New Shanghai, Melbourne CBD (by invitation) by Obelix

Almost a year ago, the Bureaucrat was invited to the opening of New Shanghai. See her post here.  It's very heartening to see almost a year down the track, the place is doing a roaring trade with queues waiting to get in for it's famed authentic dumplings and other Shanghainese specialities.


R and I were placed in the capable hands of Michelle, our waitress who suggested a few dumplings as starters.  It would be remiss of us to not start with New Shanghai's legendary xiao long baos...these tender morsels of pork and soup wrapped in silken pastry.  They were sublime and one of the better xiao long baos I have ever had.  The soup/broth within was light and delicate as was the wrapper.

Personally, I would never walk past a pork pot sticker either...so here's another 'must try'.  These was lovely and burnished underneath with just the right amount to filling to dough ratio.  I have had a few stodgy pot stickers in my time but this was no stodge.

R on the other hand, cannot walk past a chilli wanton without salivating.  So we had the New Shanghai's version.  This was filled with huge chunks of prawn within and the sauce was a combination of chilli, peanut and sesame sauce.  It was definite a different flavour combo than the usual chilli sauce.  Different but judged on its own merit, delightful.  The cucumber slices undercut the creaminess of the peanut sauce.  R was very pleased with it and took some home.

These pan fried pork and crab buns were a meal in itself.  Like the pot stickers, it had a lovely burnished base and if I wasn't so full, I would have made short work of it all.  Thankfully Michelle wrapped up the left overs for me to take home to properly savour it...mmm...dinner tonight!

New Shanghai isn't just about dumplings, as wonderful as their dumplings are.  They also do authentic northern style rice and noodle dishes.  Michelle suggested the crispy skin chicken with soup noodles and we had utmost faith in her choice.  The chicken was indeed crispy skinned and deboned (for ease of stuffing the whole lot in one's mouth),  It came with a sweet chilli dipping sauce and rice noodles in broth.  Real comfort food.

Once again we placed ourselves in Michelle's capable hands and she chose our desserts for us.  R had the mango pudding which featured a creamy almost pannacotta like base with mango puree on top.

I had a more traditional style Chinese dessert of tong shui.  It was snow fungus and papaya served warm.  It was obviously lovingly slow cooked as the snow fungus was practically gelatinous.  This too was a real Winter comfort food.

Well of course, there was a pot of Jasmine tea to aid digestion...

Verdict:  We loved it.

Overall
New Shanghai is not just a place for authentic dumplings.  They have all sorts of Shanghainese specialities and evident from the queues that gather, they do them very well.  The service is fast paced and friendly.  Conveniently located in the Emporium, very handy to rest your heels and grab a bite in between shopping adventures.