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Well… kind of… It’s been a while since I’ve done a dumpling review, so I was determined to write at least one entry about dumplings this summer. Despite that good plan, things didn’t quite pan out that way. I had heard about a restaurant whose dumplings rival those of Din Tai Fung, and I went to seek it out.

Upon entering Mei Long Village, it looked somewhat familiar. Turns out I was there before as a kid. It wasn’t very impressive or comfortable back then. The place now is much better. I hate to say this but the plaza Mei Long Village is located in looked a bit dreary, especially compared to the other nearby, bright plazas. Once inside Mei Long Village, however, I found a nice little restaurant. People were eating all noodles, dumplings, Shanghainese dishes, etc. It all looked so good!

I tried to stick to just dumplings, but the menu was so extensive in choices. I started off with ordering the wonton soup and pan fried bao/dumplings. The wonton soup wasn’t anything to write home about, but one thing that surprised me was that instead of a clear broth to accompany the wontons, Mei Long Village used a dark broth, which I’m guessing is part beef broth, part chicken broth. The bao/dumplings pictured are a little more difficult to describe. They are called sen chien bao in Chinese, but they are usually smaller than the average baos and much larger than most dumplings. The bottom is also pan fried. The inside of a sen chien bao is usually just stuffed with pork. If it is made correctly, one should experience the following tastes and textures when biting into it: chewy (in a good way) dough, crispy texture (because of the bottom), and juicy pork. Mei Long Village got 2 out of the 3. They missed on the dough completely. It was a little dry and fell apart in my mouth. The pork though was very juicy and delicious.

So what kept me away from sampling the xiao long bao and other dumplings that usually tempt me? The many different dishes Mei Long Village offers. A couple of old favorites lured me away from the dumplings: shrimp with white lily and the pictured shredded fish with pine nuts. For those who have never had white lily, they come in a bulb. Once you peel the petals apart, it almost looks like onions. I once included them in some fried rice, and my friends actually did mistake them for onions. A quick, light sautee keeps them crispy. A longer cooking time softens them up, creating an almost mushy texture, but makes them sweeter. When I cook with white lily, I try to create a balance between the two. Mei Long Village went with valuing the crisp texture more. The fish was fairly average, but the one thing about Mei Long Village is that they gave a pretty generous portion of it. I think my main issue with this dish is that there wasn’t enough flavor. Typically, the combination of the fish, pine nuts, and bell peppers create a nice aroma and taste. Still, the presentation was nice.

One of my big weaknesses at Shanghai style restaurants is the rice cake with a type of greens. I first had this dish in a restaurant in the Bay Area. The chef used to be the head chef at some embassy. I always remembered that dish because it was so good, and we didn’t have it at any restaurants here in Souther California, which only offered the traditional Shanghai rice cakes (with shredded pork and spinach). Over the last few years, however, the rice cake with greens started to show up at most Shanghai style restaurants, which made me ever so happy. This still isn’t a vegetarian dish though. Even though the name specifically says rice cake with greens, there is shredded meat in here, too. (Most restaurants use pork, but I did encounter one that used shredded chicken.) As this is one of my favorite dishes for some reason, I was very happy with Mei Long Village for offering it.

Mei Long Village
301 W. Valley Blvd., No. 112
San Gabriel, CA
(626) 284-4769

By Pauline (see more of her posts).