New Shanghai, Chatswood Chase.

There was a brief period of sun and spring weather on Sunday which I took advantage of by going out for Sunday with Mr SSG.

It was the kind of weather made for sun rooves.

Don't worry, Mr SSG was at the wheel whilst I was snapping away at the sky from inside the car.

There are 2 New Shanghai outlets in Chatswood.  We visited the one in Chatswood Chase, tel: (02) 9412 335.  It's located on the food court level, close to the main entrance.  They are open from 11am and I don't think they take bookings.  They use the time honoured Chinese tradition of diners presenting to the table allocation waitress to join the waiting list.  A ticket is issued and then the waiting begins for your number to be called.

We arrived at noon and had a 20 minute for a table for 2.  There are lots of communal tables around the periphery of the eating area and a few round tables in the middle for family groups.  Takeaway was another popular option for the busy lunchtime period.

The decor is a funky mix of vivid red paintings and feature areas and antique items like this bicycle at the entrance.

The menu doubled as a placemat and was easy to follow.

My eyes were firmly on the famous dumpling section of the menu.

There was a mix of dumpling dishes, noodle soups and a mix of main course options.

The dumplings are hand made on the premises.  Not quite as surgically sterile or as large a preparation area as Din Tai Fung but it was very entertaining to watch.

My tip would be to order a mixture of main course dishes and soups with the dumplings because if you are there at a busy time, there will be a significant wait for your dumplings.  Upwards of 1/2 an hour.

Pedicure: Big Apple Red by OPI, white patent Birkis from Kyoto.

Each table has bottles of soya sauce and vinegar (clearly labelled) for the dumplings and noodles.  I like that combination of salt and sour in Shanghainese food.

The freshly squeezed pineapple juice is my pick of the drinks.

To start, we had the sour soup with noodles.

Then a serve of steamed crab and pork xiao long bao, the famed dumplings containing both meat and soup.  A tip for young players such as myself: pierce the dumplings before biting to prevent that inevitable spray of soup across the table.  If only I'd read the menu and found out about this before eating my body weight in dumplings.

Seriously delicious - the dough wasn't too thick and the fillings generous and not fatty.

Then it was a serve of fried pancakes with shallots.

I loved these with soya sauce.

Pan fried dumplings with pork.  I like that crispy edge to the dough.

Best with the vinegar on the table.

A lucky cat figurine.

Perfectly curled hair was an ideal that crossed the cultural divide if these posters from the 40s or 50s were anything to go by.

We had no room for dessert afterwards.  There is a 5 item dessert menu which is mainly on the traditional side of things and featured a lot of red bean and sesame.

I think New Shanghai and its dumplings are going to be my preferred dimsum option for a very long time indeed.  There are still quite a few types on the menu for me to try.

I'm on a roll, I managed to find our car in the car park without a single wrong turn.