小笼包 ($6.50), 红油抄手 ($5) & 四川担担面 x2 ($4.50 each)!
A Sichuan-Shanghainese hawker spread: 10 xiao long bao, 10 red-oil wontons and two bowls of dan dan noodles. $20.50.
A Monday lunch with BB where we went all in at a hawker xiao long bao and Sichuan stall: 10 小笼包 ($6.50), 10 红油抄手 ($5) and 四川担担面 x2 ($4.50 each). 🥟🌶️😋
What we had ($20.50 total):
- Xiao long bao (10 pcs)
- 红油抄手 (Sichuan red-oil wontons) (10 pcs)
- 四川担担面 (dan dan noodles) x2
This is the order you make to test the full range of a stall that does both Shanghainese and Sichuan. The xiao long bao held up the soup-dumpling side: thin skins that did not tear, a good pleat, and a mouthful of hot, savoury soup inside each one. You nip a hole, sip the broth, then eat the rest.
The 红油抄手 were the value win, ten silky pork wontons drowned in a chilli oil with real depth, garlicky and sesame-rich with that slow ma la peppercorn build that only comes from oil rendered from scratch. And the dan dan noodles were the substantial bowls, dry noodles tossed in chilli oil, sesame paste, soy and vinegar with minced pork and pickle on top, every strand coated. Nutty and fiery in equal measure.
Soupy, silky and spicy all at once, and excellent value at $20.50 for two.
Overall: 4.4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Soup-filled xiao long bao with fiery red-oil wontons and nutty-spicy dan dan, a great Sichuan-Shanghainese spread. Would re-order.
