My recent explorations have indicated that Ashfield is the dumpling capital of Sydney. I, personally, am a big fan of genuine Chinese cuisine in the form of these little pan fried packets of goodness.
Being in the area, I decided to head to Taste of Shanghai Restaurant, a restaurant that always seems to be teeming with people.
Virtually every meal I’ve had in Ashfield has included at least one serving of dumplings. This meal was no exception. Rather than run with the usual dumplings and xiao long bao combo, we ordered a serving of dumplings and whatever looked interesting or appetising.
Being a predominantly Asian suburb, the waiters in Ashfield have the ability to speak English but tend to default to speaking Mandarin. To practice my “pu tong hua”, I decided to immerse myself in the culture and order in Chinese. I began my order by pointing to the nice glossy picture of Pork dumplings and said “Wo yao zhe ge” (I would like this). With the first order done, the next challenge was ordering the Chilli Bamboo chicken and unfortunately there was no glossy picture in the menu. So in my broken Mandarin, I muttered, “Wo yao ji” (I want chicken). The waitress paused, gave me a confused look and replied in English, “Huh?.... Chilli??”.
I took that as a hint and ordered the rest in English.
The first thing that arrived were the pan fried pork dumplings.
Now, an experienced dumplingtier would know, often through the hard way, that the insides of dumplings are generally burning hot upon serving.
So it's always wise to:
a) Wait a few minutes before eating, which admittedly, can be difficult on an empty stomach OR
b) Strategically applying a series of small bites on the dumpling. This serves 2 purposes. To avoid getting burnt and any reducing soup splashback
Big Al, a seasoned dumpling eater, forgot these facts and in a desperate attempt to satisfy his hunger, eagerly bit into the freshly fried dumpling. The result? A burnt lip and later, the dumpling got a second dose of revenge when Big Al took a bite and it squirted soup all over his white shirt.
My experience was much less painful. The dumplings themselves had a nice crisp skin, which is what you want in the pan fried variety. The skin was also slightly thicker and floury than normal. The need for this became apparent after the first bite when more soup than normal poured out.
A common mistake I encounter when ordering dumplings at any venue, particularly fried ones, is undercooked meat. This place had no such issues as the pork was well cooked and coupled with the soup, was pretty tasty.
The next dish was the “Shui mai”. This was much different to the Cantonese version you get at yum cha (with shrimp, pork and mushrooms) and was basically glutinous rice in an open dumpling.
The presentation was interesting which was what initially drew us to the dish.
The taste however, was nice but lacked any other ingredient besides glutinous rice and dumpling wrap. For the same price, I'd prefer to go with another serve of dumplings.
Our last dish, the one I struggled to order in Chinese, was the Chilli Bamboo chicken, served in a bamboo cone with whole chillis, shallots and peanuts, garnished with sprouts.
If you want to be able to cook one good dish, learn how to season well and deep fry.
As expected, the first bite was fantastic. Salty, crispy, deep fried chicken isn’t the most technical dish and pretty hard to mess up. The second,third and forth pieces were nearly as good but by the time I got to the fifth piece, as expected, I started to feel sick. Probably best to share this one between 3 or 4 people to avoid the sick feeling from eating so much oil.
Overall, the food was pretty good. The only unexpected surprise of the meal was at the end. The bill came up to just over $40. Pretty standard for dinner but a touch expensive for a Chinese meal shared between two.
Taste of Shanghai Restaurant
264 Liverpool Road
Ashfield, NSW, 2131
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