Outside The Media. Beyond the News. Live from Greensboro, NC.

One of the things I love about big cities like L.A., N.Y. or London is the food. London by far has been my favorite. Almost every imaginable food is available, and generally within walking distance. One of the ones I haven't found in this (triad) area (yet) is the Chinese Dumpling (which I believe is called a Baozi). I've been dieing to try one since Anthony Bourdain stated it was the "have-to" Chinese food. Someone mentioned that a the English equivalent of the translated Chinese word for the smaller Chinese Dumplings (Jiaozi) means "Heinous Excursion". So you can imagine my delight when we're walking through China Town in London and just after doing the tango with a giant panda bear, we discover a little market with a young Chinese woman and a fresh batch of Chinese Dumplings.



In pork, beef, or chicken Baozi can be very small almost bite-size (Xiaolongbao) or If you find them like we did they're about 6-8 inches round, hand-pressed closed breading (Mantou) with a Asian stew filling consisting of meats and/or vegetables. They are, for a better lack of the words... simply the most amazing Chinese food I've ever eaten. It should be, it's their comfort food. It's a recipe, I've vowed to tackle in the next few months....

There's something to be said with waking up in the morning, hitting an authentic French Bakery for breakfast, and then walking the streets for lunch eating a Baozi Dumpling. We so often forget how much taste is a sense, and providing it sensory input during certain experiences can make the journey so much more fun!

The vendor realized we "weren't from around here" with our American dialects, and asked "where are you from?" Shannon replied "North Carolina".... We might as well been speaking to Chinese....(to an American)... because from the look on her face she didn't recognize that country.

You need to look for a Dim Sum restaurant. They must exist somewhere in Gboro. The way they usually work is that the servers come round with those bamboo steamers and sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves on carts - if you see something you fancy you take the steamer and they stamp your car. At the end they tally up the stamps. Don't be afraid to shoo them away if they are offering something ugly - like fried tofu. Get there early, because they sometimes run out of the popular dishes and have a habit of trying to push the fried tofu until they find someone to take it. Personally I love the steamed shrimp dumplings.

Quality is everything. Try to get a recomendation.

Hey, nice post. I just wanted to correct the part about jiaozi literally meaning "Heinous Excursion." It does not. Jiao literally means dumpling (specifically the non-round, smaller one made of a ravioli-type skin -- as opposed to the breaded skin). Zi meanwhile is merely a noun suffix - it might be translated as 'thing.' Zi does have other meanings, such as 'master' or 'son' but in these cases the tone (and therefore pronunciation) is different. The bao in baozi has several meanings, but they're all what you might expect: 'wrap,' 'surround,' bundle,' 'sack,' etc.

Nevertheless, 'Heinous Excursion' would make a great name for a metal band. And you could serve jiaozi at your shows.

Sincerely,

Tanner Brown
Beijing

I'm craving one right now.... oh they we're good... If I was still there I'd hop on the Tube and go get one right now!

Unfortunately, there's no dim-sum places in the triad area, the closest ones are in Durham/Chapel Hill and Charlotte.

And I think the English translation for Baozi is "meat bun".

you need to check out the frozen food area at the huge ASian market on HIgh Point Road ( used to be called Latin Asian market.) They have all different kinds ( pork, chicken, seafood and vegetarian) and all are good.

guest wrote:you need to check out the frozen food area at the huge ASian market on HIgh Point Road ( used to be called Latin Asian market.) They have all different kinds ( pork, chicken, seafood and vegetarian) and all are good.

I'm definitely going to go searching... Seem that I'm in cupboard re-finishing hell this week.... and am lacking an existence out of my home and Lowes for the next few days.

I wonder if Super G Mart has any in their frozen section...

YUM! Now I'm really hungry!

If ever in NYC, Peking Cafe [in Chinatown...2 streets over from Mulberry] has the best ones I've had!