How A Shanghai Dim Sum House Plots Its World Domination

Xiaolongbao, or “small steamed soup dumplings,” is unquestionably an iconic Shanghai specialty. Filled with meat or crab roe, the juicy and jiggly savory snack, made with an exacting pleating technique and served in golden towers of bamboo steamers, rose to global fame with the help of Din Tai Feng, the Taiwanese restaurant chain. But back home, its lesser known inventor fell into relative obscurity, with only one shop left in Shanghai in the touristy Yuyuan Garden complex.

Created in a water town called Nu Xiang near Shanghai, the thin-skinned soup dumpling had a humble beginning. During the Qing Dynasty, a local chef was inspired to create a delicate version of the northern treat also called Mu Dou, which was usually risen and stuffed with dense meat. The dainty steamed Shanghai version quickly became a favorite snack among the literati, which led to the opening of a flagship shop at the emperor’s private garden, Yuyuan Bazaar, later revived as a lavish tourist destination in the 1990s. At its height, the restaurant had over a dozen stores in Shanghai.

When Fosun Group, the Chinese business empire that includes real estate, pharmaceuticals, tourism, finance and, in the past, fashion, purchased the ancient garden project years later, the local authority entrusted Guo Guangchang, Fosun’s billionaire founder, with reviving the 19 “treasured local attractions” within Yuyuan, which included legacy names such as Nu Xiang, Shede Spirits, Laomiao Jewelry and Yuyuan Light Show. So far, Guo has made Yuyuan Light Show into a 2 million euro business, staging light shows all over the world.

Guo now is out to return Nu Xiang Mu Dou to its former glory.

The resourceful businessman tapped two entrepreneurial restaurateurs to handle the revamp. Tang Weidong, a fashion retail veteran, alongside Cheng Hui, a former adman, came up with Nu Xiang Mu Dou 2.0 and, to their surprise, quickly caught the attention of Balenciaga. The effort rapidly coalesced into a whirlwind project that was conceived within a month.

The collaboration last May, which featured a Balenciaga pop-up menu with black truffle soup dumplings, was a powerful reminder of how food culture and fashion are becoming ever more intertwined.

For Tang, a skillful connector about town, working with the luxury maison was a humbling experience. “If there’s one thing that I learned from Demna, it’s that you have to go the extra mile. He turned the volume up on streetwear and made it couture, and we are doing the same with our small man dou dim sums,” Tang says.

Injecting the sleepy Nu Xiang Mu Dou brand with a sense of attitude was the critical first step. Since the restaurant still operated franchise restaurants in Japan and Singapore, it was critical to refresh the name in a respectful manner.

Cheng, the meticulous advertising expert, worked out the tricky situation with a simple tweak in its Chinese name. Adding the character “dian,” which means “palace,” to anchor Nu Xiang Mu Dou, Cheng infused an air of imperial kitchen opulence to the place while implicitly making clear its intention for brand elevation. The result, “Nu Xiang Mu Dou Dian,” also seems whimsical since the character is rarely used in present-day China.

With the backing of Fosun, the Shanghainese eatery opened its first location at the tourist-friendly Xintiandi retail complex last October. Fitted with a centerpiece cocktail bar, the restaurant evokes a techno-future temple adorned with drop lights that, at first glance, appear to be floating soup dumplings, which Cheng and his team designed.

Helmed by the sixth-generation descendants of Nu Xiang and an up-and-coming Shanghainese chef, the dim sum palace stays true to its roots with its classic soup dumplings made with the restaurant’s original secret recipe. But the humble snack also has been reimagined in a luxuriant fashion to include stuffings such as Iberico ham, wagyu beef, truffle and crayfish. A crunchy deep-fried version, alongside sea urchin-fried dumplings and crab and pork-stuffed puff pastry, is ideally washed down with an icy cocktail. Here, ingredients such as crab sauce, bamboo, shiitake mushrooms and osmanthus are stirred up with kombucha, rice wine or Fen Jiu wine, among other local spirits, to pique diners’ curiosity.

Playing a supporting role, the vegetarian offerings — including fish-flavored eggplant with honey beans, bamboo charcoal-covered purple yam, or the matsutake mushroom and tofu soup — make reference to dishes inspired by a Buddhist vegetarian tradition.

Tang says that all the culinary experiments at the restaurant are meant to help it become “a more high-end version of Din Tai Feng with an exquisite experience akin to Hakkasan,” referring to the Cantonese restaurant group. “The minute you walk in, you will understand our particular style of dim sum,” he adds with panache.

“There are plenty of dumpling masters in China; there’s nothing special about that,” Tang says. “It’s about time we let go of the myth-making bun-maker, embrace newness and think about what else we can bring to the table on a global stage.”

Even though Tang worries that all recent Chinese culinary exports have been low-brow affairs — such as the famed Sichuanese street food Mala Tang, a spicy soup dish — he thinks now’s the right time for his restaurant’s global debut.

The Balenciaga collaborator will make its global debut in Lisbon, Portugal, as soon as early next year, where Fosun has established a firm real estate presence. There, and elsewhere in the West, Nu Xiang Mu Dou will metamorphose and be called “Shanghai Loong,” with the exact location still under wraps.

“We want to experiment with the abundance of local seafood offerings,” Tang says of the location choice, enthusiastically envisioning Shanghai Loong’s future.

Tang believes Shanghai Loong will quickly stand out if it captures a sweet spot between casual and fine dining.

“We don’t want to cater to the study abroad Chinese students cohort,” he says. “The restaurant has to become a local hit, and we will do our best to adapt to the local palette, which means finding the best local chef, incorporating their understanding of Chinese cuisine, and top it off with an attractive drink menu.

“I always tell my team, ‘we have to come up with the best sweet-and-sour soup,’” he adds.

“For us, doing business abroad is a way to flex our mix-and-match sensibility,” observes Tang, indulging in another fashion analogy.