Shanghai Asian Cuisine on Elizabeth Street

[bearmi]

Has anyone been to Shanghai Asian Cuisine (It's called "上海小館" in Chinese) at 14A Elizabeth Street? It's near the entrance to Chinatown Arcade from the Elizabeth Street side.... (If you stand on Elizabeth Street, it's between Cantoon Garden and Oriental Carden). I walked past it yesterday afternoon and it looked pretty busy, but I wasn't sure if the food is good (as we all know, just because a place is popular doesn't mean the food is good). In case any one of you have been there, can you please share your experience with me? Thank you!

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Shanghai Asian Cuisine
14 Elizabeth St, New York, NY 10013

[kathryn]

Anybody been to Shanghai Asian Cuisine lately? How are the xiao long bao (soup dumplings)? The sheng jian bao (fried tiny buns)?

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Shanghai Asian Cuisine
14 Elizabeth St, New York, NY 10013

[AubWah]

why would anyone stray from shanghai cafe?

[kathryn]

Do they have good sheng jian bao (fried tiny buns)? The Serious Eats review said it was unevenly cooked.

[scoopG]

Kathryn, the sheng jian bao here are terrible! The dough was chewy and tough. I felt they were machine made - the meat inside seemed too uniform in shape.
And no juice like 456's. Maybe I will try their XLB's next time. The place was busy when I stopped in.

Photo below on left is Shanghai Asian Cuisine's sheng jian bao and on the right is 456's version.

[kathryn]

So sad! No juice!

[AubWah]

I stick to XLB, spicy cabbage, and delectable entrees

[mow mow]

this place (shanghai asian cafe) has good drunk chicken though. but that's the only thing i'd order. usually for take out.

[kenjialt]

I had the soup dumplings here (maybe called "tiny pork juicy buns" or something like that on the menu). They may have been the best soup dumplings I've ever had. An extraorginary amount of juice in them, and wrappers that were just barely robust enough to hold it all in.

[bearmi]

Thx. I haven't been going to Chinatown for a while but I should check this place out next time I am down there. It's always packed with Chinese people so I assume it must either have good price or good food!

[Pan]

I guess I never reported back on my one meal there. I got Kao Fu and I believe Beef Stew Noodle Soup. The Kao Fu was good, but the broth in the soup tasted like two Knorr's bouillon cubes plus a bit of water - in other words, it sucked. So you can understand why I haven't been tempted to return.

[AppleSister]

I forgot to mention that my friend said only the Shanghainese dim sum items were good. Dinner food was not recommended.

[AppleSister]

I just ate here this past Saturday for "Shanghainese dim sum," as described by my Cantonese-speaking friend. It was delicious! I especially loved the cold pork hock, which you dip in a funny, syrupy sauce that you would never think would go so well with gelatinous cold pork. The xiao long bao had lovely, delicate skins, the pan-fried wontons kept their crisp long after they arrived, and the sweet bean filled pancake we had for dessert was simple and satisfying. She says that it's been around forever but that it recently got a lot better. A Shanghainese friend of hers says, "The food is better than my grandmother's but I can't tell her!"

[bearmi]

Wow that sounds great. I will have to check it out. I am such a creature of habit... I always go to the same place but I am trying to change that. Thanks again!

[Nutella_gal]

HI, the Shanghainese Xiao long bao is from 'Yummy Noodles'?

[bearmi]

I don't think so. "Shanghai Asian Cuisine" is at the Elizabeth Street end of the Chinatown Arcade while "Yummy Noodles" is at the Bowery Street end of Chinatown Arcade. In between the two places are New Malaysia, Coluck, etc. Shanghai Asian Cuisine and Yummy Noodles have separate kitchens and probably different owners so it's unlikely that their Xiao Long Bao would be from Yummy Noodles. Some folks mentioned Yummy Noodles in earlier comments because of the proximity but I would say the two places are totally unrelated..

