Disappointed at Shanghai House
Did I miss something? I was in Richmond on Saturday night. I remembered that Shanghai House and Shanghai Dumpling King were both recommended by CH. Saw SDK first, so I pulled up. But the wait was like an hour, so I walked 3 blocks down to SH. What a difference. Half empty, no wait. I ordered XLB, bean curd puff and stir-fried hand cut noodle. I'm almost 100% positive the XLBs are frozen factory brand. How do I know? I ate 10 of them in like 5 minutes, and you can only do that if there was no soup (3) or soup is not piping hot (7), which was the case. As opposed to the ones from Kingdom of Dumplings, where the skin of XLB gets stretched by the weight of the soup inside when you pick it up, these ones remained stiff and flat bottomed. The bean curd puff is steaming hot on the surface but still frozen underneath. The noodle is too salty, no bak choy and bunch of cabbage.
Did I catch them on a really bad night (but still none of this is excusable)? or did they change chef/owner? It is the one just across the street from Castro Theater right? Just curious, but I would most likely not going back.
By hedge_hog
on Sep 27, 2009 06:45 PM
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To set you straight, it's The Richmond District, not Richmond and the Shanghai House is across the street from the Balboa theatre.
Sorry you had a disappointing meal.
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Thanks for clarifying. I was wondering.
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Sorry to hear it. Never been to Shanghai House, only go to SDK. There's a reason why there's an hour wait.
Even if they were house-made/handmade, it could be an off day. I've been to SDK, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House in LA and a few places in the Bay Area and have experienced off days or things being off.
I think that's part of the deal...they're really delicate and if not steamed piping hot, they can suck. SDK has been the most consistent IMO and part of that is the high turn over.
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Consider that I was the only person ordering food at the time, I don't see why the XLB would/should have gotten cold after the steaming. Compare the first (from kingdom of dumplings) with the second (Shanghai House), the difference is obvious.
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I'll take Door #1.
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I was there in the last month or two and loved the xiao long bao. I thought the food was better than at Shanghai Dumpling King.
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Last time this discussion came up, the consensus seemed to be that XLB were better at lunch on weekends when they might be made fresh, but otherwise (at dinner) they're frozen. When do you typically go?
When we've gone for dinner, the XLB have been consistently average. OK flavor, OK wrapper, not juicy.
Shanghai house does a very nice sliced tofu skin "noodle" dish.
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I was there last for dinner. Can't remember if it was a Friday or Sunday. I also really liked the vegetarian goose that I think you're describing.
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Shanghai House is slow because there is an old man who makes everything there, but I prefer the food to that of SDK. Plus, Shanghai House is pretty clean, whereas SDK was kind of gross the last time I went. (And I'm someone who has a very high tolerance for grossness if the food is good.)
Also, has SDK changed hands? Because there was an awful lot of Cantonese coming out of the kitchen.
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I heard SDK also own/operates Shanghai Dumpling Shop in Millbrae right after going there. The XLBs were good but not as good as SDK. The other dishes were a bit off too...cured pork and greens in rice, etc. My guess is some of the staff had to go there and perhaps both have suffered.
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Went to SDS in Millbrae last week...the XLB's were not good... little or no soup and tough skins...so perhaps they had an off day...
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There's been Cantonese coming out of the kitchen at SDK since shortly after they opened and we went with my mother in law. The tables have also been greasy since day 1...when we were there, it was because they don't put anything under the steamers, and the XLB are indeed so "juicy" that some burst when you pick them up. Since the filling is fatty gelatinous stock, that makes the tables pretty greasy, and they aren't exactly scrubbing them down after each group.
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When it first opened (years ago), the front was run by a constantly pregnant Cantonese woman and her relatives and there was just the one young skinny dude who spoke only Shanghainese doing some excellent cooking. The restaurant was actually fairly clean.
I stopped going at some point when it became a hot spot with a huge wait. When I went several months ago, it didn't appear to be the same people at all. And the food was not nearly as good.
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