Best Xiao Long Bao in Vancouver?

The perfect soup dumpling at SuHang in Richmond, BC

Richmond, BC – Say all you want about the San Gabriel Valley outside of L.A. and Flushing, Queens; for my money, I’m heading back to Vancouver (well, the suburb of Richmond, actually) the next time I’m jones-ing for some xiao long bao. These prized soup dumplings, beloved in Shanghai, are typically supposed to contain juicy broth and a toothsome ball of ground pork with minced ginger and garlic. They’re supposed to be housed in a dumpling wrapper that’s been steamed, and is just thick enough to hold in the broth but isn’t too thick that it overwhelms the filling.  

At SuHang Restaurant, Vancouver Magazine’s Lee Man proudly showed off these textbook dumplings to me last night, served with a shallow pool of vinegar-laced soy and a few shards of fresh ginger. To eat, you simply place one in your spoon, bite a hole in the top, then carefully suck/slurp out the still-steamy heady, rich broth. The problem with most places is that there is little, if any broth, and the wrapping is too flimsy to hold it anyway. These beauties almost explode with broth and cause the filling to be even tastier. Man informed us that these also contained a whisper of crab roe, which added the slightest bit of salinity. Add a few dabs of sauce to the interior, and gobble up the rest, which isn’t too hard, considering the tiny pork ball inside is similarly fatty and unctuous. Even after a day of gorging (we had two dim sum lunches) I still had room to polish off three of these delicate beauties myself.

SuHang Restaurant

100-8291 Ackroyd Rd., Richmond

604-278-7787