on that dish, but the one dish I was looking forward to was the sugar egg puffs, which I loved as a kid.  The only problem with the first time around here was that they ran out and the next batch would take another 30 minutes to fry up.  I filed it under my things to possibly eat later and thought I actually might not come back since the rest of the food was subpar.
Fast forward two lists later and I'm back.  With quick maneuvering around the huge crowd of people, that must never have had good dumplings before, and quick to go order of one sugar egg puff dish, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes.

When I was a kid, these fried egg puffs were really common on dim sum carts, but now they seem hard to find or at least freshly made ones.  My order was still warm when I got home.  Hollow, eggy, and fluffy with heavy dusting of sugar, they are almost like I remember them.  Still missing a crispier outside, but better than the greasy ones that have been sitting out all day in the Chinatown bakeries.  

updated - Working my way through the 2013 7x7's SF big eat 100 things

Address:                       Shanghai Dumpling King
                                      3319 Balbao St.
                                      San Francisco, CA
 

 Type:                            Chinese

Popular chomps:           Xiu Long Bao (XLB) (#4)
                                       Green onion pancake (#21)
                                       Sugar egg puff (#141)

Chomp worthy:              Tianjin steamed dumplings (#6)
                                        Lion Head Meatballs (#37)
                                        Sugar Egg puff (#141) 

Shanghai Dumpling King

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Waiting outside for our table I heard someone say to her friend, "I heard the Shanghai Dumplings are good here."  Jeez, what gave that away...

The restaurant is really small so the wait can get quite lengthy.  Right before you sit down you preorder with a server so your food will arrive by the time you sit, so make sure you look over the menu while you wait.

I wasn't really keen on ordering a vegetable dish, but the server urged and upsold us on the daily vegetable of the day.  Today, it happened to be pea sprouts with ham.  I'm glad we ended up ordering.  The vegetables were really well cooked and so fresh.

"Lion Head" Meatballs (dry). (#37)  This dish actually shows on the menu as a soup, but, again, the server said dry is better.  These meatballs were so tender and juicy.  The meatballs just fell apart when you cut them.

Hung zhou crab & pork steamed dumplings.  The wrappers on these dumplings were really thin and delicate, which challenged my chopstick skills (it needs work apparently).  Each bundle contained a lot of soup, but somehow weren't steaming hot when pierced. 

Xiu Long bao - #13 on 2011 7x7 SF's 100 Things to Eat

Finally, the xiu long bao (aka xlb) arrived.  What a disappointment!  The skins were a lot thicker than the crab dumplings and hardly any soup. 

Tianjin Steamed Dumpling.  Honestly, when they brought this steamer to the table I didn't have any interest to really eat this since I was here to eat the soup type dumplings.  These dumplings turned out to be even better than the other two trays of dumplings.  The bun is really soft and fluffy with a hint of sweetness that makes it pretty addicting.  Inside is minced meat with glass noodles.  Delicious!

Address:                         Shanghai Dumpling King
                                               3319 Balbao St.
                                               San Francisco, CA  

Type:                                 Chinese/casual

Popular chomps:    Xiu Long Bao (XLB) (#4)
                                               Green onion pancake (#21)
                                               Sugar egg puff (#141)
                                         

Chomp worthy:      Tianjin steamed dumplings (#6)
                                Lion Head Meatballs (#37)