小籠包

I like chinese food so much it's not funny. i generously allowed myself to gain five whole kilos during my two months in Beijing last year. my cheeks were much chubbier than they already had been becos man is Chinese food there so awesome. i'm a sad excuse for being Thai, for i despite spicy food to death. and thanks goodness I live in Bangkok where good chinese food is usually within a walking distance. ok i lie, how about a reasonable driving distance? so it's never a problem for me when i have a sudden craving for chinese.

One of the fast food-style Chinese restaurants that i like to frequent is Shanghai Xiao Long Bao. They have a bunch of branches throughout Bangkok and fortunately a few of them are conveniently located close to where i usually find myself at. malls, that is. Needless to say their specialty is xiao long bao (小籠包), literally "little basket bun" or as i prefer to call or illustrate it to the uninitiated "dumplings with soup inside." The chain has been around for a while and attracting more and more curious eaters who want to find out what a soup dumpling is like. And recently, the restaurant introduced a new creation nicely adjusted to Thai tastebuds by injecting Tom Yum (Thai style hot & sour soup) in place of normal clear broth. Of course, I didn't hesitate to order a basket...much to my disappointment ack... Thai people are too creative for me, what with satay burger at McDo's or Tom Yum pizza at Pizza Hut. I dunno, I just prefer the original xiao long bao with normal soup inside. Thai spicy soup doesn't go well with Chinese dumplings dammit!(although i gotta say the McDo's satay chicken burger is rockstar. so was the pork burger from years ago that used sticky rice as bun. too fresh.)

Anyways, so on top of the xiao long bao we also ordered a bunch of dishes to eat along, the photographic evidence of which is as follows. but guess who was enough of a retard to forget to take a sole picture of, uhm, xiao long pao? ok lah, i'll make up next time. on a sort of related note, i was the only one at the table to eat rice with chop sticks! a habit i picked up from China. overall, i found the food that day to be unusually salty. i don't see myself going back again until...i have my next xiao long bao craving attack. click for full effect.