Taste of Shanghai, World Square

It has been a while since I have visited Ashfield for some Xiao Long Baos and one Saturday when I was in the city, it suddenly became a craving. Want xiao long baos now!

I was with my friend Moose and he told me that there was a (relatively) new Shanghai place in World Square that was the same as one of the Ashfield places. We decided to go check it out.

Of course, World Square already has the famous Din Tai Fung. I've only been to Din Tai Fung once and although it was great, I knew that I couldn't afford to go there on a regular basis. *tear* Hence why I started venturing to Ashfield for the dumpling fix.

Taste of Shanghai is located on the underground level of World Square, next to the two dollar store. It is fairly large with spacious seating and we were quickly seated by an eager staff member lurking near the entrance.

View from our table out into the shops

Inside the restaurant

Complimentary tea and menus were brought out to us as soon as we sat down.

Tea

Glossy-paged menu with extra large pictures

I flicked through the menu and saw lots of interesting choices but we decided to stay with what we had already planned to order.

There were a number of staff members wandering around the floor and I automatically assumed that this would mean good service. However, I was surprised when our xiao long baos came out - the waiter just plonked them in the middle of our table without even bothering to unstack the two tiers!

So we unstacked them ourselves to reveal the two types of dumplings that we ordered - pork and crab meat.

Shanghai steamed mini pork buns ($8.80 for 8)

Steamed mini pork buns with crab meat flavour ($10.80 for 8)

As you can see, the prices of the dumplings are only a dollar or two higher than those available in Ashfield. They were delicious. None of them had burst during transit and the hot soup flowed into the mouth after biting into them. Both the pork and the 'crab meat flavour' (as per menu description!) were great.

There were only two of us so we had 8 dumplings each, I was feeling full after devouring my share. Still, there was one more dish that I always have to have and it rounded out our tri

Shanghai pan-fried pork buns ($9.80 for 8)

These had been pan-fried for just a little bit too long as the bottom had turned black and had a burnt flavour.


Despite this, they still tasted good. Each bun had a decent serving of hot soup in the middle and they were toasty hot.

I'll definitely revisit the next time that a xiao long bao craving hits while I'm in the city!