Taste Of Shanghai

I went with my friend about 4pm after the funeral service. The restaurant itself were empty, but limited service is provided. Food arrived on the table very quick. As I am an ice milk tea lover, there were no ice in my drink, but it is cool though. Spicy beef brisket noodles, so yummy and tasty;stir fried green beans with mince pork is a must dish (just can’t stop eating it, so crunch and tasty);Shanghai xia long bao not the best one i’ve ever had, it’s a bit too try on the skin, the filling just like sth is missing.
However, it is worth for tryig the food itself (if uare not looking for the service aspect). It’s very close to the autheic chinese food.

Tried this place in Rowe street Eastwood on Tuesday night with 3 friends!
My first impression was very good! A friendly welcome and fairly full restaurant… we were the only non Asians in the place. that tells me I, m in the right place for a good feed! My girlfriends Chinese so she’s shown me what authentic Chinese food is! This place served intestines and all the goodies. but seeing as I was with 3 conservative Aussies I didn’t indulge. lol
Between the 4 of us we shared xiao long Bao as a starter. Then we had the 3 course Peking duck. we got the usual duck pancakes, then shredded duck noodles, and finally salt and pepper duck! All courses we great.
We also shared Sticky sweet and sour pork chops. best sweet and sour I, Ve eaten. not the typical Aussie sweet and sour. and also a combination fried rice. all very delicious. our table had 5 beers and 3 pots of tea. Cost us $ 135
Very reasonably priced for what we ate!
Try it out sometime I think most of you would be impressed !

Came here for dinner with 6 other people and we had to wait for about 30 minutes. I took this as a good sign as the food had to be somewhat appealing. After eating several delicious dishes (crispy pork bun, steamed shanghai bun, eggplants meat mince, shredded pork noodles, red bean pancake, this crispy fish dish) I decided that this place was great. The service was horrible but I would just say that was because the restaurant was beyond packed on the Sunday night.

Out of all the New Shanghai chain stores this is by far the worst. Bad enough for me to not even bother taking photos.
After spending quite a bit of time in Europe I was desperate and craving for some dumplings when I got home. Taste of Shanghai not only came no where close but if just made my cravings stronger. I just wanted to jump on a plane back to Shanghai to the wonderfully cheap and delicious tasting xiao long bao’s at lin long fang.
I see other people have talked about the service here as well so I’m not going to bother even going down that dangerous path.
Think I need to head over to dtf now to get my fix.

This restaurant is very popular in Eastwood, its probably the only one I have seen that has a lunch time queue. So get there before noon or else you’ll have to wait.
The look and feel is pretty grimy: paint cracking off and ceiling tiles are very dirty, it must have looked decent when it first opened. Cleanliness is pretty bad too, there were food residue on the bowls and tea cups. The layout is very poor, remember that Facebook game Restaurant City? these guys applied it in real life by stacking as many tables as possible in there.
These ones (Pan-​Fry Pork Buns) were the best, we had to wait for them but they are worth the wait (well not too long). As you can imagine, once they did arrive (at least you know they are freshly made, or freshly fried: p), the dough element was very good indeed. Soft on top with a crispy base, the liquid was tasty but the pork filing was a little too fatty.
Shanghai Xiao Long Bao — a classic but had something missing. No wow-​factor about them.
The Poached Pork Dumplings in Chili Oil were quite different. The dough texture is more chewy and slippery.
Conclusion
This place is a no thrills, no cleanliness and no service joint. It’s only worth trying if you’re in the area already and have massive dumpling cravings. I guess they offer pretty good value (price list) and you really get what you pay for and even more including artifacts of the previous meal.
@thesydneynoob

Y u so packed on weeknight Taste of Shanghai?
But nah, this was actually a very good sign, the locals love this joint. Yeah it was a wait, but who cares when the food is this good. We came for the duck, but it was sold out — curses! Shoulda came, like, earlier. Instead we jagged a sensational watercress and beansprout salad — never had before, will be back just for this fella — spicy pork dumplings, cold salt duck (better than it sounds), all drowned in about a billion reorders of green tea. Why do I drink so much of this at Chinese restaurants, but never outside? It’s like localised crack. Service is a bit meh but hey, it’s a Chinese restaurant, they’ve got standards to keep up to.

Customer service isn’t their strong point here and would probably say its poorer than some of the places I’ve been in Asia where there’s no such thing as customer service.
So going to places like this, some would say its all about the food… Well, there’s better places in Sydney to go than here… Better places in Eastwood where food is pretty much on par and service is way better!
Wouldn’t go back and would rather buy the dumplings frozen and cook them at home myself. Hankering for handmade noodles in Eastwood, head to Sea Bay down the road.

I wouldn’t go back to this restaurant if you paid me to.
The service was by far the worst I have ever experienced and the food was inconsistent and below average at best.
The staff could be described as incompetent, rude or lazy.

I love xiao long boa, but I never get to eat it because it’s made out of pork. No… I don’t eat pork not because of religious reason; it’s because I’ve dissected a little pig in high school. Here, they have lots of xiao long bao options; one of which is beef and basil. I was expecting the flavor and taste of basil to over power the beef; however, that was not the case. The basil adds a refreshing hint of lemon/​lime taste to the beef. The dough was thin, light, and not to doughy at all.
We also ordered stir fry garlic vegetable which was way too salty. I would suggest you ask them to go light on the salt if you want some stir fry vegetables.
One of the other good dish is sour cabbage whole fish soup. The fish was very fresh and the sourness was just right. However, again, there was too much salt in the soup. Ask them to go light on the salt if you don’t normally eat salty food.
Tip: Ask them to ask less salt!

Food is average, and service takes a while and it’s not even busy.

Excellent food, really good price and fast and fast service.

We came here for lunch, had steamed dumplings, pan fried buns and radish pastries. Food was ok for the value (taste and serving size). Service is lousy, but doable — once it’s busy, hard to get service.

It has been quite a while since I have been back to Eastwood, and yet as lunch time drew near there was only one thing on my mind.
Pan-​Fried Pork Buns!!!
So naturally I sought them out. Finding the restaurant, by chance or instinct, I noticed straight away something was different. Walking inside this popular dim sum joint it was… quiet.
90% of the tables were full, and everyone was happily eating away, but it strangely peaceful. Seems they have spent some serious $$ on a refurbishment. The inside of this place that resembled more of a food court before, is now slick and shiny.
As I was here for one thing, when the waiter came over, the choice had to be pork buns. When they arrived, they were just as good as I remembered. So amazingly juicy inside, if you are not careful, they will explode across the table (happened to me twice). Eventually I found the only way that the. juice could be tamed was to put the entire bun in my mouth. The juice was not going to escape again… :-) Apparently though for people who want to eat it «correctly» you should bite off the folds at the top first and then consume it (though I like my method better).
The only issue I had while here was trying to order for 1 person. It just was not going to happen. Obviously coming to a dim sum place you’d normally come with 3 – 4 ppl, thus not being able to have a half order of pork buns (8 peices) won’t be an issue for anyone else.
This place is great. If in Eastwood, be sure to check it out.