Jia Jia Tang Bao佳家汤包
Inside Jia Jia Tang Bao
Show This to Your Taxi Driver
请带我去黄河路90号，佳家汤包。
Screenshot this and show it to your DiDi or taxi driver. They'll know exactly where to go.
Open in Google Maps →About This Restaurant
If you eat xiaolongbao at only one place in Shanghai, make it Jia Jia Tang Bao. This tiny, no-frills shop on Huanghe Road has been the city's soup dumpling gold standard since 1986. There is no English sign, no English menu, and the dining room is a handful of plastic stools crammed around laminated tables — but the queue that forms daily at 6:30 AM tells you everything you need to know. The crab roe and pork xiaolongbao are the reason people wait: each dumpling holds a spoonful of rich, porky broth sealed inside a whisper-thin wrapper, crowned with a dab of sunset-orange crab roe that melts into the filling. The magic is in the aspic — free-range chicken stock that solidifies when chilled, then liquefies into soup during steaming. The shop makes everything by hand, and when they sell out (usually by early afternoon), they close. This is Shanghai street-level eating at its most honest and most rewarding.
What to Order
Crab Roe & Pork Xiaolongbao
蟹粉鲜肉小笼
Say: "xiè fěn xiān ròu xiǎo lóng"
The signature. Thin-skinned soup dumplings filled with pork and a generous spoonful of crab roe. Available year-round but best in autumn.
Pure Pork Xiaolongbao
鲜肉小笼
Say: "xiān ròu xiǎo lóng"
The classic version — no crab, just perfectly seasoned pork and broth. Order this alongside the crab roe for comparison.
Sesame Cold Noodles
麻酱冷面
Say: "má jiàng lěng miàn"
A sleeper hit that regulars order on the side. Chewy noodles tossed in nutty sesame paste with a splash of vinegar.
📋 Reservations
No reservations. Queue at the door, order at the counter, find a seat. Come before 10:30 AM on weekdays for the shortest wait (10–20 min). Weekend lunch queues can exceed 45 minutes.
🥬 Dietary Notes
Pork-based. Not suitable for vegetarians. No gluten-free options (wheat wrappers).
💡 Pro Tips
- • Order at least two baskets (一笼, yī lóng) per person — one crab roe, one classic pork.
- • Eat carefully: nibble a small hole, sip the broth, then finish the dumpling. The soup is scalding hot.
- • Dip in black vinegar (醋, cù) with shredded ginger (姜丝, jiāng sī) — both on every table.
- • Point at the picture menu to order. The staff will hold up fingers to confirm quantity.
- • Cash only for small orders under ¥50. WeChat/AliPay work for larger bills.