Rick Nichols visits several spots north of Center City for his piece in yesterday’s Inquirer. He starts off with praise of Cafe Lift, crosses his fingers for Cafe Estelle, stops off to slam Root and ends at Zhi-Wei-Guan, a new restaurant in Chinatown that doesn’t really excite. All-in-all, an odd spin around that section of the city.

New cuisine heard from [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Philadining gets us so excited about the restaurants that come and go at 925 Race Street we’re beginning to wonder if he’s the landlord. This time it is Zhi Wei Guan, a restaurant specializing in Hangzhou cuisine and all things doughy. So yes, that means lots of noodles and dumplings, including soup dumplings.

It wasn’t long ago that we would bemoan the lack of good Xiao Long Bao in Philly, a few places had them, but they seemed to be pre-made, probably frozen, or even if not, they were lacking the delicacy of the truly great juicy buns. Now we have Dim Sum Garden, making very good ones, and Zhi Wei Guan which might be making my favorites right now. The first time I tried them, back in the spring, I thought the wrappers were too thick, and there wasn’t enough broth inside. I liked the flavor, but the overall texture and balance seemed off. In the intervening months, the chef had intensive training with a master chef visiting from China, and he told us they spent a whole day just on Xiao Long Bao technique. And I think it shows, the ones I had most recently were excellent, with delicate wrappers and a perfect soup-to-dough ratio.

Zhi Wei Guan – The Tao of Dough – Hangzhou Cuisine in Chinatown [The Philadining Blog]