The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
I had the opportunity to not enjoy this pearl custard/egg tart almost 2 years ago, not post about it, and have the photo sit on my computer until now.
I had in fact forgotten about the experience, until I revisited it when I was served baked goods from Fujimi during a recent echocardiogram course.
Clearly not learning from my mistake, I had again the same tart. My main criticism about this arises from the fact that I don’t actually enjoy the pearls in bubble tea that much, let alone on top of a tart. They’re OK one by one, surrounded by a large mouthful of bubble tea, but when clumped in a group together I think they’re just too sticky and flavourless.
I also had this purple tart, which I can’t identify, but was slightly better. My main complaint about the pastry was that it was soft, rather than crispy. Was this due to the travel-and-wait time, or is this a factor inherent in these tarts?
I don’t know, but I don’t want to have them again to find out.
New Shanghai Night 新夜上海 is the third in a line of consecutive Shanghainese restaurants running from West to East on Liverpool Rd and in our opinion the best. Though other sources will provide the rich history of these three related restaurants, I have not done any original research on this matter and to be truthful the lore does not interest me as much as the food, which was good, and better than the rest.
We started with these deep fried bean curd in salt chilli & pepper 椒盐豆腐 ($15.80). They were not bad, with only a light starched batter, true to our preference.
They were, however, served in this basket, which if you look closely at it and think about it makes you wonder how often it is cleaned. For this reason, I would not order these tofus again, and I would aim to avoid anything served in this kind of kitchenware.
The Pork with Chives Garlic in Dumpling 韭菜猪肉水饺 ($13.80 for 12, steamed) were really good. They had a green filling with a good density of chives and a high degree of fragrance and sweetness. I don’t know if the sweetness was the natural sweetness of the vegetables, or from added sugar into either the filling or the flour, but nonetheless the taste was good.
These dumplings are also available pan-fried (more expensive), or to take home frozen, and are some of the best I’ve had. There’s no option that combines pork, prawn, and chives, or pork, egg, and chives in a 三馅 style as apparently these are not Shanghainese in tradition, and though many dumpling would’ve suffered from the absence of a third ingredient, the cleanness of this two-ingredient combination was a winner for me.
The Pan Fried Pork Bun with Shallots 生煎包 (10 for $13.80) was another winner.
The dough was soft and airy but not too thick, and with perfectly fried bottoms.
The filling was moist, flavourful, and a little bit but not too soupy. Again I thought these shen jian bao had a bit of a sweet taste to them – possibly a house characteristic of either their filling or dough – but not problematically so. Absolutely elite tier.
Chilli oil you must ask for.
I think the tea was pu’er which is not my favourite but what can you do?
Other The staff speak very good English and also seemingly no Mandarin, which I guess makes sense since they are a Shanghainese restaurant, despite general Mandarin hegemony. They were confused and unable to produce a tax invoice when requested. Service was generally good and nicer than at New Shanghai .
Overall the best Shanghainese restaurant in Ashfield. It is a wonder how the other two even have customers, let alone lines outside New Shanghai whilst there are still tables free at New Shanghai Night.
This is a cat we saw on our walk to the restaurant. Hopefully we can go for more walks to this restaurant in 2026.
UPDATE MARCH 2026 We went back today, for lunch rather than dinner. Perhaps this was our big mistake, as the restaurant is not called New Shanghai Day. The meal was not as good as last time, and if this had been our initial experience we wouldn’t have come back a second time. The staff also spoke to us in Mandarin. Is there a separate crew for the day shift?
First, the pork ribs in black bean sauce on rice豉椒肉排飯 ($15.80). My wife had not gotten the memo to not order generic Chinese food from a regional Chinese restaurant, but mostly because I hadn’t communicated this strategy. These weren’t what we expected (from only the English title) – we were more expecting yum cha style steamed pork ribs.
The flavour was OK even thought it was not what we wanted, but the pork was randomly battered and deep fried for seemingly no reason – something another online commenter had mentioned about another dish. A reasonable portion size, but it almost seemed like a meal designed for someone not Chinese?
I will take credit for choosing the steamed Shanghai style mini pork & crab bun xiaolongbao 南翔小籠包 ($12.80), which at least are regional Shanghainese cuisine. These weren’t terrible, but did not stand out like the shen jian bao had on our first visit.
I didn’t think they were better than frozen supermarket XLBs, and I couldn’t appreciate the crabbiness of these allegedly crabby bao.
My order of pork with coriander in dumpling香菜豬肉水餃 ($13.80 for 12, steamed) was another attempt to replicate our previous success, which again didn’t go that well. They were nothing to really write home about, and led me to wonder if as an adult one could suddenly go from someone who enjoyed coriander to someone who doesn’t like coriander.
Comments 2.0 Perhaps I had betrayed us by making us get things outside of what we’d already had and knew we enjoyed. Perhaps it was the B ‘day team’ at a ‘night restaurant’. All I know is we weren’t particularly happy with our meal.
New Shanghai Night 新夜上海 267B Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
I had two things from Wok N BBQ tonight, purchased on the way home from visiting a friend and with the express intention of eating it slowly over the next few days. “Groceries”.
The crispy pork ($42/kg) had a good crisp to its crackling skin and a good mixture of fat and lean meat, as well as some soft bones which my partner would’ve enjoyed had she been around, however I felt it was unfortunately oversalted.
The soy chicken ($17 for half) was conversely undersalted, even when fully dipped into the sauce, though this was made up for but not balanced by the quite salty ginger and shallot mix. The texture was tender and silky, which is a plus.
Overall I did not feel that Wok N BBQ provided an exemplary experience and will hesitate to go back given multiple other superior options in the vicinity.
These shepherd’s purse and egg buns came recommended by a reader, though I actually already had them in my freezer by the time the comment came through.
They are part of the ‘paper skin’ line, which is an accurate description given the superb filling to skin ratio as seen on the cross-sectional image provided. The skin, despite its thinness, was extremely strong, bouncy, and held up well to steaming.
My wife and I were less impressed by the filling, however, and felt that the taste was a bit bland. This was easily corrected with a bit of chilli crisp and vinegar, but having to add flavour to a prepackaged frozen bun isn’t exactly my dream.
I wouldn’t get these again, but I do like some of Ruyee’s other offerings.
Ruyee Steamed Bun with Shepherd’s Purse and Egg 如意纸皮包子 荠菜鸡蛋味 EAN 9309000476008
I picked this up from the freezer aisle of a local Asian grocery store. The picture on the label promised juicy, fatty, braised pork with pickles. I expected the pickles to not be a major ingredient, firstly because they were left out of the picture, but also because of the text that said “meat only goodness”.
The pickles were, in fact, a major component. The bowl, heated up via a combination effort of steaming and microwaving, was probably 50/50 pork and mustard greens.
The flavour of the food was quite strong and salty, though we ate it by itself rather than accompanied by rice, which I assume is how it was designed. The mustard greens and sichuan pepper contributed the majority of the flavour, in addition to an enthusiastic quantity of soy sauce.
The pork was a combination of fatty pork belly as well as pieces of lean meat. The pork belly bits were delicious, fatty, and delivered the characteristic melt-in-your-mouth quality despite having been frozen and reheated two ways. The lean bits of pork were in my opinion too lean to be enjoyable.
Overall thoughts: Promising, but way too salty for me to buy again to eat without rice.
Xianjiuji Sichuan Braised Pork with Pickles 香九记四川扣肉 EAN 9301168240064
