How this dumpling at South Coast Plaza became a sold-out viral sensation

Paradise Dynasty is known for its rotating xiao long bao flavors. The variety and odes to Singapore are what set the xiao long bao restaurant apart from its competitors. (That, and Paradise Dynasty’s flaky radish stuffed pastry, which is extremely popular with South Coast Plaza influencers and food writers.) Paradise Dynasty’s U.S. flagship location launched a collaboration with Phởholic on March 4 to produce phở xiao long bao, or phở XLB. Since then, it’s been selling out daily.

The collab went viral. TikTok, Instagram, old-fashioned word-of-mouth recommendations propelled this collaboration, making it the most successful seasonal flavor to date. Now, according to the restaurant’s spokesperson, the phở XLB is selling out within 2 to 3 hours after the restaurant opens.

For diners familiar with Phởholic’s phở, this is not really a surprise. Phởholic boasts its own cult following and is listed on the California Michelin guide. It also has a location beneath Paradise Dynasty, on the ground floor of Collage, a two-story dining collective housed inside Bloomingdale’s South Coast Plaza. Though Phởholic’s third location feels upscale, the shop has humble roots in Little Saigon.

Owners Gordon and Cathy Pham expanded the shop with Gordon Pham’s parents’ blessing. It was their family recipe that made Phởholic successful. Gordon dreamed of expansion so he could have more people try his family’s phở. Now people line up for Phởholic’s steaming hot beef phở at its second location at Rodeo 39 in Stanton. Its most glamorous storefront at South Coast Plaza features individual partitions inspired by the ramen houses in Japan.

“With Orange County being home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam and with Phởholic being our neighbor here at South Coast Plaza, we thought it would be the perfect pairing to serve their popular phở in soup dumpling form,” said Desmond Boey, U.S. Director of Operations for Paradise Dynasty in a statement.

The phở XLB recipe took months to perfect but the result is comfortingly delectable. Phởholic’s 14-hour bone broth combined with tender bits of beef enveloped in a half green-hued soup dumpling arrives in a steaming basket with six dumplings. Its served with phở accouterments such as sriracha, Phởhoilic’s housemade hoisin sauce, and lime. Guests flavor their soup dumplings similar to how one customizes a bow of phở.

“We love soup dumplings and seeing the appreciation for phở being expressed in another creative culinary way is so fun,” said Gordon Pham, owner of Phởholic in a statement. “It’s full of authentic phở aroma and flavor — we hope everyone loves it, too.”

Due to overwhelming demand for the phở XLB at Paradise Dynasty, the restaurant announced March 13 that guests would be limited to two baskets each. The launch price was too enticing. At $4.99 per basket, diners were ordering upwards of 10 baskets of phở XLB. But Paradise Dynasty’s kitchen team wasn’t prepared for the demand. Plus no one expected for the collaboration to go viral.

“The response has been amazing and phở XLB is by far the runaway favorite of all the limited edition XLB flavors we’ve done so far — we are approaching 5,000 pho soup dumplings being made per week,” said Desmond Boey, U.S. Director of Operations for Paradise Dynasty, in an email. “We didn’t expect such demand and we are a little overwhelmed and selling out almost daily since we can only make a limited amount per day in addition to the 85+ other items on our menu. We have some guests who are ordering 10 baskets of phở XLB at a time and even had one guest order 18 baskets! And we also have guests ordering several baskets when they come dine in and then ordering even more to take home. But we are thrilled that people seem to be loving this collab so far with Phởholic. We would recommend that guests arrive as early as possible to avoid the item being sold out later in the day. And luckily pho XLB will be available until April 30th, so there’s plenty of time left to try!”

On March 16, the price was raised to $7.99 a basket with a limit of two baskets per table for the first 100 table. Each additional basket is $14. The special is available for the first 100 parties/tables daily through April 30. After the first 100 parties, the cost will be $14 per basket on a first-come, first-served basis, while supplies last.

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