I heard about this new place on social media and that they serve Shanghai buns. I went with my family on a whim for dinner and was glad that they were able to seat us quickly. The place is very small with one server and we were lucky to get a table with four seats (we had three adults and one high chair). There were a few parties coming in and out, but parties of 3-4 would wait longer for sure. The space was also a bit tight with everyone's winter coats, so keep that in mind if you have bulky clothing or shopping bags.
We got one order of authentic Shanghainese sheng jian bao to share, my mom and I each got a small bowl of pork wonton soup, and my dad got the spicy pickled cabbage and pig intestine noodles.
The menu is small and the pickled cabbage and pig intestine noodle bowl doesn't indicate that it's not soup. This and the scallion noodles are the only bowls that aren't soup. My dad really enjoyed it, but my mom gave him some broth from her soup because I think he was craving more broth on the chilly day and didn't realize his bowl didn't have much.
For some reason I thought the wonton soup had noodles as well, but I confirmed with the server that it didn't. The small bowl of Shanghainese-style wonton soup has 12 pork wontons and the large bowl only has 10, but they're shepherd's purse and pork wontons, not just pork. I have to admit, I'm sure I've eaten shepherd's purse before (thinking it was other greens), but didn't actually know the name and was admittedly a bit confused when I saw it on the menu. The wontons were great, big and had plenty of pork filling. The broth was very light and there was pieces of dark roasted seaweed and a few mini mini mini shrimp that you could barely see. I enjoyed it and my mom liked the wontons, but she didn't think the broth had much flavour.
The buns were, as expected, the star of the show. Sheng jian bao are pork (soup) buns that also have broth in them like xiao long bao soup dumplings, but are pan-fried instead of steamed and topped with sesame seeds and scallions. Sheng jian bao have a thicker, chewier shell and I love how crispy the bottoms were. They came piping hot and were very flavourful. They had stickers on the tables with instructions on how to eat them, plus a little caddy that salt, pepper, vinegar, and chili oil. We got a second order to-go.
Service was kind, prices are affordable (everything under $16 before tax), and it's definitely a nice little spot on a cold day if you can get a seat! read more