Shanghai Tea Garden

Bored out of my wits during a Sunday night trying to finish all my ilectures, I googled up "Perth Xiao Long Bao" and realised that Perth actually has Xiao Long Baos now?

omg i've been hiding at home for too long! For YEARS i've been complaining that Perth does not have Xiao Long Bao, Krispy Kreme and Gourmet Cakes (like those in lindt cafes). Need to go explore more and find them!

Well Xiao Long Bao - is a kind of dumpling that originates from Shanghai. The distinct feature of these dumplings is their soft silky skin, with meat filling, and there is SOUP inside these dumplings! There are lots of xiao long bao chains in Singapore, Indonesia, and eastern states of Australia. Now there are actually some in Perth (not sure where are the others but they are out there) this is so exciting! 

I was so excited to try my first xiao long bao in Perth, i have been living here for 7 years. This new restaurant looks really nice and I've always wanted to try it one day, thanks to urban spoon i found out that they actually have xiao long bao. Without hesistation i drove down there within 30 minutes.

Very nice interior and atmosphere, with white table cloth. I find that white table cloth makes any restaurant classy. The setting of the table was beautiful. I think the lady boss of this restaurant owns Cafe Mozart (and cakes unlimited) that was the cake shop (very yummy cakes) before it is converted to this restaurant. The restaurant still sells her cakes, so you can always have a cup of coffee or cake if you don't feel like dinner. The lady boss (i presume) who served us was really friendly, she even recommended what I should order, felt so motherly to me. Big plus for service!

Fried Squid - approx $6

fried squid with salt and pepper - this was hot! very good starter. however i was expecting those crispy squid tentacles, nvm. it was still good

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao - $10

These babies were the reason why I am here! They looked pretty awesome. I heard that the skills of the chef who make these are judged by the number of folds they have on top of these dumplings. The skin of these dumplings were alright (slightly thicker than the ones i have in singapore) but I still think they are absolutely delicious. The soup inside these dumplings was piping hot. *please do not put the whole dumpling in your mouth, you will definitely regret it as you won't be able to taste anything for a day after that**

These dumplings normally go with vinegar and ginger (served as dipping cause). Usually, i bite the top of the dumpling, suck the soup out of those naughty things and eat them!

a good xiaolongbao is when you hold the skin, and it doesn't break even though it is 'heavy' with soup and meat. The broth inside these dumplings were flavoursome, and the filling was yummy. For those who hasn't tried xiao long bao, please try it! Most yumcha places in perth serve these dry dumpling disguised as xiaolongbao, there is no soup inside and the skin is so tough. Shanghai Tea Garden serves pretty authentic ones.

Now i have a place to go to satisfy my xiaolongbao cravings!

Crystal Prawns - approx $25

Recommended dish by the lady boss. She was right, this was delicious! It is actually a dish that looks and tastes very simple, but it brings out the wonderful freshness of the prawns. And the prawns are so nicely coated with sauce and oil, they glistened in the light!

Braised Beef with Onions in a stone pot - approx $25

The gravy was thick and full of flavours and the beef was tender. However, I found this dish a bit ordinary compared to the rest.

Flavoured Chicken - approx $16

This was another star dish of the night. This roast chicken lived up to its name, it was really fragrant. It is coated with a sweet and savoury thick sauce (maybe some honey in it) and was heavenly. I will definitely order this again!

Then we proceed to order another serve of xiao long baos, because one can never get enough of dumplings! 

The price of the food is a bit high, but the ambience of the restaurant is really good, and the quality of the food is of high standards too. In addition to that, the lady boss and staff are all very attentive, service is very fast and awesome.

Rating: 4.5/5

Location: 1/399 William Street, Northbridge

Telephone: 92277066

Opening Hours :

CLOSED ON MONDAYS,

Tues to Sun : 11am - late.

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Singapore - Din Tai Feng vs Crystal Jade

Missfattyfoodie and friend coincidentally happened to be near cityhall one day and decided to have lunch there. Since Missfattyfoodie is a fan of xiaolongbaos and can never have enough of them, lunch was settled at Din Tai Fung. It opens at 11am and we reached at 10:55am which by then there was already some people waiting and placing orders outside already. Talk about being "kiasu" huh.

Missfattyfoodie is also a creature of habit. Always ordering the same thing if it is deemed nice and tasty. So the dishes previously ordered at Crystal Jade were also tried at Din Tai Fung since both sell almost the same dishes with subtle variations.

Dried Noodle with Sauce - $5.50 It came nicely tossed in sauce and folded in the bowl already. Looks really simple and tasted the same as well. Nothing fancy or outstanding about this.

This is a Din Tai Fung unique dish and one of my favourites - the fried prawn pancake! $8.50 and is well fried with juicy bits of prawns embedded in each slice.

Thinly flatted and sliced and yet you can still see the prawn bits and other ingredients in the layer.

Fried Rice with Prawns and Egg - $10.50. The portion was so small it barely scratched the surface of a guy's stomach.

Big 'Long" of 10 XiaoLongBao - $9.50
I uses to adore Din Tai Fung's xiaolongbaos because they were bite size and it has really tasty soup and meat inside. BUT I think they recently changed the ingredients inside the xiaolongbao and it came out tasting like a mixture of vegetables and some miscellanous stuffing which was entirely unappetising and has really bad texture. So I ate 3 and had enough of it (which was really rare) and let my friend (who eats anything) have the other 7.

