Shanghai Cafe

The Pork and Chive Dumplings were also very good, fresh chewy dough with a flavorful filling. Their chive was especially strong which I liked, but that may turn off some.

Their absolute best offering and the reason I will come back, are the Fried Tiny Buns with Pork (this is a terrible name so ignore it; the Chinese name is Sin Jian Bao). They're not tiny and require 2-4 bites depending on the size of your mouth and they are only pan fried on the bottom. The dough is the best dough ever, fluffy and chewy at the same time, really really awesome. The pork filling is just the perfect amount of flavorful pork.

The Sticky Rice in Bamboo Leaf (some call it a Chinese Tamale) was pretty plain, just a few large chunks of pork in it, but the leaves imparted so much of it's wonderful scent (way more than usual) that I just wanted to snort it.

The Scallion Pancakes were the lazy kind. I call it that because most restaurants are too lazy to make it the traditional way that yields lots of layers. Still, it's freshly deep-fried dough. How bad could it be?

Lon wanted to try the Braised Noodles Shanghai Style, just to try something new. No one was particularly fond of it though, braising the noodles makes them mushy.

The dinner ended poorly with the Fish Head Soup, one of my favorite winter foods. The fish was fishy, in other words, not so fresh, so we didn't really eat it. It's sad because it tasted like it would have been pretty good otherwise. The tofu was good, the soup was made with such a rich fish stock, and I love those clear flat noodles (although lots of these were stuck together).

So, for the Tiny Fried Buns with Pork, Shanghai Cafe is the master! For serving us something that could make us all sick, they suck ass! Yea, it's tormenting me. If you do go, get the dumpling and bun type stuff. Definitely don't get fish or seafood for safety reasons, and the other stuff is sort of optional because it's just average.