It’s a perilous moment, lifting a soup dumpling from its basket, hoping it won’t tear and spill its beautiful guts. This one’s skin is delicate but does not break, at least not yet, not under the tongs’ little teeth. The dumpling lands in the spoon intact, plump but not sagging, buoyant as a ball gown. Take a bite, gently, from the top; watch the steam flee; sip the broth inside, just enough to taste; then down it whole.
把灌汤小笼包夹起来的一刻真是让人提心吊胆，只希望不要把皮弄破溅出里面美味的汤汁。这个小笼包的皮很娇嫩，但是不会破，至少夹子的小齿没把它夹破。它完好无损地落在勺子上，丰盈饱满，毫不松垮，像舞会礼服一样挺括。从顶上轻轻咬一口，看着热气冒出来；啜饮里面的肉汤，肉汤的量刚好够你品味，然后整个吃下。
At the Bao, which opened in the East Village in July, the soup dumplings, or xiao long bao, are near perfect. (The menu calls this achievement “kung fu,” using the term in its original sense, as mastery acquired through practice and discipline.) Other specimens in town tend to the thick, to prevent leaks; here the dough is ultrathin, less armor than envelope for the broth — pork-stock jelly, which melts into soup as the dumplings steam — and the ball of minced pork at the center, loose and yielding, as if itself in midmelt. I did wish the soup were more flagrantly meaty, but this far from Shanghai, I’m just grateful.
小笼包餐馆(The Bao)今年7月在东村开业。这里的灌汤小笼包几近完美（菜单上说这需要功夫，不是指武术，而是指熟练的技艺是通过练习和磨练而成）。肉汤是猪肉高汤冻在蒸包子的过程中融化成的。本市的其他小笼包为了防止肉汁漏出，包子皮大多较厚；而这里的包子皮非常薄，像是用来盛放而非保护肉汤的。小笼包里面的碎猪肉馅松散柔软，像是也快要融化了。我确实希望肉汤能更浓郁一些，但是这里离上海那么远，我已经知足了。The Bao is an outpost of Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao, which the owner, Hong Bao, opened two and a half years ago in Flushing, Queens. She oversees the dim sum at both locations, but beyond the classic varieties of soup dumpling — pork and notably briny pork and crab — the restaurants diverge. East Village innovations include xiao long bao jacked up on chile, anticipating the bravado of the young and the drunk, and others spiked with wasabi, a gesture toward the neighborhood’s Japanese expats.
小笼包餐馆是老板洪宝（音译）两年半前在皇后区法拉盛开的功夫小笼包餐馆(Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao)的分店。两家店的点心制作都由她监管，但是除了各种经典汤包——猪肉汤包以及著名的猪肉蟹肉汤包——这两家餐馆大相径庭。东村这家店推陈出新，有放在辣椒上的小笼包，期待年轻人和酒醉之人大胆一试；还有加入芥末的汤包，算是向附近的日本侨民致意。
The rest of the menu is greatest-hits Chinese, corralling flamethrowers from Sichuan and Hunan with old-school Cantonese and Taiwanese specialties. Much of this is delicious: a garlicky confetti of chives, with pork nubs and dark pops of salt from fermented black beans; pressed, dense tofu ruddied from steeping in five spice; pickled string beans chopped into tiny rings and bobbing in a sour rice noodle soup; strips of featherweight fried chicken, almost outnumbered by dried red chiles; noodles alchemized by an age-old calculus of soy, sesame oil and sugar; and shrimp dashed with Shaoxing (rice wine) and engulfed in barely set scrambled eggs that slip through the chopsticks. (I ate the leftovers, still slippery, out of the box when I got home.)
菜单上的其他美食都是最热门的中国菜，既有辛辣的川菜和湘菜，也有经典粤菜和台湾特色小吃。大多都很美味：用细香葱、咸豆豉炒的蒜味猪肉块；卖相很好的五香豆腐干；酸豆角米粉是把酸豆角切成小圈，放入酸米粉汤里；辣子鸡的鸡肉像羽毛一样轻，里面的干红辣椒似乎比鸡肉还多；用历史悠久的酱油、芝麻油和糖混合调料拌的面条；虾仁炒蛋的虾仁中搀入了绍兴米酒，炒蛋十分嫩滑，筷子不好夹（我把剩下的打包带回家，吃的时候依然很滑）。Lamb dusted with cumin is terrific, the scent like a warm inhalation. But the meat — carefully pruned of any troubling chewy detail, battered and fried into congeniality, as if the diners were children — doesn’t really taste like lamb. Bitter melon draped in salted egg yolk remains heroically bitter, but salt-and-pepper shrimp are oddly stodgy, wreathed in hard broccoli florets. And dan dan noodles lack conviction: The chile oil is merely, instantly hot, without buildup or context, like a two-second striptease.
