Hangzhou Soup Dumplings (杭州小籠湯包) boasts that its dumplings are of Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) quality at hawker prices. Neither claim is true, but the restaurant has acquired a reputation for tasty and reasonably priced steamed dumplings, along with a range of other small dishes served in a casual and relatively clean environment.
The original store, located a little south at 53-5, Hangzhou S Rd Sec 2 (杭州南路二段53之5號), is a grubby little nest with sidewalk seating that has tons of atmosphere but scores low on hygiene. Visiting a few years ago, my abiding impression was of sitting too close to the city drains, pungent odors wafting up from below street level. This in no way diminished the establishment’s popularity, because even
back then Hangzhou Soup Dumplings was known to be good and inexpensive.
The new location has spruced up its image, with a proper storefront, tiled floor and wooden tables that are not slick with grease. Prices have crept up a bit, but they are still a long way below the giddy heights that Din Tai Fung charges.
The top seller on the restaurant’s menu are its Qianlong soup dumplings (乾隆灌湯餃, NT$90), purportedly derived from a favorite snack of a powerful Qing Dynasty emperor. They are certainly tasty, and a slightly different take on the usual soup dumpling format, with a thicker, softer wrapping and a liquid filling. With just a little julienned ginger and some soy sauce, it is excellent comfort food.
The regular soup dumplings (小籠湯包, NT$90) suffer a little given that they are more widely available. Yet Hangzhou’s soup dumplings manage to hold its own in this category, proving that it can produce a well above average product, and for the price nobody is complaining. A range of ingredients for mixing your own dumpling dip is a nice touch and includes various types of chili, mashed garlic, ginger, soy
and vinegar.
The restaurant does not manage quite so well in the more elaborate preparations. Dishes such as the steamed clams with sponge gourd (蒸蛤蠣絲瓜, NT$150) failed to live up to expectations, with sloppy presentation and a washed out flavor. Similar disappointment accompanied another dish requiring subtlety and care, the simple chicken soup (原盅雞湯, NT$80), which failed to deliver on both taste and texture.
Attempts to broaden out to other cuisines also displayed inadequate command of technique. The ribs steamed with black bean (豆鼓排骨, NT$50), a Cantonese favorite, probably included on the menu simply because it was a steamed preparation, was almost anemic. The extraordinarily battered steaming basket in which it was served may have been a nod to the shop’s hawker origins, but sat oddly with the attempt to achieve a more polished look for its new location.
The upgrade to Hangzhou Soup Dumplings is only a partial success. The variety of steamed dumplings certainly makes it worthwhile, even though other dishes are of middling quality at best. As for atmosphere and street-side buzz, the grimy
old establishment wins hands down — even taking into account the drains.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and