Those living south-side can now access more dumplings from Shanghai Dumpling King at the Erindale shops in Tuggeranong. This is the sister restaurant to Shanghai Dumpling Cafe in Acton / Civic.
The restaurant is much smaller than the Acton version, probably about half the size. Clean and simple with a feature wall of smooth timber panelling. The dumpling menu consists or pork, beef, chicken, seafood and vegetarian. You then get to pick how you want the dumplings cooked – chicken soup (15 pieces), chilli oil chicken soup (15 pieces), with noodles in chicken soup (8 pieces), bamboo steamed, peanut butter sauce, pan fried (15 pieces) or in spicy and sour soup (15 pieces). You can also choose wontons instead of dumplings.
I headed there for dinner with food blogger – the lovely Tales of a Confectionist. The xiao long bao were a must try. At $11.50 for 8 pieces, it only took about 10 minutes to arrive at our table. We both agree that nothing compares to Din Tai Fung. Though the soup was nice, I found the mince not as flavoursome and the dumpling skin too thick and not as translucent (though it did hold the soup well).
Next we chose the seafood pan fried dumplings ($13) which were very hot. I could taste bits of fish balls in the dumplings so there must have been a combination of seafood balls rolled into a mince. The skin was yummy and slightly charred on the bottom just how I like them.
Shanghai fried noodles ($12.50) were next. The menu states these are a traditional Shanghai-style fried noodles stir fried with pak choy and sliced chicken in a soya sauce flavour. I was really happy with the thick noodles and enjoyed slurping them down, spaghetti-style. Not too much chicken but that suited me fine. I prefer more noodles anyway.
For dessert, we shared the pancake filled with red bean paste ($9.50). This came out crispier than I’m used to.
There was a generous portion of sweet red bean paste thickly slathered in between the crispy pastry. Yum, it hit the spot. I still would have preferred a thicker more pancake-y pastry.
Although the xiao long bao are not the best, Shanghai Dumpling King offers a variety of dumplings at pretty cheap prices. Everything on the menu is under $15. I noticed a lot of locals coming in to collect their take away Chinese food. Service is friendly and tap water is provided and refilled.
Shanghai Dumpling King is on Gartside Street, adjacent to the Schnitzel Haus, and across the road from Goodberry’s (where we headed to for more dessert!)
Foodgasm 6/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 22/30
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