孜然羊肉很好吃，闻起来像温暖的吸入剂。不过吃起来不像羊肉——所有难嚼的部分被小心去除，肉被拍松，煎得恰到好处，简直把食客当小孩对待。苦瓜外面裹着咸蛋黄，不过依然很苦；椒盐虾仁不知为何很硬实，周围是一圈硬硬的菜花茎。担担面不够让人信服：辣椒油只有辣味，而且一入口就觉得辣，没有回味或质感，就像两秒钟的脱衣舞。Still, the Bao is an appealing retreat from St. Marks Place, with its dark wood lattice ceiling, roughened cement walls and bamboo steamer lids repurposed as décor. On one wall hangs a bright, cartoon-inspired print (by the Sichuan-born avant-garde artist Yin Jun) of a man-child, head thrown back, mouth a-shriek, teardrops leaping from squeezed-shut eyes. The soundtrack tends, mysteriously, to Aerosmith.
不过，小笼包餐馆仍是圣马克街的一个迷人去处，它有着黑木格子天花板，粗糙的水泥墙，用作装饰品的竹蒸笼盖。一面墙上挂着一幅鲜艳的画作印刷品，作品以漫画为灵感，是由四川出生的先锋艺术家尹俊创作。画中的男孩头向后仰，厉声尖叫，泪水从紧闭的双眼中跳出。难以理解的是，餐馆的背景音乐是史密斯飞船乐队(Aerosmith)的。The brief section of the menu devoted to desserts fails to note that a number of dishes listed elsewhere would qualify, like fresh tomato soaked in sugar syrup until it tastes like watermelon; an egg yolk swimming in sweet rice wine; black sesame paste rolled in glutinous rice and submerged in an osmanthus-scented broth; and French-fry-like stubs of taro and sweet potato, tossed with sugar that is still caramelizing as the dish hits the table. Lift a piece with chopsticks, and the strands of sugar stretch and fractalize.
菜单上只给甜品留了一小块地方，其实列在其他版块的几道菜也算得上甜品，比如，吃起来像西瓜的糖汁番茄；醪糟蛋黄；桂花黑芝麻汤圆；糖炸芋头红薯卷上桌时，糖还在融化成焦糖。用筷子夹起一块，能拉出糖丝。But my table only had eyes for the xiao long bao filled with dark liquid chocolate and a dab of banana recognized in the aftermath. Yes, treat us like children. This is what we want.
但是我这桌只对巧克力酱小笼包感兴趣，吃完之后才意识到里面还有香蕉。是的，把我们当孩子对待。这正是我们想要的。The Bao
小笼包餐馆13 St. Marks Place (Third Avenue), East Village; 212-388-9238
东村圣马可广场（第三大道）13号；212-388-9238。RECOMMENDED Pork and pork-and-crab xiao long bao (soup dumplings); dry bean curd; shrimp with scrambled egg; black bean with pork and chives; sour string bean rice noodle soup; Sichuan chile-fried chicken; cumin lamb; Shanghai pan-fried noodles; taro and sweet potato with sugar; chocolate xiao long bao.
推荐菜：猪肉汤包和猪肉蟹肉汤包；豆腐干；虾仁炒蛋；回锅肉；酸豆角汤米粉；辣子鸡；孜然羊肉；上海炒面；糖炸芋头红薯卷；巧克力小笼包。PRICES $3.95 to $42.95, cash only.
价格：人均3.95美元至42.95美元，只收现金。OPEN Daily for lunch and dinner.
营业时间：每日午餐和晚餐。RESERVATIONS Not accepted.
预定：不接受预订。WHEELCHAIR ACCESS The entrance is up several steps. The restroom has a handrail.
轮椅设施：门口有几个台阶。洗手间有扶手。