Eating With Gordon: Eating @ Xiao Long Bao

Found this place online via comments from other toronto food bloggers. This restaurant is called "Xiao Long Bao" - in reference to the soup dumpling that explodes when you bit into it. Other foodies have noted that this restaurant is the sister restaurant of Ding Tai Fung (not to be confused with the famous restaurant chain in Taiwan).

Food:3.5/5
Service:4.5/5
Price: $10-20 per person

Link for Second Visit Follow Up

Atmosphere:
The decor of the restaurant is very clean and a lot of light with the use of mirrors on one side of the wall with a lot of natural light from the windows (2 sides of the restaurant). There are lots of small and large tables. There is a small waiting area with seats at the entrance. At the other end of the corner of the restaurant, there is an open display window where customers can view the kitchen staff making fresh dumpling dishes.

Food:
The menu is in English and Chinese with pictures. Everybody gets their own dish of ginger to mix with vinegar. For this visit, we ordered the following dishes:

Seafood Soup Dumpings (inside is veg, shrimp, scallots)
Wonton Soup (no noodles)
Rice with Mince Meat
Meat Pies

I liked the wonton soup. The wontons are very large and filled with chives, onions and minced meats (pork). The seafood soup dumplings where a huge disappointment. There was no soup explosion ... Totally regret ordering this more expensive version of the dumplings. The signature dish of the meal was the 3 meat pies. They were full of hot meat juices and oil inside. I wished there was more available.

Would I come back again? Probably yes.

Food Photos: