Posted by KB on July 27, 2010
There is something you should know about New Shanghai: it’s in a food court. But please, oh please don’t let that put you off. I’m not going to say that the food makes up for the location, because it doesn’t need to.
New Shanghai has taken a corner of Chatswood Chase, put some walls around it and created a glossy vision of 1930s Shanghai last seen in Hollywood. It’s a sea of red and black that evokes an (albeit clean) authentic Shanghai street, right down to the cobblestone floor and the pushbike resting against the front door.
The menu (a large paper number which doubles as our placemat for the evening) is divided up into cold dishes, dim sim, noodles & rice, and main dishes. A friend has told us we must try the New Shanghai pan-fried pork bun (the restaurant’s specialty), but the waitress is so persuasive in her suggestions that we end up ordering the pan-fried pork dumplings. The crescent moon shaped dumplings come with the cute warning “these dumplings have delicious hot broth in them”, and they’re right on both counts. We also order the shallot pancake, a perennial favourite among our table, and this is up there with the best. It’s crisp, golden and most importantly, generously seasoned, a step that so many restaurants tend to overlook.
A main of braised pork belly arrives in a large clay pot. The serving is quite a bit smaller than its vessel, but once you taste how rich it is, you’ll realise it’s just the right size. The waitress warns us that it might be a bit fatty (isn’t that the point of pork belly?), but with a slow cook over night in soy sauce, it’s simply melt-in-your-mouth goodness. The rainbow beef on the other hand is a mountainous serving, a generous pile of skinny beef strips coated in sesame and sweet & sour sauce. It’s not the star of the show but the bite-sized, chewy, sticky, spicy morsels are unbelievably moreish. The only regret of the evening is that, with only two of us, we couldn't order more.
new shanghai, chatswood chase, chinese, dumplings, restaurant