I was craving for xiao long bao so I suggested to go eat at Dinesty. The restaurant was full on a weekday at lunch hour but the service was so speedy that we were seated within 10 minutes. This is a restaurant where you will feel ushered and rushed so don't expect to be able to relax and slowly enjoy your food. However, it is great if you prefer quick service and to get your food fast.

Beef tendon - This is an appetizer and most pieces were thoroughly marinated to the softness that tendons need to be. A few of the bigger pieces were a bit chewier and could use about half an hour more cooking. This savoury dish has a hint of sweetness and can be quite oily. Since tendons take awhile to make at home, it is probably easier to just eat out.

Beef tendon

"Small Yellow Fish" - I am translating this name directly from Chinese. The fish is deep fried and sits in a pool of Chinese cooking liquor, probably rice wine. Despite being deep fried, this is a cold dish and I did not like it much. It was hard to chew and not especially tasty.

"Small Yellow Fish"

Dan Dan Noodles - One of my favourite things to order at Shanghai food places is Dan Dan Noodles. The soup base I've tried before are seriously peanuty with sesame oil and slight spiciness. This bowl was a bit diluted in the peanut department and lacked any spice (if that's what you're looking for). I would've appreciated chopped up pieces of peanuts to add more texture, though the cucumber did add some freshness to an otherwise oily dish.

Dan Dan Noodles

Xiao Long Bao - Finally, these small steamed soup dumplings are what we came here for and they did not disappoint. The abundance of folds with its thin wrapper contained pork and juicy soup. They were hot but did not burn the tongue. It's personal preference but more soup inside the dumplings would have been even more ideal.

Xiao Long Bao

When traveling in Sydney we came across this Din Tai Fung branch at the Westfield Mall. I was excited to try Din Tai Fung yet in another city (Bellevue here). The one at Westfield isn't a full restaurant but a food court vendor. However there were still many employees behind the glass working on the dumplings.

Firstly, the prices here are by far the most expensive Din Tai Fung I have tried as compared to in Taipei and in Bellevue. For four pieces of xiaolongbao it cost AUD$5.80. Unfortunately the xiaolongbao disappointed. They were only slightly warm and were not served hot. The soup inside was minimal and pork ordinary. They were simply not up to Din Tai Fung rave-worthy standards.

Xiaolongbao

The golden taro bread cost AUD$2.90 and only consisted of the two pieces in the photo below. It was basically a deep fried bread stick with a taro filling and dipped in sesame seeds. The taste was not bad but for the price this is completely not worth it.

Golden taro bread

The most disappointing was the hot and sour soup for AUD$5.50. It completely lacked sour taste and was a watery consistency. The ingredients consisted of shredded pork, tofu, and veggies. I did not like this at all even though this is deemed as a popular menu item according to the counter.

Hot and sour soup

Overall I was disappointed by the Din Tai Fung food at Westfield. The food court outlet was unable to uphold the restaurant standard of the Din Tai Fung brand.

I had a random craving for xiaolongbao yesterday so when mom asked where we should go for dinner I knew I wanted Shanghai food.

We ended up at Top Shanghai Cuisine which is usually crowded on weekends so we avoid it but on weekdays it was much more manageable.

At Shanghai cuisine restaurants there are often large windows to the kitchen for customers to see the dumplings and more being made. Some are quite fascinating to watch as chefs make 20+ folds to wrap a small dumpling.

Pork Xiaolongbao: These little things were so juicy with soup swirling inside when picked up from the steam tray. The skin was thin as good xiaolongbao should be.

Honestly I don't know the official English names of these dishes on the menu so I will just describe them.

This soupy pot was filled to the brim with ingredients starting with choy sum on the bottom, then topped with vermicelli noodles, squid, fish balls, shrimp, mushroom, egg, peas, and pork skin. The soup was mild broth but it was a good dish to counter the heavy flavours of the other dishes.

Pork chop with Shanghai rice cake was my least favourite dish. The entire dish was very oily and the sauce was not flavourable enough. It seemed like only soy sauce.

The Salty Crispy Duck was probably my favourite with its crunchy skin, soft meat and marinated flavour.