new shanghai - queens plaza

new shanhais a reallygoodthing i tell ya. now i tell ya what this is the kinda place i am gona come again and again a lot of drongos about and by that i mean its really busy!!!! cant a gal catch a break whos with me

anyway reasonable prices and i tell ya what those shepards purse dumplings in chilli peanut sauce well they get this lil slayas tummy grumblin'

xiao long bao!!

the kitchen is a big feature of this restaurant in the queens plaza food court with a large window so you can see the staff making dumplings. we tried the hot and sour soup and a shanghai fried noodle dish which were delicious but the highlight of our meal was the xiao long bao (soup dumplings). we tried the classic pork and the pork and crab versions and they were both amazing - flavoursome,gooddumpling skin and cooked to perfection. the service was prettygoodtoo - we didn't have to wait too long to get in and once we had ordered, the food came out quite quickly.

average. look i rated this place a "like" because the food wasgoodand not over priced. however i don't see what the fuss and the large lines were for.

my boyfriend and i had new shanghai for dinner about three weeks ago. it was a quiet afternoon. we ordered a glass of soy milk that took forever to deliver, not to mention it was disturbing having to watch our soymilk sitting at the bar and we could not get it ourselves while literally sat right next to it.
the crispy chicken with noodles was worth going back for, it had the best sauce to pair. the pan fried dumplings was nice and crispy.
lastly we had the wontons in chilli oil with peanut and sesame sauce. it used to be sweet, mild and easy to eat. this dish used to be my favourite, but not anymore. it would be a reallygooddish for people who likes spicy food. the portion was decent and 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶it is extremely spicy🌶🌶🌶🌶. i asked for some more sesame sauce which the waiter tried to charge me for until explained it was so different and way more spicy than what we had in our previous visits.
i know it might sound subjective, but i gotta say it was way way toooo spicy for both of us. our tolerance to spicy food is average, but not that we can't eat any spicy food.
we decided to give it another chance tonight. we ordered it for takeaway. again, it was so spicy that i didn't enjoy it at all. 😵😵😵

food was above average, experience could have been better. hope they can make the spicy wonton less spicy.

shanghai style.goodrustic shanghai style food. the place is always full.

drunken chicken is a favourite

i feel sorry that i visited this place. though yes, since it was around chinese new year, it was very beautifully decorated. check the attached picture. too dark though. :(

the food is probably the worst i tried in brisbane. i really expectedgoodthings here. i tried their papaya and fungi dish something this is a traditional sweet of china but i didn't like it. my chinese friend added it doesn't taste like what it does in china. :(

apart from that i tried a variety of their dishes. amongst those dumplings were a lot better. everything else was a complete disappointment. :(

i booked online for a large group birthday dinner for 6.30pm. i arrived early to set up the cake. the rest of the group were a few minutes behind me. i was then told to hurry up and order as the kitchen was closing in 30mins. and restaurant closing in an hour. this wasn’t mentioned on booming or on the confirmation email. i had to quickly find another restaurant with more modern opening hours. luckily we found another place in elizabeth arcade where, by the way, the food was better too. new shanghai is a lunchtime food hall with staff who aregoodat ignoring you.

a rare chance in these wfh days to head into the cbd to run some errands, and took the chance to drop by new shanghai in queens plaza for a feed and to redeem my free birthday dumplings.

we ordered:
* no.201 xiao long bao / steamed pork dumplings (8pc), $10.80
* no.405 zha jiang noodles (with ground pork sauce), $13.60
* no.413 shepherd's purse, shredded pork & rice cake stir fry, $17.80
and for my dumplings i chose
* no.218 prawn dumplings (10pc), $19.50

xlb is pretty much a standing order whenever we eat here - new shanghai do one of the best we've tried in brisbane. i also tend to like ordering one of the shanghai style rice cake dishes as it's rare to find this elsewhere. everything was really nice; the zha jiang noodles was agoodsized serve and had heaps of the meaty sauce, and the prawn dumplings went really well with the accompanying dip which had a bit of chilli in it.

service wise wasn't asgoodan experience. we neglected to bring water with us and my son was feeling thirsty so we asked for water twice from two different staff members, and neither resulted in any water. eventually wifey had finished her meal and went next door to coles to buy some groceries. she came back with a bottle of water and still no water from the restaurant. we also had some issues/confusion about redeeming the birthday dumplings voucher, resulting in me paying more than i expected to. but that was subsequently sorted out after i wrote to the head office with some feedback. so we'll happily visit again when we're next in town.

ps. anothergoodthing is they're on the liven platform, so you can earn 5% of your total spend as liven rewards. if you're not already using liven, get $10 free credits to spend when you sign up with my referral code umqeec!

the pork belly ($22.7) was the highlight of the night. the sweetened soy sauce marinade was excellent and the meat itself was succulent and flavoursome due to the perfect amount of fat. there was also a decent amount of bok choy hidden underneath, which i appreciated. 5/5

the crispy skin chicken ($21.6) would’ve beengoodif thegoodparts were consistent. there were some wonderfully tender parts that contrasted beautifully with the skin, but there were also an equal amount of parts that were tough and dry. the sauce helped you swallow them down though. i also just realised that it says “chilli sauce” on the menu but it was pretty much just sweet soy sauce. 3.5/5

mapo tofu ($15.7) was very mediocre. the ones we make at home with premade sauce tasted a lot better. there was too much soy sauce, hence the odd dark brown colour when it’s meant to be a vibrant red. there was also barely any mince. 2.5/5

xiaolongbao ($9.9) & pan fried pork buns ($12.9) were nothing to write home about, but they were good. never had xlb before so i don’t really have a basis for comparison though. 4/5

there was enough rice in two buckets for five of us to eat until we were bursting. picture enclosed with cup for scale.

