Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao - Michelin Recommend Handmade Dumplings

Buried on the second floor of Chinatown Complex Food Centre, stall #02-135 doesn’t look like much — a narrow counter flanked by towers of bamboo steamers, sacks of flour stacked against the wall, and a hawker working at full tilt. But the snaking queue gives it away.

Zhong Guo La Mian Xiao Long Bao has become one of the most talked-about stalls in Singapore’s most competitive hawker centre, pulling in regulars, tourists, and Michelin Guide editors alike with handmade dumplings that punch well above their price point.

Xiao Long Bao

The signature that started it all. Each bao is assembled by hand at the stall — the dough rolled, the skin cut, and a ball of minced pork with frozen stock carefully pleated into a tight parcel. Steam the parcels and that frozen stock melts into hot soup, which is precisely what makes a proper XLB work.

The boss, Mr Li Feng Cai, maintains that the soup stock is boiled for over 12 hours —and that depth of flavour shows. The broth is clean and robustly meaty with a slight sweetness, the pork filling is well-seasoned, and the skin is translucent-thin without being fragile. At $7 for 10 pieces — sixty-odd cents a bao — it’s a proposition that’s hard to argue with. The honest caveat: those expecting Din Tai Fung-style soup bombs will find these leaner on liquid, but the flavour of what’s there is concentrated and satisfying.

Guo Tie (Pan-Fried Dumplings)

The pan-fried dumplings are the reason many in the know skip the XLB queue entirely. Each piece arrives with a shatteringly crisp, golden-brown base — the result of a proper pan-fry that creates a lacquered crust while keeping the top of the dumpling soft and yielding. The filling is a generous pork and Chinese leek mixture, juicy and savoury, with enough structural integrity to hold together past that first bite. Dipped in black vinegar with julienned ginger, or taken with the stall’s house chilli, they disappear fast. At roughly $5 for a serve, they represent some of the best value dumpling eating in the city.

Szechuan Spicy Wantons (Hong You Chao Shou)

The Szechuan dumplings in red chilli oil manage to be sweet, sour, spicy and savoury all at once — a balancing act that takes more skill than it looks. Plump wantons, silky-skinned and generously filled, arrive bathed in a brick-red chilli oil sauce that clings and coats. They work as a foil to the cleaner flavours of the XLB, and many regulars order both. Priced at around $5 for 10 pieces.

Hand-Pulled La Mian

The stall also offers hand-pulled noodles across several preparations — zha jiang mian (noodles with black bean meat sauce) and dan dan mian among them. The noodles are made fresh, with the kind of springy, chewy texture that dried noodles can’t replicate. The dan dan mian comes rich in peanut flavour with a thick broth and generous minced meat toppings. At $3.50–$4.50 a bowl, they make for a solid supporting order if the wait time allows.

The stall currently draws the longest queue in Chinatown Complex — no small feat in a food centre with over 200 stalls. That queue is the product of consistency: everything is made by hand at the stall, every service. The Michelin Guide recognition formalised what regulars already knew, and the prices have remained hawker-honest despite the attention. Come early, come hungry, and mentally commit to the wait. It’s worth it.

Address: Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Blk 335 Smith Street, #02-135, Singapore 050335
Operating Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11:30am–3pm and 5pm–8:30pm; closed Monday and Tuesday (please verify before visiting)
Nearest MRT: Chinatown / Maxwell (approx. 5-minute walk)