紐約東村的小籠包 異域他鄉的中國風情

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.

把灌湯小籠包夾起來的一刻真是讓人提心吊膽，只希望不要把皮弄破濺出裏面美味的湯汁。這個小籠包的皮很嬌嫩，但是不會破，至少夾子的小齒沒把它夾破。它完好無損地落在勺子上，豐盈飽滿，毫不鬆垮，像舞會禮服一樣挺括。從頂上輕輕咬一口，看着熱氣冒出來；啜飲裏面的肉湯，肉湯的量剛好夠你品味，然後整個吃下。

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.

小籠包餐館(The Bao)今年7月在東村開業。這裏的灌湯小籠包幾近完美（菜單上說這需要功夫，不是指武術，而是指熟練的技藝是通過練習和磨練而成）。肉湯是豬肉高湯凍在蒸包子的過程中融化成的。本市的其他小籠包爲了防止肉汁漏出，包子皮大多較厚；而這裏的包子皮非常薄，像是用來盛放而非保護肉湯的。小籠包裏面的碎豬肉餡鬆散柔軟，像是也快要融化了。我確實希望肉湯能更濃郁一些，但是這裏離上海那麼遠，我已經知足了。

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.

小籠包餐館是老闆洪寶（音譯）兩年半前在皇后區法拉盛開的功夫小籠包餐館(Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao)的分店。兩家店的點心製作都由她監管，但是除了各種經典湯包——豬肉湯包以及著名的豬肉蟹肉湯包——這兩家餐館大相徑庭。東村這家店推陳出新，有放在辣椒上的小籠包，期待年輕人和酒醉之人大膽一試；還有加入芥末的湯包，算是向附近的日本僑民致意。

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.)

菜單上的其他美食都是最熱門的中國菜，既有辛辣的川菜和湘菜，也有經典粵菜和臺灣特色小吃。大多都很美味：用細香蔥、鹹豆豉炒的蒜味豬肉塊；賣相很好的五香豆腐乾；酸豆角米粉是把酸豆角切成小圈，放入酸米粉湯裏；辣子雞的雞肉像羽毛一樣輕，裏面的乾紅辣椒似乎比雞肉還多；用歷史悠久的醬油、芝麻油和糖混合調料拌的麪條；蝦仁炒蛋的蝦仁中攙入了紹興米酒，炒蛋十分嫩滑，筷子不好夾（我把剩下的打包帶回家，吃的時候依然很滑）。

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，聞起來像溫暖的吸入劑。不過吃起來不像羊肉——所有難嚼的部分被小心去除，肉被拍鬆，煎得恰到好處，簡直把食客當小孩對待。苦瓜外面裹着鹹蛋黃，不過依然很苦；椒鹽蝦仁不知爲何很硬實，周圍是一圈硬硬的菜花莖。擔擔麪不夠讓人信服：辣椒油只有辣味，而且一入口就覺得辣，沒有回味或質感，就像兩秒鐘的脫衣舞。

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.

不過，小籠包餐館仍是聖馬克街的一個迷人去處，它有着黑木格子天花板，粗糙的水泥牆，用作裝飾品的竹蒸籠蓋。一面牆上掛着一幅鮮豔的畫作印刷品，作品以漫畫爲靈感，是由四川出生的先鋒藝術家尹俊創作。畫中的男孩頭向後仰，厲聲尖叫，淚水從緊閉的雙眼中跳出。難以理解的是，餐館的背景音樂是史密斯飛船樂隊(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.

菜單上只給甜品留了一小塊地方，其實列在其他版塊的幾道菜也算得上甜品，比如，吃起來像西瓜的糖汁番茄；醪糟蛋黃；桂花黑芝麻湯圓；糖炸芋頭紅薯捲上桌時，糖還在融化成焦糖。用筷子夾起一塊，能拉出糖絲。

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.

但是我這桌只對巧克力醬小籠包感興趣，吃完之後才意識到裏面還有香蕉。是的，把我們當孩子對待。這正是我們想要的。

The Bao

小籠包餐館

13 St. Marks Place (Third Avenue), East Village; 212-388-9238

東村聖馬可廣場（第三大道）13號；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.

推薦菜：豬肉湯包和豬肉蟹肉湯包；豆腐乾；蝦仁炒蛋；回鍋肉；酸豆角湯米粉；辣子雞；孜然羊肉；上海炒麪；糖炸芋頭紅薯卷；巧克力小籠包。

PRICES $3.95 to $42.95, cash only.

價格：人均3.95美元至42.95美元，只收現金。

OPEN Daily for lunch and dinner.

營業時間：每日午餐和晚餐。

RESERVATIONS Not accepted.

預定：不接受預訂。

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS The entrance is up several steps. The restroom has a handrail.

輪椅設施：門口有幾個臺階。洗手間有扶手。