I love to travel for food. It helps having a car and a husband and friends also willing to travel for food. To us, a night out is not going to a bar but it’s bundling into the car and driving somewhere that we seldom get to and eating a fantastic meal. This particular evening, Queen Viv and Miss America and I are on the pursuit for dumplings. Xiao Long Bao to be precise at Miss America’s and my husband’s request. Of course I am not averse to these little gems pursuing them across Sydney like a fashion lover lusts after the latest Limited Edition bag. Traversing the North to the South is not an easy driving experience this Friday night but we eventually get here. Queen Viv and Miss America have busied themselves waiting for us with a visit to the nearby pub.
The enormous menu, about 50cms high, contains 30 pages worth of items, all pictured. There are 300+ dishes and we can only imagine Gordon Ramsay’s head spinning at the large menu. We ask the waiter their specialty and it’s crab, as evidenced by the many pictures of crab and the fishtank. He also recommends something from the salted Duck egg yolk page and the Eel menu page. And of course we have to have some dumplings because that’s why we came here.
Iced Soy drink $2.50
A childhood favourite of mine, I recall when my dad used to painstakingly make his own soy milk. This one is from a bottle but nevertheless refreshing and not too sweet.
Yang Zhou Aromatic Crab $61.50 ($32 per 500g)
A little bit more expensive than your average dish here, this 900g crab is delicious. Absolutely so. In fact any reservations we may have had about ordering it are replaced by moans of pleasure. Suddenly, in our pursuit to extract as much flesh as possible we become seasoned crab eaters prying almost all of the fresh from the shell. And because I adore the sauce, a complex and very hard to describe one but yes aromatic as the name suggests, I hold onto the plate and spoon up every drop of sauce.
Deep fried eggplant with salted duck egg yolk $16.80
Out of the salted egg yolk dishes we opted for a vegetable version. The eggplant is meltingly soft inside the rich salted yolk covering although we find it lacking in salt. A request for chili sauce yields a much better combination and despite the surprising richness of this dish, we finish it.
Sauteed boness yellow eel with garlic chives $19.80
The sauteed boneless yellow eel is a surprise in looks and flavour. With a rich black bean and hoi sin style sauce, the eel is thinly sliced along with the garlic chives. The sauce is rich and unctuous and is the kind that you hang into to dip the eggplant and the steamed roll into.
Steamed roll $4.80 for 2
More a deep fried roll, this roll is pillowy soft inside from steaming but then deep fried to a crispy, slightly sweet texture outside. It’s very hot, indeed prising a piece off this garlic bread looking roll risks a finger burn or two but dipped in the eel sauce proves satisfying, although by itself it is less so.
Steamed pork buns (Xiao Long Bao) $7.80
These aren’t bad at all, flavoursome and all intact with a soupy interior. However it’s hard to go past Shanghai Night’s Xiao Long Bao for flavour.
Steamed pork & Garlic chives Jiao Ti $8.80
The sturdy workhorse dumplings of the range are the steamed pork dumplings. Less refined and more filling these stodgy little beasties are good. Admittedly they’re usually quite hard to do badly.
As dessert barely registers a blip on the 300+item strong menu, we go back to Queen Viv’s house for dessert and a debrief on an all-hit meal well enjoyed by all.
Shanghai Yang Zhou House
177 Forest Road, Hurstville, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9580 9188
Open 7 days 11:00-3.30pm; 5:30-10pm
Cold dishes available from 11:00-10pm
Nearby parking available in Tracey Street, free after 6pm.
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24 Comments | Add your own
I’d travel for that crab although I’m not so good eating seafood with my hands =)
I didn’t know you’d ventured out to my childhood neck of the woods! Hurstville certainly has some great Chinese restaurants.
I’m up so early on this good friday and these pictures are making me SO hungry!
Yeah I really like that place, used to go every now and then when I lived nearby(ish) and couldn’t be bothered going into the city for some dumplings.
Oh yum dumplings! I would transverse large distances for good dumplings too!
