Wow, that bao!
A Chinese eatery in Tribeca is giving New Yorkers something to talk a-bao-t with a highly coveted dish that requires a big plate: a giant soup dumpling the size of your face.
Upon The Palace, which opened at the end of 2024 following a multimillion-dollar renovation, has introduced Shanghainese tang bao, dumplings weighing a whopping 6 ounces and stretching 5 inches in diameter.
The restaurant claims it’s the only one in Manhattan and the US to sell the unctuous XL pouches of pork bone broth, crab and pork meat, priced at $15.
“It’s very, very popular in China, but I found out there’s no restaurant selling it here,” the restaurant’s director of operations Nick Yang told The Post. “We wanted to offer it as a promotion for the Lunar New Year.”
Tang bao is similar to a traditional soup dumpling, xiao long bao, found at most dim sum shops across the globe, but jumbo in size. It’s made by wrapping a filling of meat and gelatinized broth in a soft, thin dough and steaming it, but with a larger size of dough, a bigger slice of pork and more crab paste.
For comparison, it’s over six times the weight of a typical xiao long bao — usually about 21 grams (or approximately 0.74 ounces) — and nearly double the size of the average 3.5-inch dumpling.
Soup dumplings are an icon of Chinese eateries in Manhattan. Din Tai Fung in Midtown, famous for its xiao long bao, is one of the hardest reservations to get — and no walk-ins are allowed. The 425-seat chain restaurant from Taiwan opened in New York last July, and their soup dumplings are smaller and firmer than tang bao.
And The Post’s longtime food critic Steve Cuozzo wrote that the newly opened Blue Blossom in Midtown outdoes Din Tai Fung in dumplings — both in quality and size — calling them “the best collectively of any place” he’s been.
So as the dumpling wars heat up in NYC, Upon The Palace, helmed by head Chef Xueliang Yu, is eager to assert dough-minance with their oversized offerings of pork, shrimp and vegetable hot pockets.
The eatery — which takes its name and inspiration from the Epang Palace in Xi’an, China, an architectural marvel that symbolizes imperial power during the Qin Dynasty — has become a foodie hot spot, making the rounds on social media for the oversized dumpling, with customers saying that they will be “coming back for more.”
“We never thought it would be this popular,” Yang admitted.
Once tang bao was added to the menu, the restaurant ordered enough ingredients to make about 10 or 20 per day.
But it wasn’t long before the giant soup dumplings started selling out — sometimes within just one hour of service. And the dumplings themselves take nearly one hour to make, Yang said, factoring in preparation and steam time.
They’ve sold over 100 total since the item was introduced on Jan. 22, a little over two weeks ago.
Yang said dumpling enthusiasts have been showing up at the exact minute Upon The Palace opens for lunch and dinner — 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively — as well as making calls to the reservation line to preorder the dish and make sure it’s available before heading over to the restaurant.
He added that their central kitchen is “going crazy” trying to keep up with the demand — claiming one recent customer ordered six tang bao at once.
But Yang explained that one dumpling can be shared among two couples or four people typically slurped down with a straw. In Shanghai, it’s traditionally a romantic dish shared by a “smitten” couple — so it will be the restaurant’s centerpiece for Valentine’s Day as well.
Though the tang bao was originally planned to be just a Lunar New Year special, due to high demand, Upon The Palace will be serving the giant dumpling through March.
Upon The Palace, 317 Greenwich St. (at Reade Street), https://www.uponthepalace.com/
