You know the food is bomb when queues are long..

I’ve been meaning to try this place for soo long but every time I make my way to chatswood, i’m always left sighing at the long line of people waiting to get in and i’m left feeling flustered from holding my shopping bags with tired feet from endlessly shopping like a crazy woman.

While being seated, it really makes me feel as though I am dining in china. The interior being decked out in Chinese furnishings and the atmosphere and voices of various Chinese dialects sends me a great vibe. With its beautiful teapots and lovely surroundings, the bowls and plates being oddly shaped are the only things that bring me back to reality of dining in a westernised country.

When staring at very populated menu, I am mesmerised by how different this cuisine is in comparison to the very familiar Cantonese cuisine i’m am indeed used to. Consider me a newbie in terms of this kind of this type of chinese cuisine, which I think is a bonus for those who really want to try something absolutely delicious, great value in terms of pocket savings, and of course who want to experience something completely new.!!!!

In comparison to Din Tai Fung, New Shanghai’s portion towers over DTF. If your dining with the total number of two people, keep in mind dumplings will fill you up that even I had to take the rest home in a container.

203. New shanghai pan fired pork buns (8 pieces) – Definite must have!!
Small fluffy puffs of gold. They’re soo cute and made so perfectly that i can imagine the pork bun pleading me not to eat it.

The bun has a slight noticeable sweetness to it that it makes you moan and melt in heaven. Soft and fluffy bun on the top and underneath is crunchy pan fried bottom.

Eating one of these is like unwrapping a present with total facial happiness! Inside consists of a hidden treasure of delicious pork mince that when bursting the pork bun open, tasty broth is seeps out of the buns which makes the experience pleasurable thanks to the pork being extremely tasty. *licks lips*

Love at first sight and love by first taste..
I LOVE U PORKY GOODNESS!

205. Panfried pork dumpling
Similar to the Xiao long bao but  is slightly thicker in texture. Dumplings are freshly made with a pan fried bottom and served piping hot. Inside is embedded with tasty pork mince with hot steamy broth which gushes out of these little gems!

Xiao long bao – steamed mini pork bun (dumplings) – definite must have
I’ve always been in love with xiao long bao. Every time I order these i get super excited that I forget its steaming hot. Parcels are soft and paper thin and inside again has flavoursome broth and tasty pork filling . Some like to eat this plain where as I enjoy this with chinese vinegar and slices of raw ginger.

Cong You being – Shallot Pancake
Shallot pancake is crunchy in the outside and fairly soft / firm in the middle. Great balance of shallot perfect if your up for something crunchy and delicious. Personally I thought these were much better than Shanghai Night in Ashfield.

Blue swimmer crab – deep fried and coated with salted egg
When the crab came rolling out, everyone started to stare and follow the dish out of the kitchen right to our table (thanks to the beautiful bright orange crab). At first I was thinking “OMG this is huge” but when it came down to eating it, we polished it off.

Crab was soft and a pleasure to eat. The shell was really soft that a crab cracker was not even needed. As for the crab meat, it melted in your mouth and was incredibly soft that you could suck the meat out easily.

The salted egg coating was delicious as it brought back memories of being a child where my dad would make home made salted egg to embed them in the center of sticky rice. Very much loved and all polished up and eaten!

Shepherd’s purse prawn and tofu soup
I had the cold earlier on in the week and I was in desperate need of something soupy. Looking around the room, everyone seemed to be ordering this dish which signaled to me that it was be god damn good.. and god damn good it was! I ate two – three bowls of this. Very comforting soup with bits of prawn. Definitely a soup to have this winter.

Nian gao – stir fried Chinese rice cake with shepherds purse and shredded pork
I’ve never been a fan of rice cake but I just had to try it thinking its traditional when coming to a Shanghai restaurant. If you’ve never had chinese rice cake before, its  a glutinous savoury meal which substitutes rice.

It’s slippery and chewy in texture and acts as a base like rice does. Personally, I think its heavier / more filling than rice. Having said this, its  simple, fresh and tasty with thin pieces of pork.

New Shanghai is great if your coming here with friends or family. Their round tables make it much more family and conversation friendly. Portion sizes I find are bigger and the prices are very reasonable. Definitely great comforting meal and definitely a different style of Asian cuisine that everyone should try!!!!! You’ll be surprised.

*pigged-out dined as a guest.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant
Lower Ground Level,
Chatswood Chase Food Court
P: (02) 9412 3358

Mon-Wed: 11.00am-9.00pm
Thurs: 11.00am-9.30pm
Fri: 11.00am-9.00pm
Sat: 11.00am-9.30pm
Sun: 11.00am-9.00pm

‘when a restaurant is packed with chinese customers, you know its gonna be good’

My family has a cantonese background and we’ve been coming here for years thanks to their cantonese cuisine. We’d usually come here for dinner which is always packed out so always make a reservation! Stand out dishes for me is their awesome steamed FISH!! (that’s another story). Outside the restaurant, you’ll notice articles published in the paper and a couple of awards they’ve won over the years and good on them for keeping up with the quality of food for a long time!

Hurstville is one of those areas which i forget about that exists. If you’ve never been there before, its a mini chinatown. Due to the crappy eastern suburbs flood / horrible rainy weather, my sister and I took my parents out to one of their favourite soup lunches which was not only soothing, but also cheap and comforting during the dull, cold and miserable wet winter weather.

Shallot Pancake
Shallot pancake is different to the more common ones which is flat and cut into pizza triangles. This shallot pancake held the shape of a crossiant and sliced into thirds (you may have seen this on yum cha trolley).

Crunchy and fragile on the outside, while the inside had many thin layers which was soo soft, lite and delicious.  I couldn’t get enough of it!!!

Soup for under $10

Soups are really really filling that we’re always left super full. The dumplings are huge and they give you a good portion that you wont be leaving hungry. I think all their soups / congee  are $8.90 (from memory) but to be safe i’ll round it up to $10 LOL.

Great thing I love about their soups is that, the wontons / gow gee are really tasty, they’re big, and most importantly.. they don’t over fill the bowl with too many noodles like other soup places do to scum on the fillings.

Combination (pork mince, prawn and chinese mushroom) gow gee
I didn’t want noodles in my soup mainly because their soups are sooo filling. (I can never finish a bowl of soup to myself).

Dumplings are really big! (10 dumplings all up)! It took me a while to figure out how I was going to eat it because of its size. I managed to eat it eventually and boy I was stuffed!

Beef brisket & wonton noodle soup
This seems to be the ultimate favourite with the family. 90% of us seem to order this and come here for this particular soup. Its one of those dishes which is loved too much to choose something different.

Its got super tender beef which melts in your mouth and jiggly tendons (i’m no fan of tendons which is why i don’t order it) but hey the beef is bomb, the wontons are huge and its great to know they don’t over fill bowl with too many noodles.

Hurstville Chinese Restaurant
184 Forest Rd,
Hurstville NSW 2220
P: (02) 9586 0828?