Melbourne Food Review: Shanghai Noodle House, China Town

I love dumplings. And there are a few places in Melbourne that do really good Chinese-style dumplings. Our favourite is the Shanghai Noodle House in China Town in a little dodgy lane called Tattersalls Lane.

Don’t get confused with the more touristy, popular next Camy Changhai Dumpling Restaurant though. Not that Camy’s is bad. It’s just always more crowded and the service isn’t that fantastic. So we just prefer next door’s in terms of food and service.

We were there for a quick lunch. Josh always insists on the Dumplings in Soup (15 fat dumplings for $7.00 – bargain, I say) which is juicy morsels of minced pork and some sort of vegetables in delicious soup with a bit of mince sauce, seaweed, omelet shreds, lettuce and coriander. Other dumplings are quite awesome too.

WWe also ordered Szechuan Spicy Pork on Rice ($8.00) which is surprisingly very good. It’s pork belly and cabbage stir fried in chilli and bean sauce. We were absolutely amazed at how good something this simple was.

If truth be told, ordering non-dumpling dishes at this restaurant is a bit of a hit and miss because the menu is huge and, for example, meatballs in soy sauce is hardly the same as the meatballs in  meatballs and vegetables. And for our life, we couldn’t fathom how different Mapo Tofu on Rice and Spicy Beancurd on Rice could possibly be.

You also get your own tea, water, bowls and cutleries. For that price, I really don’t mind. The servings, by the way, are huge. I’m always tempted to order an extra dish and always have to be reminded that that will result in me having to be carried out of the restaurant.

Shanghai Noodle House, 242 Little Bourke St. (enter from Tattersalls Lane), Melboune