Whenever a discussion starts about soup dumplings in NYC pops up, inevitably Joe's Shanghai comes into the picture. Up until 2 weekends ago, I had never been. Mostly because all the signs pointed to lots of hype and lots of disappointment. But with a friend in town, who wanted soup dumplings, I had no better options.
I had heard all the negatives. The dough is too thick. It's not delicate enough. There's not much soup. And the positives. It has good flavors. The dough is thick but good.
And now I can weigh in with my own opinion. They are all right. The dough is thick, but not so bad that it mattered to me. The flavors were good, especially with the crab. Its not delicate like other soup dumplings and it feels a bit more rustic. You won't find yourself accidentally piercing these as you pick them up.
For me, the biggest disappointment was that there was very little soup in the dumpling. You could probably eat these whole without scalding yourself. The little soup that is in there is flavorful but a bit oily. These dumplings would be great if only they had more soup. Everything else if forgivable and even lovable.
Luckily for me, some friend of mine also did a dumpling tour of Chinatown during that weekend. It'll give me a great starting point for my search.
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