Shanghai Archives - One Piece Left

Nong Tang Noodle House is located on Bourke Street inside the Midcity arcade. I have to admit that I have not been inside this arcade much ever since Dessert House closed down, so it was a nice trip down memory lane. We were invited to attend their 1 year anniversary event and it certainly didn’t disappoint! They had rolled out the red carpet, and the entry felt like we were entering a club on a guest list. We sat down to a menu, and a red envelope. Nope… no money in there, but there was a rabbit lolly inside. We used to eat these all the time as kids so the nostalgia was strong!

After a quick intro by the organisers, we were on our way. We really appreciated David Yang (owner) explaining all the dishes to us along, with their Shanghai origins. The menus heading is a 10 course sampling menu, but let me tell you, there was no sampling. These dishes were full blown, and we ended up being more full than a wedding reception banquet! I won’t go through all the dishes one by one, but my favourites were the Xiao Long Bao, Shanghai braised pork meatballs in soy sauce, and the stir fried beef with Chinese broccoli.

I just laughed as I looked around, and seeing everyone squirting soup everywhere as they bit into the Xiao Long Bao. It was a tasty soup and the pork inside was flavoured really well. The skin also had great elasticity and bouncy texture, a must try dish. The Shanghai pork meatball was a dish I had never tried before. It had all the characteristics of quality Italian meatballs, and in a way I was expecting a tomato based sauce. However I was very impressed by the amount of soy sauce flavour they were able to infuse into the meatball.

I’m personally a huge fan of Chinese broccoli, and I always get told off by friends and family for ordering it! Their reasoning is that it’s a lot cheaper to make at home, so there should be no reason why I should ordering it when I’m out. DON’T CARE. I love it too much… and the Chinese broccoli at Nong Tang was the best I’ve ever had! Perfect crunch, extremely fresh, and only the best bits of the broccoli was used in this stir fried beef dish. I made a mention of the Chinese broccoli to David as I left, and he said he paid top dollar for it, I had no reason to doubt him.

The only dish which wasn’t as good as the rest, was the pork and prawn wonton in chilli oil. I felt as though they they may have toned down the spiciness for this event, and the wontons were overcooked. The wonton skin disintegrated as I picked up the wonton and all the filling came out. It was only one dish from the 10 course menu, so overall it was a highly successful event!

We’re fully aware that for an event like this, we would be eating the highest quality versions of each dish. I truly hope that the quality of these dishes carries through to other customers when it’s business as usual. They do have a relatively high score on Zomato prior to us coming, so we’re confident they’ll provide a great dining experience to everyone. We wish Nong Tang Noodle House all the best for years to come!

Nong Tang Noodle House
Approx $30 AUD per person
Address: Midcity Arcade, Shop 16/200 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: +61 3 9639 9258

My aunty had raved on about New Shanghai for a while, saying that they make the best dumplings in Melbourne. Huge call, and I’ve been really wanting to try them out to see what the fuss was all about. Problem is that we hardly ever go to Emporium in the CBD, so on this rare occasion we were there, we wasted no time in checking them out.

We got to New Shanghai with an hour till closing time, therefore only waited around 10 minutes for a table. I have heard from other people that it’s not uncommon to wait over 30-45 minutes for a table, so keep this in mind if you’re hungry! A person put our names on their list and allocated a number to us. I kinda feel sorry for the take away place next to New Shanghai, because everyone seemed to be using their chairs to sit down and wait without buying anything (we’re guilty also). The restaurant itself looks very Chinese, sending a strong message that they do not do fusion foods. Message received loud and clear, time to bring on the dumplings!

It’s criminal to not start off with the classic Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork dumplings). This is the signature dumpling where all the dumpling places are rated on, a make or break dish. The Xiao Long Bao here was fabulous. The skin was thin and soft, but fully capable of holding the beautiful soup inside. With the correct chopstick technique, you shouldn’t spill a drop. I would recommend grabbing the dumpling more towards the top, where there’s more rigidity as the middle part can be quite delicate. The soup had great natural sweetness and hits you with a burst of flavour! The pork mix inside was soft and bouncy, maintaining good texture. Could not fault the Xiao Long Bao, it’s as good as any I’ve had in the past!

My personal favourite was the prawn wontons with peanut-sesame sauce and chilli oil. The prawn filling was fresh, and the peanut-sesame sauce was outstanding. It was as though they mixed smooth peanut butter through the sauce, and the peanut taste hits the back of the palette after every bite! I loved it, and will certainly be getting this dish every time. We ordered some other dishes such as the drunken chicken, pan fried crab meat & pork dumplings, and the crab meat Xiao Long Bao. They were all high quality dishes and I guarantee that you won’t leave disappointed.

All the waiting staff were quick and highly alert. They were always looking around to see if any customers needed anything, it never takes long to get their attention. The service is efficient but not personable, as they will not go out of their way to ask you how your day’s been. We also experienced the vintage Asian style of stacking the chairs around us before closing time. We’re not too fussed about this, but if this is something that bothers you, then you may have to come earlier and not so close to closing time.

All in all, we enjoyed our experience at New Shanghai and would highly recommend them to anyone after some top quality dumplings! Are they the best in Melbourne? Well I’d have to say they are right up there! We’ll need to make a visit to our other dumpling favourite again in order to come to a true conclusion. It’s been a while since we’ve been to the other place, therefore we need to refresh our taste buds. We will write a review after the visit. As it stands right now, New Shanghai is certainly right up there in our top 2 in Melbourne!