[Lau]

im pretty sure thats right...yummy noodle house is a cantonese bbq place that also happens to have the best bo zai fan (clay pot rice) in ctown (highly recommend). It is very cantonese, unless the people who own shanghai asian cuisine are cantonese it seems pretty unlikely they are the same people

[buttertart]

We dropped by there (Shanghai Asian) yesterday intending to eat - they were quite busy - didn't end up staying - checked the takeout menu and there was virtually nothing really Shanghainese on it and there was a wall poster advertising lemongrass pork chops and pineapple fried rice as "Asian" specials. Maybe not Cantonese, maybe Shanghai by way of Malaysia? (Should add that we could not get far enough into the restaurant to read the specials posted in Chinese at the back.) Ended up at Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, maybe not the best in the city but we like it.

[Lau]

weird...lemongrass pork chop and pineapple fried rice, a bit of a warning flag, but i guess we just have to try it

[Pan]

Wow! I ate at the restaurant several times before it changed hands and decided it wasn't that great. I will have to try it, on the strength of such a powerful recommendation!

[Lau]

ive seen it many times, but now that I think of it I never even thought to walk in...maybe worth someone checking it out

yelp has some reviews on it: http://www.yelp.com/biz/shanghai-gard...

[bearmi]

Yeah.. it's one of those places that you walk past then you never go in.... I think one of the reason was that I could peek into their kitchen while I walk through Chinatown Arcade and it looked kind of scary... but I can't guarantee that other places in Chinatown (or outside of Chinatown) have cleaner kitchen.. ha..

[bigjeff]

never ate there, although I always walk by on the way to new malaysia. also never ate at the hong-kong style fusion snack place with the old school seating; just never felt seriously compelled to go in. and, don't usually eat at the chinese restaurant at the bowery end of the arcade.

should I be eating at any of these places?

[squid kun]

I'd give the one at the Bowery end another shot. They make nice clay pot rice casseroles. I like the one with beef and egg. Comforting, if not life-changing. If you order to go, you get a free clay pot.

Roast meats are prominently displayed, so they might be good too, though I haven't tried them.

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Yummy Noodles
48 Bowery, New York, NY 10013

[scoopG]

They added some new menu menu items in March among other changes:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/607949

[bearmi]

Thanks guys.

I have been to the HK Style restaurant there. It's called "Coluck" or something like that. The food is ok and I remember the price was really low. I think they had stuff like rice plates and some noodle dishes and omlette, etc. I don't think you have missed out much...

I have had the roast duck at Yummy Noodles a few times. It's good. I haven't been back for a while the last few (~5) years though.... For some reason I just don't eat much roast meats these days....

[Lau]

coluck is whatever (its called like #1 chinese restaurant or something like that in chinese)....its that HK style western food (alot of breakfast stuff); I went once and thought it was whatever; kinda greasy and not so good

Yummy Noodle House is one of the better restaurants in ctown...they have menu similar to a big wong's type place except they specialize in bo zai fan (clay pot rice) and they do it very well (it tastes very similar to what you get in asia); I personally like the pork and salted fish cake, I also usually get la chang (chinese sausage) added. Also like their soy sauce chicken (jiang you ji / si yau gai). The other thing with bo zai fan is that no matter how much of that dark soy sauce (its different than regular soy sauce) you put on it never really seems like its too much

[bearmi]

Based on the recommendation of a coworker, I used to visit Yummy Noodles often.. until one day about 5 years ago, I went there and ordered Chinese broccoli. After taking a few bites, I pulled out a yarn out of my dish and I basically stopped eating my meal from that moment on. Haven't been back there since then. Don't get me wrong, the food is good but it was a semi-traumatic experience that I went through...

[KTinNYC]

I understand your hesitation to return but I'm willing to bet the "yarn" that was in your gai lan came from the string that often is used to bind vegetables in Chinatown. I'm not making excuses but it's happened to me at home.

[bearmi]

That's exactly what I thought it was... Honestly, it can happen anywhere...I won't be surprised if I find something like that at other places I eat.

[Lau]

yeah i hear you...i think i just got over the cleanliness thing a while ago, but that is a bit ridiculous

for the sake of food, you should try it again if it doesn't bother you too much...that place is actually pretty good

[bearmi]

I hear you. I am going to check it out again one of those days. From what I remember, their roast duck was quite good!

[bearmi]

I see. Thanks for the info. I will have to check it out and see if it's worth a visit.

[scoopG]

Not since they changed hands. I think it was called Shanghai Garden before.

[Chandavkl]

You're right, it was Shanghai Garden and all I remember was some pretty good Shanghai style noodles.