THE PLACE: Mostly hidden from street view, Blue Blossom is a sleek new fancy Chinese restaurant steps away from Bryant Park. This restaurant comes from the owners of Che Li and Szechuan Mountain House, two excellent refined Chinese spots in the East Village. This is their first venture into the heart of Midtown. A long dining room leads to a window that reveals part of the kitchen where the magic happens.
THE MENU: As is often the case at restaurants like this, the menu is long and varied representing both Cantonese and Szechuan dishes. Bright photos bookmark the menu with things like Salted Baked Chicken and Hot Stone Braised Rice. It all looks so good and very tempting especially since the prices don’t overly reflect the lavish vibe. No question this is the kind of place to come with a group to order as much as possible.
THE DISH: Since I was riding solo, continually seeking out new dumplings, and can’t resist a sampler plate, I had to try the Signature Bao Platter. This was not my first time sampling one of these color coded soup dumpling baskets. But this was the first time I tried some really inventive and unusual XLB fillings like cheese and spicy mala beef.
The variety of fillings along with a doughy skin and a nice amount of soup make these some of the more exciting xiao long bao I’ve had in a while. The classic crab and pork pocket was nicely flavored and not too rich, but the colored dumplings were more exciting. The most interesting being the tangy cheese one mixed with a pork meatball (green). I loved the mildly spiced red Mala Beef with a subtle numbing flavor and big beefy notes. The yellow chicken was herbal and earthy, but my favorite had to be the jet black bao with aromatic black truffles amongst the pork meatball. Fun, tasty, and unique, these modern takes on soup dumplings are worth the visit. Price: $14
Does Blue Blossom have the best soup dumplings in NY? The traditional pork and crab is worthy, but the colorful speciality ones with all sorts of innovative fillings push them over the edge to an 8.5 out of 10.
| BLUE BLOSSOM |
| 108 West 39th Street (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Midtown West (646) 850-9999 |
| blue-blossomny.com |
