At first I was hung up on the name.
Hung Zhou crab and pork steamed dumplings (eight for $8.95), seemed to be none other than Shanghai steamed dumplings (the very next item on the menu), except, perhaps, for the crab. In New York, xiao long bao (sometimes called soup dumplings, steamed juicy buns, or little juicy buns) are prepared with pork, or crab and pork, but I've always associated both versions with Shanghai. My mistake: According to the waitress, the dumplings filled only with pork do hail from that city, but the crab-and-pork version originated in Hung Zhou (more often, Hangzhou), some 100 miles to the south. The key component, she added, isn't blue crab but "the large crab, with a lot of meat inside," which sounds like our friend the dungeness.
It's hardly the first time I've been confounded by Chinese dumplings. But trust me, I went through all this rigamarole only after I polished off the eight beauties in my steamer basket. They're delicious, as you've already guessed.
Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa St. (34th-35th Aves.), San Francisco
415-387-2088
Closed Tuesday
