Shanghai Wonderful - lives up to its name.

I have been to Shanghai Wonderful at least a dozen times but every time I go, I'm so famished that I never remember to take pictures for a post. Well, this time, I finally did! 

As always, we got their Salty Sticky Rice, which is a sushi type roll with preserved mustard greens for crunch, a deep fried Chinese doughnut runs through the entire length of the roll, with loads of dried pork floss sprinkled in between. It's a bit salty, a bit doughy yet peaks of flavour come from the preserved greens. They might look harmless, but limit yourself to just one. Have more than that and you'll be too full to try anything else! Pack extras to go, they are great at room temperature for a snack later. 

I was also in the mood of a bowl of noodles and we got the Szechuan Beef Noodle, and yes, it's a bit spicy. See the chilies there? The beef was super tender and juicy, the noodles were just a touch past al dente, but still pretty good. I like the abundance of veggies and the piping hot broth. This splits up into 3 generous bowls and if you want it a little hotter, as for the hot sauce paste on the side.

No Shanghainese dim sum is complete without Xiao Long Baos. The ones here are good, nice and uber juicy. The skin isn't too thick and the meat is cooked perfectly. Eat these first! They're never the same when you reheat them. Take a bite off the top, drizzle some vinegar through the opening, and gobble the whole thing up. It will hurt you a bit because it's hot and soupy, but that's the best feeling too! 

We also got their Big Soup Bun (Tang Bao)...a steamed dumpling that is the granddaddy of all Xiao Long Bao. It's about the size of a gigantic barbecue bun, but it's steamed and not barbecued. It's filled with meat, some noodles & mushrooms, but mostly some soup..and because it's so big, they actually give you a straw to extract the soup!

I still don't know if we ate it "right", but we sipped some of the soup first, then delicately used the spoon to open up the bun. Despite having "drank" some of the soup, the dumpling still overflowed when we poked into it. If you have a fail safe approach to tackling this baby, please share by leaving a comment below.