New Shanghai

I love this place. It’s like a poor man’s Din Tai Fung … not as prestige or well known, and the quality is a TINY bit below. But prices are too! Great variety of hot and cold noodles, lots of dumpling besides the XLB.
This location in Chatswood is a bit dingy, in the basement and closes WAY early on a Sunday. Like 8pm? Not too shabby considering, and will definitely return.

XLB and pan-​fried pork buns were my objectives coming here. While there are good XLB and general Shanghainese food in the SF Bay Area, no one makes acceptable pan-​fried pork buns. When I asked my Shanghainese aunt and uncle who lives in Sydney about New Shanghai, they said the pork buns are pretty good. So I ended up here with the BF, my mom, two aunts and two uncles. We came on a Friday at 1pm and we waited for about 5 minutes. We ordered XLBs, pork buns, two types of wontons, and noodles. Yum yum yum. If I’m back in Sydney I’ll definitely come back!

You know when you think you’ve reviewed a place because you go there on the reg but then you look on Unilocal and you find you haven’t reviewed that place?
… is probably the most boring opening line I’ve ever written, but hey, the truth hurts. Or bores. Whichever is more interesting. I like this Lemongrove branch because Lemongrove is a relic from my childhood, it’s a weird little shopping centre with half the stores never open and it feels like walking into a secret past.
The food at NS is cheap, it’s pretty great, like you get XLB soup dumplings 8 for $ 8, or a big steaming bowl of Shanghai noodles with dried shrimp and shallots for $ 10, or a huge plate of fist-​sized prawn wontons in chilli oil and peanut sauce for $ 14. Those meals between 2 of us almost ended us, I hate walking away from a table not finishing everything but we didn’t even get close. Sorry little dumplings, I just couldn’t find the room. And Christmas is coming up, I can’t get too full too early, ya feel me?

There’s a Chinese saying that goes along the lines of «eating buns till your full» (buns and full sound very similar in Chinese! Like play on words) and when you’re eating Shanghai-​nese food, that is probably what’s going to happen in the end.
The portions here are pretty big for a decent price — $ 10 will get you the Sheng jian Bao (pork dumplings, well more like buns, the savoury kind with the soup inside, that have been fried on their bottoms to crispiness and perfection) — that’s about 8 buns! Best to share!
Another favourite of course is the classic xiao long Bao (set you back around $ 9.50), the delicate dumplings with the soup inside — careful, the soup is actually super hot! Grab the dumpling on its head with your chopstick so that you don’t puncture a hole through the dumpling and the soup doesn’t leak out! #tipoftheday haha
Their hokkein fried noodles are also a favourite of mine.
Service is frantic and average for such a busy place but hey if the food is good then I’m happy.

Ok so this place is now losing 2 stars because it’s become expensive!
You can see my previous review on food and atmosphere. These have not changed, however, the pricing really has! It used to be my go to for an inexpensive lunch or a take away for dinner if I was in the area… but I won’t be doing that so much anymore because it’s just too expensive for starters, my beloved Pan Pork Dumplings are now $ 11 instead of $ 9 (I know, only $ 2 but it adds up AND that’s a %20 increase!) and Jasmine tea is no longer complementary.
And to make matters even worse they are no longer part of the «entertainment book» program so you can’t use a voucher or that card you get with red energy electricity.
I am sad to say I will no longer be a regular customer

This is the Old-​New Shanghai, and certainly the ‘no frills’ version of the chatswood chase restaurant.
But boy oh boy the food is great. Dumplings are made by a team of mad scientists behind a window, weaving magic with their fingers. The noodles are also excellent, in fact everything we’ve had there is terrific. And the best part is leaving, when you split a bill 4 ways and realise it only cost you $ 10!

New Shanghai has always been consistent for me. The food is always on point but the location isn’t as favored. The site in Chatswood chase is well furnished and better themed however this restaurant in the lemon grove will guarantee a shorter waiting time with just as good qualify of food.

