FOOD

How To Eat and Enjoy A Xiao Long Bao Properly

You can enjoy the broth this way.

Linda Ng
The Starving Tourist
3 min readOct 27, 2023

--

A delicious order of Xiao Long Bao (photo provided by Linda Ng)

A visit to Taiwan isn’t complete without eating Xiao Long Bao! I made sure that we were able to get this into our trip to Taiwan.

What is Xiao Long Bao?

It is a type of dumpling. Usually, you’ll find pork or maybe seafood wrapped inside. The most special thing about Xiao Long Bao is that it also contains a small amount of broth. The broth is wrapped inside the dumpling in a gelatin or jelly-like state. When it is steamed, it melts into a delicious broth.

Sounds tasty already, doesn’t it?

Well, How Do You Eat Xiao Long Bao?

You can just eat the whole thing if you like, however, I would advise against it. First of all, the broth inside is very hot! You would end up scalding yourself. You would also not be able to enjoy the taste of the soup if you just gulp the entire dumpling.

Here’s a better way to enjoy a Xiao Long Bao!

When you order Xiao Long Bao, the server will bring you a small plate of finely sliced ginger. On the table, you will find some seasoning options, such as soy…

--

--