I usually head to Din Tai Fung whenever I’m in Sydney for their dumplings, particularly the xiao long bao, but a friend mentioned she goes to another dumpling place that’s cheaper and better. I’m always up for trying new (and cheaper) places so I was happy to go along. We headed to World Square’s Taste of Shanghai. Love the photos of dumplings and other items on the menu. The 5 of us were all sharing so we picked a variety of dishes. Prices are considerably cheaper than Din Tai Fung.
We ordered the normal Shanghai pork xiao long bao ($8.80 for 8 pieces) these weren’t bad but I’m still leaning more towards Din Tai Fung as my favorite for those bad boys.
The great thing about Taste of Shanghai is that there are 5 varieties of xiao long bao. We ordered the spicy crab xiao long bao ($7.80 for 6 pieces) which was a big hit with everyone at the table. Unfortunately, this went down the wrong way quickly causing a coughing frenzy from the chilli. As a result, I can’t really comment much on this, but that it was a favourite for most people.
The braised pork in sticky rice dumplings ($7.80 for 6 pieces) were literally glutinous rice stuffed into dumpling skins. Not that flavoursome and pretty plain. I don’t think there was any pork in them at all.
The pan seared pork dumplings ($9.80 for 8 pieces) were huge and I loved the slightly browned crunchiness at the bottom and the fact that there was soup inside! The downside is that the dumpling mince was very plain with no herbs or anything else mixed through it.
The poached pork and chive dumplings ($8.80 for 12 pieces) were pretty average, nothing special, but cheap for 12 pieces.
I thought the seafood stir-fried noodle ($13.80) had too much soy sauce and it was very oily. Not the best I’ve had.
The stir-fried broccoli with mixed veggies ($15.80) were fresh, crisp and tasty. Happy with this dish but I’m surprised that this was the most expensive dish out of everything we ordered.
I was pleased that my watermelon frappe ($4.80) was made of fresh watermelon juice. I couldn’t taste any added sugar (hopefully it was just natural watermelon).
Service isn’t that attentive and you really have to make eye contact to wave someone down, however food is quick to come out, dumplings are steaming in the bamboo steamers and it’s cheap.
Foodgasm 5.5/10
