SHANGHAI: A sleek upscale shopping mall was the last place I expected to find the most delectable little soup dumplings in Shanghai.

The unwritten canon of Asia food travel decrees that the best, most authentic things to eat are found only in funky street dives - what one Shanghai friend of mine calls "flip-flop" places. Cramped formica-top tables shared with strangers, and surly waiters? Terrific. Folding tables on the sidewalk, communal plastic chopsticks stuffed in a glass, no napkins? Give me that address.

My serendipitous shopping mall moment came during a recent trip to Shanghai, on a three-day quest to find the best xiao long bao (little basket dumplings) in the city that invented them. The xiao long bao is famous with foodies worldwide, and thanks to Internet food sites and blogs I was well-equipped with a list of on and off-the-track suggestions. I also had a good supply of every Asia food traveler's must-have accessory: mini-packages of Kleenex tissues, for wiping away unexpected spurts of the intensely rich broth that's the occupational hazard for a Shanghai soup-dumpling fanatic.

The Shanghai dumpling, an elegant culinary achievement masquerading as a humble snack, consists of a ball of minced pork (sometimes with an added dollop of crab or crab roe), wrapped in a pleated flour dough skin, which is then steamed. But every xiao lung bao also holds a delightful surprise: there's a spoonful of hot soup, made from chicken or pork, sometimes both, inside.

The invention is attributed to cooks at the original Nanxiang restaurant in Shanghai's Jiading district, who figured out how to mix small chunks of cooled, soldified broth gelée into the minced pork filling. (When the dumplings are steamed, the gelatin liquefies back to soup.) Successful execution involves a labor-intensive balancing act of timing, texture and temperature. There is a lot that can go wrong. The dumpling must be assembled on the spot (aficionados insist it must be prepared and steamed only after you order it), or it will be starchy. The flour wrapper, in the wrong hands, can turn out doughy and thick, or thin and breakable, the meatballs too rubbery, the soup too abundant or greasy.