One of our frequent haunts in Sydney is a specialty dumpling shop in Ashfield. That’s what they do best – dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings! This is the place you’d go to satisfy any dumpling cravings you may have. Located at 337 on Liverpool Road, New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant is the joint you should look out for if you’re ever in the area.

This is a great place to take friends for a shared meal as the food comes in small plates. It’s almost like yum-cha, just minus the steaming hot trolleys. The dumplings are made fresh on site and on order, and they also have a wide variety of other Chinese dishes on offer. As this is a typical Chinese ‘fast-food’ joint, don’t expect great service or ambience! It’s noisy, busy and expect to share a table with other patrons!

My favourite dumplings from here are the dangerously scalding hot Pork Soup Dumplings. Encased in a doughy shell is a mixture of pork mince with chives and hot soup. The trick to eating these dumplings without suffering any third degree burns is to pop the dough with one chopstick first to release the hot steam before putting one in your mouth. One must eat these with caution!

I have learnt the hard way with these. They look rather cute and harmless but looks are deceiving! The dough they use on these dumplings is thicker than the usual rice flour version – it’s actually bread-like and chewy. They are first steamed, then lightly pan-fried to brown the base and make it crispy on the bottom which gives it a slightly toasted flavour.

They serve many types of dumplings here. Another version we ordered were the steamed crab and pork dumplings. These are very similar to the ones you’d get as part of a typical yum-cha set and has the original rice-flour casing which is softer and lighter than the casing of the pork soup dumplings. The fillings in these were pretty tasty too but had less of a ‘chivey’ taste compared to the previous ones.

The following dish was pretty interesting. Deep fried salted and spiced fish – served cold. This tasted like they used the Chinese Five-Spice mix as a marinade. The most distinctive taste I could pull from the flavour was Star-Anise. I quite liked the taste of this dish but would have preferred it if this was served hot rather than cold. Tasted like leftover KFC in a sense, besides we were looking forward to something hot.

One dish that I have ordered more than once from here is the Crispy Egg Noodles with Pork, Shitake Mushrooms and Bamboo Shoot sauce. Probably not the healthiest dish, but on the taste scale this one is probably high up on it. The egg noodles are deep fried to a crispy perfection then the sauce is poured over the top – as you have probably already put two and two together, this is a very oily dish!

This next dish was nothing like what was described in the menu. It was called satay lamb, but tasted nothing like satay! It was very garlicky, cooked in a rich soy-sauce and was served with semi-raw onions. The meat pieces were too big for chopsticks (one had to tug with their teeth!) and overall the dish was way too oily. However the lamb was tender and I think this would be better served with rice as a main.

Watch this space for more dishes to come in the future!

During a stroll through the 1-Borneo shopping mall in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, we chanced upon a Chinese tea shop selling herbal tea eggs at the front entrance. The fragrant scent of the herbal concontion wafted through the mall which tempted us to impulsively purchase one of these delicacies on the spot.

The broth consists of a blend of tea, traditional Chinese herbs, star anise, soy sauce, cinnamon and sugar. The eggs are cooked in their cracked shells so that the flavours seep through. The smell of the broth is actually quite overpowering, but the eggs themselves taste sweet and you can taste more of the star anise and cinnamon rather than the herb blend, which is what gives out the strong aroma.

At RM2 per egg, herbal tea eggs are a cheap and healthy snack alternative – you get your protein intake and at the same time you benefit from minerals the tea and herbs provide while keeping you fuller for longer! Move over, Tokyo Bananas!