The renovated New Shanghai, Ashfield

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If you haven't been to Ashfield's strip of Shanghainese restaurants in a while, you'll be in for a surprise. This new wave of chic New Shanghai restaurants has hit Ashfield and there's no turning back.

Long gone are the bland white walls and dingy ambiance. Now, you'll see exposed brick walls, bearing a slight resemblance to the longtang scape of it's Chatswood Chase sibling, while still keeping it's Ashfield cazh.

I got slightly carried away when dining here recently... All this was to feed two!

When in Shanghai, do as the Shanghai do. So with that in mind, I order a chilled glass of sweetened soya milk ($2.50) - the perfect accompaniment!

On the new seasonal cold dishes menu, I'm keen to try the smoked fresh soya bean ($4.80) but it's unavailable so the waitress recommends the dried mushroom ($5.80) which is surprisingly amazing! The mushrooms have a really good bite to it. There's another ingredient in the mix that reminds me of dried lily buds as it has a beautiful fragrance. If I ever were a vegetarian, this is what I'd like to be served. (Although we all know that's never going to happen as there's no way I'm willing to live without pork crackling or pho!)

The fried clams with XO sauce ($18.80) are too irresistible to pass. There isn't quite enough XO sauce to make the dish a standout but that doesn't stop us from licking absolutely every drop of sauce off the clam shells.

My all time most favourite dishes at New Shanghai are the ones that feature salted duck egg yolk. Available with tofu, blue swimmer crab, prawns or calamari, there's something rather magical about the richness of the batter that makes it such a weakness of mine. I've never tried it with calamari before so that's what we have: deep fried calamari coated with salted duck yolk ($18.80). I think it may be the best combination yet. I love that they're all big generous pieces. A large mouthful of bliss!

Its not a meal at New Shanghai unless you've eaten some stir fried handmade noodle with pork and vegetable ($8.80), New Shanghai steamed mini pork buns ($6.80), and New Shanghai pan fried crab meat and pork buns ($12.80). I must add, it's so pleasing to see that despite the makeover, the prices are still very reasonable. 

Thinking we'd need some greens to balance out the meal, we also have the stir fried bok choy with mushrooms ($9.90). It's so simple but so tasty and I just can't get enough of thickened sauces! 

For dessert, we sample the new mini sticky rice balls in Chinese sweet rice wine soup ($6.80). This is topped with goji berries and a sprinkle of dried osmanthus. Sweet, perfumed and definitely alcoholic (I'm a cheap drunk, LOL), it's a fabulous finale to the feast.

New Shanghai
273 Liverpool Road Ashfield
Call (02) 9797 7284

JENIUS dined as guests of Wasamedia & New Shanghai