YARM salted duck egg yolk!!! that sounds so tasty on eggplant and the rolls didnt come with condensed milk?
It’s amazing that your dad used to make his own soy milk!
Oh how I love Shanghai food. The crab and eggplant left me drooling.
I remember when I was little mum used to buy 2 litre bottles of fresh sweet soy milk from the asian grocers. Mum also tried to make it once, it was a big fail and hasn’t tried again since. I buy the Aldi soy milk as I don’t like it too sweet but packaged soy milk tastes a lot different from home-made.
Thank you for sharing such delicious food with us!
Eel! Good lord woman, you ARE adventurous.
Oooh the aromatic crab looks mouth-watering. My brother says that the salted duck egg crab at this restaurant is great too!
I love Hurstville’s choice of restaurants. I think I’ve been to this one before, though it might have been called something else. Or, it’s ‘under new management’. The eggplant looks so yummy and salty.
i would love to try that eel dish. i have only ever had it teriyaki style as unagi so would like ot try it other ways. i crave it sometimes
WIW, the food looks so scrumptious!
Espcially the crab!!!
Not happy with this place. Took my mother and brother while in the area, and we were treated like shags on a rock. Refused service, nobody would talk to us, even when we tried to stop a waiter or walk up to the counter and ask about the menu.
Understandable if we had upset somebody but all we did was walk in and wait up to 20 minutes.
Walked straight out and I’ll never go back ever again.
Oh wow, what a pleasing array of culinary delights girl! You have it going on! the traveling, food, fun and I especially love that crab dish and the iced soy!
wow this place has such great variety of food, it’s like 3 restaurants in one!
Hi Aubrey-Yep it’ takes some getting used to although hunger is a good motivator
Hi Christie-This was my first time in a long while but I don’t think it will be my last given how many restaurants there are!
Hi Brianna-Oops sorry about that!
Hi Jobe-Ah great, I wish I had a local like this! We usually travel to Ashfield for our dumpling fix.
Hi Maria-Hehe ah the sign of a true foodie!
Hi chocolatesuze-Yup twas good indeed. Nope nothing but they were great with the eel sauce!
Hi Arwen-I know, I was quite small when he used to but I remember him squeezing it through the cloth bag and being happy when
I got a glass of it.
Hi Maria-Yep me too!
Yes I agree, teh homem made stuff is so nice. I think you can buy something similar from asian
grocery stores in a 2 litre container which tastes pretty good but the tetra pack stuff is quite different I agree
You’re
welcome!
Hi justJENN-Haha really? I didn’t think I was that adventurous!
Hi Steph-That crab was sooo good, like seriously soul searchingly good. Ah very cool, yes it is good although I would’ve
liked a bit more salt to it.
Hi Belle-There are so many that sound quite similar. It was good but perhaps a bit more salt would have been perfect
Hi tara-Yes I think that’s how I commonly have it but this was a really nice alternative
I don’t blame you, it’s very moreish!
Hi ArtemisIII-It was, I still dream about the crab
Hi kaneda-Oh really? How disappointing. Being refused service is quite strange, they’re usually trying to get people in the door. Sorry to hear that.
Hi Nazarina-Indeed!
I love traveling for food, it makes it like a little adventure 
Hi Howard-With 300+ items it’s definitely like a few restaurants rolled into one!
Mmmm.. food doesn’t look too bad. I like the sound of that eggplant dish, but pity it didn’t deliver on flavour initially.
Hi Y-I think that a bit of soy on the side would have fixed it but the chili sauce saved it in the end!
The crab was alive before in a bag?
Is it before and after photo?
I love crab colour’s after cooked, a bright orange, who can reject it?
Hi Lila-Yes the crab was alive in the tank and they picked one out and they cooked it for us. The aroma of it was very enticing!
it’s great to read about a good place for crab. will have to put on my food radar to try.
s
Hmm…I love this kind of restaurant where there are fresh foods.
Hi Simon-Definitely, the aromatic crab is a total winner!
Hi Love Gifts-yes fresh seafood is always very important!
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