left the restaurant satisfied and full.

nice food... friendly but unprofessional service... very reasonable prices and flavours distinct and fresh. why is it thatgoodchinese places do not havegood waiting staff? or am i stereotyping?

i come here all the time (since 2015) and i have to say that i keep returning because they serve the best soup dumplings (xlb) in brisbane. the price has increased from $7.80 when i first started coming to $9.90, but i return because it's still worth it. much better than dumpling republic across the street, and the other food besides soup dumplings aregoodtoo.

personally i really enjoyed the pan fried pork buns (菜肉包), shanghai mini pork won ton soup (鮮肉小雲吞), the braised beef noodles (紅燒牛肉湯麵), crispy chicken noodle soup, shanghai stir fried noodles, slow braised pork belly, and any salted egg yolk dish. i also really like the soy milk here. i think it's reallygood- definitely made through chinese methods, so the taste is different to what you would find in the supermarket. reminds me of the days when i lived in china. :)

the staff are all native chinese speakers, and the service is quick and friendly. they've also gotten rid of their payment surcharge on cards, so you're paying for what you ordered unless you're using an amex. my only point of criticism (which is out of their control tbh) is that if you're seated too far into the restaurant, there is no cell service.

overall, this is always the restaurant i head to when i'm craving chinese food. highly recommended!

came here for lunch cause i was in the mood for something hot on a cold winters day. ordered the “xiao long bao” (steamed pork dumplings) ($9.90), pork & chinese cabbage dumplings ($12.70), shanghai mini prawn & pork wonton soup ($14.90) and hot & sour soup with shredded pork and tofu ($6.40). for drinks, ordered the iced lemon tea ($6) and the peach green tea ($6).

the “xiao long bao” is a definite must try! i found that this signature dish of 8 pieces of dumplings was agoodamount and it was so flavourful with the soup inside (must be cautious as it is very hot soup inside!). i found that the pork & cabbage dumplings were quite average, they provided soy sauce which added taste but there was nothing special in terms of flavour. the shanghai mini prawn & pork wonton was delicious! this dish had a very fair portion (with about 7 pieces of small wontons) and the soup had agoodbalance of taste (the tofu and shredded pork added a bit more flavour). the hot & sour soup was a bit disappointing, it tasted quite average and it wasn’t hot at all or very sour (when compared to other places). the drinks were very nice, the peach green tea was definitely my favourite! the taste was balanced well between the green tea and the sweetness and fragrance of the peach. the iced lemon tea was tasty as well but they put a lot of lemon (great for a hot day though as it was very refreshing!), it was a bit sweet but the lemon was too overpowering.

this place has opened for awhile and i was surprised that this place still has a lot of people having to queue up to get a seat. inside, it was very big and spacious. i like the atmosphere because it seems like a typical asian restaurant (red and black themed) with lightly dimmed lighting, fancy framed mirrors around and wooden antique stools and tables. i was very happy with the staff and service! the service was quick and the staff seemed very organised and knew the menu well (they aregoodto ask for recommendations).

i wish i could give half stars.. this place is a solid 3.5. let me start by saying that i don’t really like shanghai dumplings and i don’t eat much meat... however i do love meat broth. so i drink the broth that’s encapsulated by a well made skin and give the inside of the pork ones to my companions who loved the extra meat. the boys however love the dumplings.

the crispy thicker pan fried baos i did the same with but i love most things that are fried and flavoursome. everyone loved these.

they also ordered some pork and prawn dumplings which were probably at the bottom of the rung compared to the first two.

i ate probably 7 of the 10 prawn wontons with chilli oil and peanut sauce and really enjoyed these. great prawn flavour and chunks as well as the wonton skins being perfectly cooked.

we asked for a chilli sauce and the one the gave was delicious.

the only downside was having to wait 20 minutes for a table and i don’t know if you’ve noticed.. i’m super impatient and because we were seated outside... we did have to go inside to ask for more tea. all in all the food came out quickly, 3 of the 4 dishes were prettygoodand they’re in the entertainment book which takes 25% off which is a nice bonus.

i know my family will be back here for sure.
if you like xiao long bao and you live in brisbane this is one of the better places.

#dumplings #wontons #monicamarkle #monvsbrisbane

visited new shanghai which i would say is very similar to the taiwanese restaurant din tai fung. the menu is very similar as are the flavours. we ordered the drunken chicken cold shanghai noodles which was very tasty - a large portion of chicken, cucumber and noodles. the pork and prawn wonton soup was quite ordinary. the crispy chicken with a garlic and chilli sauce was very tasty however, the sauce did not seem to taste like chilli at all. our favourite dish was the salted egg crispy tofu which was so unique and very tasty. there was a lot of salted egg flavour covering the tofu which was very soft on the inside but very crisp on the outside. this is a dish i would definitely reorder. the xiao long bao was very ordinary - nothing special but still very tasty. i think the wrapping skin is a bit thicker which wasgoodas we had none of the dumplings break so none of the soup on the inside spilled. 
the restaurant is quite busy from 5:30-7:30 so bookings are taken then but we had not booked and our table of 4 was seated within 15 minutes on a thursday night.

one phrase: best pan fried pork buns, period. these gems have juicy fillings, then crispy fried skin. out of all sheng-jian-bao i've had in china and here this would be the tastiest. otherwise we tried it's shaolong which is on par with din tai fung, radish pastry which is slightly too deep fried for my liking, and wonton in chilli oil which is not asgoodas din tai fung. but for it's buns alone, this place deserves a 4.5.