🍽️ Soup Dumpling

Paper-thin skin, bursting with broth when bitten.

Kaifeng soup dumplings are a traditional Henan pastry. Paper-thin unleavened or semi-leavened dough wraps meat filling set with aspic, pinched into a chrysanthemum-like top; after steaming, the jelly melts into a soup core. Lift a dumpling and the juice wobbles; eat it with ginger and vinegar, nibbling a small hole to sip the broth first. The skin is thin, the filling tender and the soup savory. Kaifeng locals eat them for breakfast or snacks, carried by famous old shops. Visitors to Millennium City Park and Dragon Pavilion often order a basket. Along with Tianjin Goubuli and Shanghai xiaolongbao, they rank among China's great soup dumplings and represent old Bianliang snack culture.