Good selection, very casual.
The Chatswood area has a large Asian population. Which means lots of Asian restaurants, and demanding clients. We went for lunch at the Chinese New Year. It was busy, but still very accommodating, with good service when you waived your hand in the air long enough.
Good dim sum, with a viewing window to watch the dim sum being prepared. Nothing was outstanding, but nothing was disappointing. It’s a busy place where many locals meet for a meal. Large selection and reasonable prices. The locals put up with the paper and plastic and marginal cleanliness. From my perspective, that makes it «A-​OK» not «Yay!, I’m a Fan.»

Dumpling houses that are proud of their stuff always seem to have big plate glass windows as you walk in where the staff is busy making them. New Shanghai is no exception. This is not all they do, but we had a number of different types and they were all excellent. Their pan fried steamed bun dumplings were ridiculously good! But that’s not all — I’ve had mabo tofu countless times — this was amongst the best. My wife is Chinese and needed a fix tonight — so we chose this place amongst the many options in Chatswood. We’ll be back.

Reading all the wonderful Unilocal reviews, I knew I had to go to get my dumpling fix. So for my three year anniversary, stuff fancy dinners, dim lights and over-​priced meals where you need to psychologically brain wash yourself that price = tasty, and hello New Shanghai!
Lemon Grove, is like the Ali Baba open sesame cave, not as many people are aware of it, making those who deviate from the lines at Chatswood Chase better off. When we arrived at 6:30pm, the restaurant was full but there were FREE tables! Score, we even got to sit in front of the dumpling making window, where we observed one man was much more productive than 2 women doing the same job. I wonder if there is a gender wage gap here?
We ordered pan fried Xiao Long bao, prawn dumplings, green beans and fried noodles. Now this place is FAST! Within 3 minutes of putting our order through the pan-​fried xiao long bao was served, at first I thought maybe it was a left over order, but biting into the fat squirted everywhere, burning my tongue, confirming it was fresh. The green beans were also quite nice, not too salty nor oily. My advice is to not order the prawn dumplings, they’re very average, nothing like the yum-​cha ones.
The service is pretty non-​existent but they do fill your tea, quickly without fuss. For $ 44 for two people, we went home full and happily ever after that night.

I think I checked into the wrong one! Pretty sure the one I ate in was in the Chatswood Shopping Center, not here, but they have the same menu, so hopefully this review applies as well…
Anyway, we loved just about everything they threw at us here! Pan Fried Pork Buns? Killer! Pork Dumplings? Mmmm… Crispy Duck? Solid! All in all, everything from the décor, to the prompt service to the easy parking make this a perfect choice for either a well earned dinner after a long day of shopping, or a nice dinner out when you’re craving some dumpling love…
Plenty of other things on the menu, but have’t gotten around to them yet, but we will, if they’re as good as the rest of the food, you can’t miss here!

I really like the food from this place (ashfield/​chatswood). The taste and serving size is decent. Although not much ambience or service per se, the value’s worth it. My family really like it.

I was one fortunate Sydneysider to have been invited to this establishment for another company I freelance write for. A seven course degustration was enjoyed. Awesome dumplings with a glass of wine to accompany (and ideally match) each dish. It was like my lucky day. Flashy service. You can order this banquet with or without wine. In future it might be best to skip the wine and go for the water instead. This will only set you back $ 49 instead of $ 69. This banquet is $ 69 without wine.
The mangement have had this seven course dumpling degustation on the menu for the last couple of months now, and it has been fairly well received. I will be back. The recent addition of the non-​alcoholic cocktails to the menu also packs some serious punch. Laid back environment. A great feed.

It seems like there are numerous ‘New Shanghai’ restaurants popping up everywhere in Sydney. I was introduced to their Ashfield restaurant, but this is one of the two Chatswood branches (yes, there is one in Chatswood Chase too!)
I personally like this location the best. The Ashfield one is annoying (lousy service, too crowded etc), the Chase one I’ve only been to once and didn’t enjoy it.
They have a vast menu for very reasonable prices.
Reoccuring order:
— Xiao Long Bao (Pork soup dumplings), not as good as Din Tai Fung, but still great.
— Baby Bok Choy in Garlic (photo)
— Rice Cake w/​XO Sauce (photo)
Other items I would LOVE to try are:
— Pan fried pork dumplings
— Pan fried dumplings
I’m not 100% sure if they do credit cards here, last time it was strictly CASH ONLY, but I can’t remember if I have been able to do it on previous visits.