And the Winner is....

Last night I answered the age-old question – Are the soup dumplings at Shanghai Café better than Joe Shanghai’s?

To help judge the soup dumplings, I brought my trusty companion Ashley. Ashley, a long-time Joe Shanghai-er, knows her soup dumplings. She’s a lover of all things soupy and spicy like me. So it’s only fair that I bring a judge as knowledgable as me to judge this ultimate showdown.

Shanghai Café sits on Mott Street sandwiched between Chinese restaurants. The street is very much like Pell Street (the home of Joe Shanghai’s) – there are endless Chinese fruit markets, foot/back rub places, and the curbs are lined with trash. Ah, welcome to Chinatown. As we walked into Shanghai Café, we were sat at a table immediately. Awesome, I thought. After I got situated in my chair, I took a good long look around. Shanghai Café looked like a cracked-out Johnny Rockets! There were neon squiggly lasers all over the sealing, booths that looked like they were ripped out from the wall at Outback Stackhouse, and to top it off…it was hotter than the dickens.

But I was not going to let the décor and temperature taint my judgment just yet. I opened the menu to find the soup dumplings were actually more expensive than Joe’s. At $4.95 per order, this was 30 cents more than Joe’s. I was surprised at the price because the online menu says they are $4.50 an order. Not that 45 cents is going to break the bank, but that was a huge leg-up Shanghai Café had on Joe Shanghai’s.

Anyway, after sitting at our table for a good 6 minutes, the server finally asked us for our order. No introduction like - “Hi, welcome to Shanghai Café. What kind of dumplings do you want?” She just asked us for our order. Not a good sign in my book. That means people actually dine at Shanghai Café for the food and not the soup dumplings. Don’t get me wrong, Joe’s food is delicious too. But for a supposed “soup dumpling rival”, you’d think they assume most people want some soup dumplings.

Scoreboard (Ambiance + Service)
Joe Shanghai’s = 2
Shanghai Café = 0

So Ash and I order ourselves a TsingTao beer, pork fried rice (that’s what Ash and I eat at Joe’s) and an order of pork soup dumplings. A few minutes later, our rice and dumplings arrived. Finally! Let the ultimate showdown begin.

I carefully placed a dumpling in my spoon, bit the nipple of the dumpling to open it up and loaded the dumpling with my favorite spices– ginger vinegar and spicy red chili sauce. After eating the nipple of dough, I immediately added another point to Joe’s scoreboard. Shanghai Café’s dough was much heavier. One could even say the dough was more durable, but durability is something I am willing to sacrifice considering I am a dumpling pro.

Scoreboard (Dumpling Dough)
Joe Shanghai’s = 1
Shanghai Café = 0

After pouring out the soup into my spoon, I slurped it up. Not bad. Not bad. But it’s still not as good as Joe’s soup. Then I gobbled up the remainder of the dumpling. Hot! Hot! Hot! The pork dumpling was still hot! In fact, way hotter than Joe’s. Point for Shanghai Cafe. And to top it off, the dumpling was scrumptious. After 2 orders of dumplings and some pork fried rice, Ashley and I were satiated…no wait, comatose-stuffed. Nothing promises a good night of sleep like some soup dumplings.

Scoreboard (Soup, Temp., Meat)

Joe Shanghai’s = 1 (Soup)
Shanghai Café = 2 (Temp & Meat)

Ashley and I paid our bill ($12 each) and talked about our meal. We both gave Shanghai Café a 7 out of 10. Joe Shanghai’s was and will always be a 10 in our book.

And the winner for the best soup dumpling is…Joe Shanghai’s!!!