Went hunting for some desserts after lunch and settled on the desesrt stall at raffles city's foodcourt. Eating 7 xiaolongbaos proved too much for my friend...

Had the durian ice kachang.

And my favourite! Red ruby! Went back to work full and bloated after that but still quite unsatisfied...

So for dinner, to make up for the unappetising xiaolongbaos, Missfattyfoodie dragged a friend to Crystal Jade La Mian! Piping hot xiaolongbaos served the normal way - soup and meat wrapped in the thin dough skin. I am finally satisfied.

This is how a normal xiaolongbao should look like. Pure meat and soup.


And of course, the other favourite Crystal Jade dish would be the chilli sauce pork dumplings!

Chilli Sauce Pork Dumplings - $3.60

Spring Onion LaMian - similar to the dried lamian with sauce at Din Tai Fung, tasted really good despite looking bland and simple. Another case of looks being deceiving.

My friend had the stewed beef lamian. She loved it, especially having just came back from being overseas for a year.

Crystal Jade doesn't disappoint and both of us were really happy and satisfied with our dinner!



And the winner is.....Crystal Jade La Mian! (for obvious reasons)

Singapore - Jia Ji Mei Shi 佳记美食 and China La Mian Steamed Buns

One night after work, Missfattyfoodie was craving for cheap good food (easy on the budget) so she headed down to Chinatown Food Centre for some cheecheongfun, yam cake and xiaolongbaos!

It is on the second floor and is huge with many food stalls, it is also well ventilated and clean.
This is the stall! Saw the long queue and decided to wait till it dies off before ordering my favourite dish from the stall.

The cheecheongfun and yam cake is one of the best around town. It is freshly made and the texture is smooth and silky. The sweet black sauce and sesame seeds adds plenty of taste to the steamed rice noodle roll. The yam cake is soft but firm and mixes well with the chee cheong fun and sweet sauce.

Rating: 3.75/5

Located at #02-166, opening hours is 7.30am - 10pm.

To add to a filling dinner, there's a stall selling China La Mian Steamed Buns nearby with one 'long' (mandarin for bamboo steam baskets) of 10 xiaolongbaos going for $5. that's cheap! Missfattyfoodie is a xiaolongbao fan, so one long was ordered and it was then made and steamed on the spot. Waiting time was about 10-15mins.

Missfattyfoodie is usually wary about ordering xiaolongbaos from any random stall because they usually turn out either too dry or with a thick layer of skin that it ends up tasting more like a pao then a xiaolongbao. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that although this stall cannot rival the Crystal Jade xiaolongbaos, it was decent and tasty, with the skin thin enough but doesn't break when it's lifted out of the long. Best of all, it's cheap!

Xiaolongbaos are best eaten with vinegar and the vinegar here was slightly weak though, but the ginger slices was thick and generous. So ask for more vinegar to go with the ten xiaolongbaos.

One long down, one more to go! no problem finishing this up cos it is good!

Rating: 3.5/5
Located at #02-135, 10am to 9pm, closed on Thursdays.
Both stalls are located at Blk 335 Smith Street Chinatown Complex Food Centre

Singapore - Crystal Jade / Coffee Bean

I don't think there's a need to review Crystal Jade since everyone pretty much knows the type and quality of food they serve. But I'll just show some of the dishes that I love and always order anyway.

Spring Onion Oil La Mian. approx $6. First time i'm ordering this, usually i get the chili beef la mian though ever since Crystal Jade changed their menu, it wasn't as nice. Doesn't look like much but delivers otherwise.

I love the la mian here. Handmade and nice.

And who can forget every table's staple dish at Crystal Jade, xiaolongbaos! Pity they took away the piece of cabbage placed under the xiaolongbaos. It made it easier to remove and also made a healthy snack when the xiaolongbaos have all been eaten up.

Xiao Long Bao - pork dumplings wrapped with a thin layer of nicely folded dumpling skin. Be careful when you bite it as the juice from the pork will burst in your mouth and it might dirty your clothes!

The xiaolongbaos are eaten with vinegar. I love the soup inside cos its so rich! Apparently, the more folds there is on the xiaolongbao, the more skilful the chef is. A good xiaolongbao doesn't break, even when your use your chopsticks and lift it up.

Another of my favourite dish, the Chili Sauce Pork Dumplings! The skin is really soft, silky and smooth and the sauce is slightly spicy but packed with flavor.

mmmm...uber yummy. be sure to pour more sauce over the dumpling before devouring it.

The dessert -Strawberry pudding. apparently it wasn't very good (I didn't get to try it) Friend rated it 1/5. It was pudding with tiny bits of strawberries inside.

In case Crystal Jade comes after me for insulting their desserts, I'd like to place a disclaimer that the strawberry pudding wasn't rated/eaten by me but by my friend below. I ate and liked everything else (well 99% of the rest cos I was hungry and haven't had dinner)

My friend was really enjoying the xiaolongbaos.

After such a filling meal, one would normally talk a stroll to digest the food. But we headed over to Coffeebean for a cup of coffee cos I was feeling like a zombie. Such a lovely indoor ambience, but I had to sit outdoors thanks to xiaolongbao head.

Where we were sitting, watching the indoor people soak in the air condition.

Ordered an ice blended mocha and a hot mocha. The hot mocha is twice the size of an ice blended. I sprinkled chocolate powder on my mocha for extra chocolate flavor. nice and kept me awake until 5am. Repeat zombie mode the next day, 8am onwards.