新上海 – New Shanghai
Address: Emporium – Level 3 Cafe Court
Phone: 03 9994 9386
Website: http://www.newshanghai.com.au
Twitter: @newshanghai
Facebook: here
Instagram: @newshanghai
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Ever since the new shopping complex Emporium opened in Melbourne CBD, I’ve been frequenting the place so often that people would ask me whether I work there. Laughs. I don’t work there but my office is within close proximity.
One of my favourite places in Emporium, without a doubt, is the Level 3 ‘Cafe Court’, which is the fancy name for food court that caters for the different needs of Melbourne’s ever growing appetite for new eateries. Don’t expect to find Maccas or the usual food court fare, but more of the fancier cafe styled offerings. One of the biggest offerings located in the corner of the Cafe Court is 新上海 (New Shanghai), a modern Shanghai styled cuisine restaurant.
When Emporium opened, there were long queues almost everyday, whether it was during lunch break or in the evenings. Given my tight work schedule, I’ve almost never been able to queue up. Luckily for me as a food blogger, I was invited by Spice and Soul to try out New Shanghai.
Together with Doc, we visited New Shanghai on a Thursday night. Luckily the queues were not too long, and we were able to enter without a long wait.
The moment you step into New Shanghai you will notice that the restaurant is modelled to the looks of colourful streets of Shanghai. With faux balconies and greeneries draping from them, as well as the use of lanterns and red painted doors to complete the look. The restaurant is very spacious with a lot of beautiful polish dark wooden tables, and matching stools or chairs.
That night, restaurant manager Jerry and his team looked after us. He went through the menu and pointed out their popular dishes before leaving us to decide on the dishes that we wanted to try.
To start off the evening, Doc and I ordered a pot of Chrysanthemum Tea to share. Chrysanthemum tea is a fine delicate flower tea, that can be topped up with additional hot water. This doesn’t lose the flavour of the tea at all. I love the matching red/pink painted floral tea pot and cups.
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One of the recommended dishes that we had that night was a Shanghai-style deep fried fish soaked in herbs, spice and dark soy. Ling fish was used in this dish. When the dish arrived, it did look quite dry, but when you try it, it doesn’t taste dry at all. The ling fish has an interesting texture, quite stringy in looks but has a bouncy like taste to it. The herbs, spice and dark soy that was used to soak the fish gave it an aromatic taste but nothing over powering.
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Next up, we were served the traditional steamed mini pork buns aka xiao long bao. This is a must have at any dumpling restaurant and pretty much the dish that will determine how good the restaurant is. Each of the Xiao Long Bao baskets contains 8 almost identical steamed mini pork buns that are filled with juicy tender pork and broth.
For those who have never had xiao long baos before, you have to be careful not to burn the roof of your mouth. To do so, place one of the xiao long baos onto one of the porcelain white spoon; gently make a small hole for the steaming hot broth to ooze out, and then garnish it with a few strands of ginger and dipping sauce before putting it into your mouth.
Because I spent a considerable amount of time trying to take the perfect shot for this blog, the xiao long baos were no longer burning hot. However the xiao long baos were made with fatty pork that gives it the juicy tender taste and wrapped in thin delicate dumpling skin. I dare say that I prefer these xiao long baos over HuTong’s.
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We also ordered a plate of the pan fried pork buns to share. Boy oh boy were these good! It was probably my favourite dish of the night, and have been craving for them since. Since then, I’ve been walking past Doc’s desk and saying, “DOCCCC I want dumplings!”
These pan fried pork buns are made with slightly thicker skin and then pan fried until the bottom of the dumplings are crisp and golden. These fried pork buns are also filled with fatty pork to make the pork buns juicy, tender and flavoursome.
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The next dish that we ordered was the Salt Pepper Soft Shell Crab – something that Doc has never tried before. One of the reasons why I took Doc was that it gave him an opportunity to try out Chinese dishes that he usually wouldn’t order.
The Salt Pepper Crab arrived looking crisp and golden – so much that I was ready to start gobbling it down the minute I finished photographing the dish.
The first bite of the Salt Pepper Soft Shell Crab, you can definitely taste the salt and pepper flavour. If you’re not accustomed to Chinese cuisine you will find this dish to be on the salty side. This is actually considered quite normal for Chinese cuisine. I would suggest to have tea or a drink to wash down the saltiness.
Oh, and don’t worry about the whole chilli pieces – it’s not that spicy!
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The next dish to arrive was the visually appealing Deep Fried Barramundi served with Sweet Sour Sauce and topped with Pine Nuts and Vegetables.
Generally speaking, most fish dishes in Chinese cuisine are served whole with head and tail still intact. Apparently it’s considered auspicious.
The barramundi was cooked perfectly, lightly battered and fried until crisp and then served with bright red sweet sour sauce, pine nuts and mixed vegetables.
What I liked about this dish was the fact that the chef prepared it in a way so that all the meat of the fish was easily picked from the bone, and also minimalists the wastage.
One thing I would comment on is that the sauce may have been a little too overpowering for a delicate fish like barramundi. Having said that we both enjoyed the dish.
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In between our dishes, we both ordered a drink to aid our thirst. I went for the recommended Lychee Blended Ice, whilst Doc ordered the Virgin Pina Colada (pineapple juice, coconut milk and lime) from their mocktail menu.
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At this stage we were pretty much full, however we also ordered a plate of Deep Fried Tofu coated in Salted Egg Yolk to share. This dish was one of my favourite dish of the night.
For this dish, New Shanghai uses silken tofu for this dish. The Silken Tofu is first coated in delicious salted egg yolk before deep frying it until golden.
Biting into the deep fried tofu piece, you will notice how smooth and silken the tofu is. The rich golden salted egg yolk added depth, flavour and creamy taste of the dish.
I highly recommend this dish. I also think this dish would be great with a bowl of rice!
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By this stage, our stomach was so full to really have anymore food, but Jerry insisted that we try their shaved ice, and told us that it would be a small portion.
Well… when it arrived.. it was HUGE. lol. I guess when it comes to dessert, one can really stomach it in, because we have a second stomach for desserts right? hehe.
This dessert dish is the perfect dish for summer, and would definitely go down a treat. This dish is pretty much a bowl of shaved ice, drench with condense milk and topped with strawberries, mangos and vanilla ice-cream. Had I not been that full, I would have eaten this whole bowl – it was simply so refreshing.
Please note that you can order the shaved ice as Mango Shaved Ice or Strawberry Shaved Ice. Jerry was kind enough for us to try both.
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New Shanghai is definitely a very welcomed addition to the Melbourne dining scene and the Emporium Cafe court. If you’re after a casual affair of Shanghainese food, or dumplings, you should give this place a go. People don’t line up their for no reason. If you do happen to line up – check out the dumpling masters making the dumplings fresh for you!
All in all, Doc and I enjoyed our meal thoroughly, and we’re already planning our next visit, which is this Thursday!
Disclaimer: Peach was invited as a guest of New Shanghai and Spice and Soul to review New Shanghai. All opinions and views on views on www.peach-water.com are honest and purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the product.
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