Shanghainese mini fried pork bun -- Shengjian bao/mantou

Hello!

We moved to Chicago several months ago, and have been on a hunt for tasty shengjian bao or shengjian mantou in the area, also sometimes called Shanghainese mini fried pork buns.

These are not traditional soup dumplings (Xiaolongbao), but are mini fried pork buns with dumpling filling (shengjian bao) or soup dumpling filling (shengjian mantou), often with sesame seeds on top. They look like this:



We’ve done a lot of internet research and tried all the places we could find them at, including Imperial Lamian and  Lao Sze Chuan downtown as well as Moon Palace in Chinatown. But we haven’t found the right ones yet (often not much flavor). They are amazing for any dumpling lover who hasn’t tried them.

Might anyone have recommendations on where to find them in the Chicago area?

Thanks so much!

The best I recall having were in the food court in the basement of the Richland Center on Wentworth, at the northeast edge of Chinatown Square. That was at least a year and a half ago, and I'm not sure if it is still there, but worth a spin down there anyhow. I miss them, too, and have yet to scratch that itch here in Chicago. The best bet is real potstickers at Qing Xiang Yuan...not as fluffy of course, but the right crisp and flavor.

cjn232 wrote:Might anyone have recommendations on where to find them in the Chicago area?!

Since reading a Lucky Peach article on Shenjianbao / Shen jiang bao, "The worlds most underrated dumpling", not available online, these have been my grail dumpling. The best version I've found locally, though not up to the description in the Lucky Peach 2015 article, are Pan Fried Bun at Katy's in Westmont.


"The worlds most underrated dumpling" (Excerpt, Lucky Peach)
It’s the golden child–it’s the dumpling that will make you forget about every other dumpling.
Shen jiang bao are cousins of xiao long bao, which are infinitely more famous. You might know them as soup dumplings or XLB; they’re those super-delicate purses of pork and hot soup that you sip gently out of a spoon with Zhenjiang vinegar and threads of fresh ginger.
Shen jiang bao are similar, but the dumpling skin they’re made with is sturdy enough that it can be griddled—so the bottom is charred and crisp, like the pan-fried Northern-style dumplings. Plus it’s a yeasted dough, so there’s an additional level of flavor complexity to the wrapper. Inside, some combination of the dumpling farce’s mix of fat, soy, and Shaoxing wine creates a little bit of soup that’s explosive when it’s hot out of the pan.
It’s magical—it’s the all-purpose dumpling. It’s got the dumpling farce; it’s got the pan-fried dumpling texture; it’s got enough of the juice in it to be just a little bit soupy. And they’re sturdy! You can’t walk around with a bag of soup dumplings, but you can eat these things on the move; you can eat them three hours later and they’re still good.

Katy's Dumpling House
665 N. Cass Ave.
Westmont, IL 60559
630-323-9393

Dolo has fried pork buns, served on a hotplate of sizzling vegetables. They are not mini, not particularly moist inside, and not sesame-sprinkled, but still worth checking out.