Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, in the Yuyuan Garden Malls beside Yu Garden and the City God Temple, is one of the city's most famous names in xiaolongbao. It was founded in 1900, carries the official China Time-honoured Brand title and is listed as a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide Shanghai. Its name comes from Nanxiang, a town now in Jiading District, where the dumpling was born.

According to the city government's food guide, the story begins in 1871, when Huang Mingxian, owner of a pastry shop in Nanxiang, made a smaller steamed bun with a thinner skin. By folding meat jelly into the pork filling, he created a bun that filled with hot soup as it steamed. Huang insisted on fresh pork, thin dough and neat pleats on top, and the Nanxiang xiaolongbao spread across Shanghai. The dish itself draws on much older stuffed buns eaten in the Song dynasty.

The restaurant's two classics are the plain pork dumplings and those enriched with crab roe, which are at their best in autumn when hairy crabs are in season. Eat them the local way: lift a dumpling gently by its pleated top, set it on a spoon, bite a small hole to let the steam escape, sip the soup, then finish the rest with black vinegar and shredded ginger. Do not bite straight in, as the soup is very hot.

Expect queues at weekends and holidays, because the restaurant sits in one of the busiest corners of the city. Opening hours listed by the city's food guide run from 7.30am to 8.30pm, so an early breakfast before the garden opens is the easiest way to avoid the crowds.

Across the city, fillings change with the seasons: wild malantou greens in spring, lighter vegetable fillings in summer, crab roe in autumn and winter bamboo shoots in winter.

The restaurant suits first-time visitors, families and anyone combining dumplings with a visit to Yu Garden. Allow 30 to 45 minutes, longer if there is a queue. Yuyuan Garden station on Lines 10 and 14 is the nearest metro stop, and the Huxinting Teahouse and the Nine-turn Bridge are just outside. In the 1990s a former Canadian governor general was served xiaolongbao here during a visit and praised the dish.