Soup Dumplings (Xiaolongbao)

Xiaolongbao is a small steamed bun originating south of the Yangtze and made famous in Taiwan, a thin wrapper holding seasoned pork and a set broth often made from gelatinised pork skin; after steaming the broth turns to a piping-hot savoury soup, sipped the moment the thin skin is broken.

Xiaolongbao traces to the Nanxiang area near Shanghai and came to Taiwan with the mainland families of 1949, taking root in Taipei's Shanghai-style dim-sum shops. After Din Tai Fung turned to food in 1972 it refined the dumpling into a standardised, gram-precise eighteen-fold form, carrying Taipei's xiaolongbao to the world.

Served hot, one first nips the skin to sip out the broth, then dips the dumpling in ginger-and-vinegar; these three steps are the classic way to eat xiaolongbao, and the refined service of the Din Tai Fung school has become a signature dining experience in Taipei.

The gossamer-thin skin, the scalding savoury broth and the eighteen-fold closure are the marks of Taipei's xiaolongbao.