Shanghai Tea Garden - Perth

Very cool place, nicely decorated. menu is quite varied with plenty of familiar dishes plus some western style (xinjiang) options and spins on popular chinese dishes. the lunch specials are very good value and the rest of the menu is quite reasonably priced. we had xiao long bao, fried squid, xinjiang noodles, 'peking duck ' pock hock and dan dan mian. interesting to try, but pork was pretty salty and dan dan mian quite a unique style.

The weather finally seems to be changing so I took the opportunity to go for a lovely relaxing walk under blue skies to Northbridge and stop by Shanghai Tea Garden. I walked in and was immediately met by the inquisitive eyes of the patrons probably wondering what a foreigner is doing in their restaurant. I grabbed a menu which caters to a larger group with an array of dishes, or you can grab lunch time items for a few people. Takeaway is also offered. I chose the pork cabbage dumplings and the dry slightly spicy Shanghai daan noodles. I took a table outside. <br/ <br/ The dumplings are quite slippery, the skin is pretty thin and reasonably silky, the filling of pork and cabbage delicious. Dip a dumpling into the soy sauce mixture and devour. Dumplings carry a subtle flavour with the soy sauce adding just a touch of seasoning and is a great way to start the meal. With a serving of 15 dumplings there’s no skimping here. <br/ <br/ The Shanghai Daan Noodles is a little thick and slightly heavy but tasty. It comes served with a minced pork mixture with a slight spiciness, crushed peanuts, and is almost a spaghetti Bolognese of sorts. The mixture is enough to lightly flavour the noodles turning it into a very enjoyable dish and something quite unique. I had to ask for this to be packed away.<br/ <br/ I also couldn’t resist one of my favourite dishes, red bean pancake. A lovely golden brown deep fried pancake batter encasing soft delicious red bean mix. So yum, totally satisfied but really full. Good thing I’ve got a long walk back.

We had a great meal at Shanghai Tea Garden, I have always wanted to pay them a visit and it did not disappoint. There were 8 of us and we ordered a range of food. <br/ <br/ The stand out dish for us was the Special Lamb Ribs, Shanghai Dumplings the String Beans with minced pork and chilli. The Dumpling fillings were full of flavour especially the broth in it, it was so tasty that we all fight for the last piece. Lamb ribs receive a lot of rave reviews on our table, the meat was on point so were the spices they used. I have had a fair share of stir fry string beans with minced pork and chilli, their version here has a lot more depth of flavour. The eggplant minced pork clay pot was very popular on our table too. It was grandma first time having eggplant and she likes it. <br/ <br/ Average dish of the night was the pork belly in bamboo box, the sauce that the pork was coated in lacking some depth of flavour in compare to the rest of our dishes. <br/ <br/ We would definitely return to try some other dishes as we were eyeing off other people's food throughout the night.

Very efficient serviceI recommend the seafood spring rolls as a good starter. Quite affordable place, with charming Chinese decor. Food was very well prepared, and full of flavour.

The Xin Jiang Spicy Chicken with Potato and Hand Made Noodles is a must try.  The other dishes are quite good too.  It was impressive to have a decent Hot and Sour Soup for once.  Prices are quite reasonable.  Would definitely go back.<br/ <br/ The only down side is that the owners, should install a light down the walk way to the toilet.  Can be quite hazardous especially at night.