I was fortunate enough to have been invited to lunch at the newly opened Paradise Dynasty branch at SM Aura the other day.
The highlight of the meal was of course, the Chili Crab Xiao Long Bao, which I can’t get enough of!
I’ve already blogged a lot about Paradise Dynasty here and here and here, so I won’t elaborate on the other dishes anymore. Paradise Dynasty’s latest branch is at SM Aura, and they just opened a few weeks ago. It is located at the second floor, across from Uniqlo.
CHILI CRAB XIAO LONG BAO – AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY
The Chili Crab Xiao Long Bao is P540 for 5 pcs. That is a bit on the high side even comparing it to other Paradise Dynasty xiao long baos, where you can get 10 pcs of the original XLB for P298. But, is it worth it? A whiff of this Chili Crab Xiao Long Bao is enough to take me back to memories of Singapore. From what I could pry out of our host, they have a special chef from Singapore who is handling this Chili Crab Xiao Long Bao. That’s why it’s only available for a limited time and ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE SM AURA BRANCH.
So, this is what it looks like – it has a distinctive half-white, half-red design.
Here’s the inside: soupy chili crab soup and whole pieces of crab meat! Wow! I expected just ground up meat with some spicy crab soup but this was beyond my expectations.
Taste: It really tastes like chili crab! It is mildly spicy, very soupy and has whole, sweet crab meat. It’s very flavorful. I want to eat a whole pile of it 🙂 I did not get any crab shells from the ones I ate – I notice these things because I often notice shells in other crab meat dishes like crab cakes – so this is plus points for Paradise Dynasty 🙂
So, is it worth the P540 price tag? Bye bye P540, because next time, I’m getting a whole order just for myself. To be honest, it’s expensive, but I wantsssss it! I really want it. So I’ll just try not to think of the price while eating and consider it a splurge. Just one whole order of this for myself, one Dan Dan Noodles for sharing, and the Charcoal Custard Lava Bun for dessert and I’m good:)
We were begging our host to make the Chili Crab Xiao Long Bao available in other Paradise Dynasty branches, too. The answer is: for the mean time, it’s only available at the SM Aura branch, but we’ll see. I really hope it becomes a menu staple in all branches 🙂
Paradise Dynasty SM Aura
Second Floor, SM Aura Premier, C5 Road Corner 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paradisedynastyph/
