The Shanghai Kitchen

I guess I never really had the authentic Shanghai style dish, it should be my first if this restaurant is authentic enough.
I had the pork steam bun and pan fried pork dumplings, plus the pecking duck spring rolls…
I like the first 2 items, but i expect more for the pecking duck spring rolls, maybe I was thinking about that sweet black sauce it always comes with the pecking duck should be added in … but overall it is pretty good!
the service is good… I usually have not too welcoming feelings from the chinese restaurants, but the waiters here and even the manager (or the boss) was super friendly and always with smiles! I love this, and will go back for the service!!!

The interior is very clean and contemporary (two thumbs up for glass tiles). There is a good combination of booths and tables. The restaurant is brightly lit, inviting and cozy. But please, do invest in your washrooms. The women’s washroom feels haunted. The lighting is dim, the paint is muddy-​looking and the whole atmosphere is nothing but gloomy.
Anyway, enough about the washroom talk and let’s get down to tonight’s subject — Shanghaiese food.
4 people we ordered a steamer basket of Xiao Long Bao (XLB), a crab meat and fish maw soup, bang bang chicken, eggplants, and a roll of silver thread bun.
The XLB didn’t wow me. Though skin was not thick, it was not thin either. The folds bunched at the top were thick though. I think the ones we had were over steamed as the bottom skin was soggy. The meat was very minced to the point it became a paste. The consistency reminded me of pâté.
The soup did wow me. The crab meat was fresh and the fish maw didn’t have a fishy taste. There was a decent amount of filling/​stuffing in the soup. And the soup was hot when it was served. The seasoning was just right, not too salty and not to bland. Adding some red vinegar is always a good icing on the cake for me.
The bang bang chicken, which I’ve never tried, is a cold dish. It’s basically shredded chicken breast topped with white sesame paste type of sauce. At the bottom you’ll find a bed of glass noodles. Interesting dish. I liked it.
The eggplants, which was sautéed with pork, julienned bamboo shoots, was delicious (but on the oily side). The eggplants were tender and the flavor was bang on. Usually people order a bowl of rice to go with this intense dish. However, instead of the rice we ordered a deep fried silver thread bun. The bun could have been better if it sat in the fryer a minute or two longer. The skin was supposed to be crispy and hot on the outside but the one we had was not as crispy. The bun came with a small dish of condensed milk. You can either mop the sauce from the eggplant dish or have it with the condensed milk. Either way, the food was good.
We each got a mango pudding as a complimentary dessert towards the end of our meal. The service was attentive as we were checked on every so often to see if we had enough water, tea, or dishes that need to be removed.

Solid Shanghai grub in the heart of Kerrisdale.
This place is a few months old and I’m sure will become a neighbourhood destination soon.
Its clean, modern design with a glass window showcasing chefs making fresh XLB’s and dumplings along with well dressed servers gives it a more upscale feel, but without upscale prices.
We started with jelly pork. Jell-​o + pork? Sounds messed up and kind of looks messed up, like pork mosaic bricks, but it tastes porktastic. Who knows what parts are actually in it, but who cares.
Next up, pork XLB. Very well executed. Definitely freshly made, the skin is the right thickness with just enough chewiness. Soup is spot on, though I wish there was a tad more soup in each one. Pork meat were balls of Shanghai happiness. Easily one of the top XLB in town.
Sweet and sour soup. No complaints. Balanced flavours. We finished up with the Shanghai siu mai. These giant volcano-​like creations are filled with shrimp and I think pork and some bok-​choy like veggie. These are filling.
Great value for the quality and portions you get. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you love XLB.

It’s a new place. So don’t get discouraged to enter just because the restaurant is completely empty.
The crab XLB and pork XLB is absolutely delicious… Fat and juicy like what XLB is supposed to be like!
Ambiance is great… Owners are polite… Food served extremely quickly too!!!
Reasonably priced. Support this new restaurant! :)

Service: good by Chinese restaurant standards, double checked with the kitchen as we had allergies and confirmed with us (not that common at Chinese restaurants!)
Atmosphere: good, clean, accommodating to larger groups and children
Food: pretty good food, reflects in the prices you pay, had some tasty dishes that were more unique
Overall: I would go again, especially when craving dumplings

We were very excited to find Shanghainese cuisine finally in Kerrisdale, and it lived up to our hopes. Their steamed XLB (xiao long bao or pork soup dumplings) are excellent, rivaling some of the best we’ve had in North America. If I can’t get to Din Tai Fung, this would be the place I’d go for XLB (without the 2-​hour wait and trip to Los Angeles!). Our party of 3 adults and 2 young children started with 2 baskets (10 pieces) and quickly ordered 2 more. The skin was delicate, not too thick, but sturdy enough to hold in the soupy goodness inside. Pork filling was well-​seasoned and tender. We also ordered the house fried rice, green beans with garlic, and braised enoki mushrooms with tofu and broccoli, all of which were very good. Many don’t say this about Chinese restaurants, but we were actually impressed with the service. We will definitely be back soon!

Came back for lunch with my mom and was given really great service this time around. The food was wonderful, and brought out quickly, and we left happy and satisfied.

After seeing a few mediocre restaurants come and go in this space, I was really gunning for Shanghai Kitchen to be a success. I went today, a few weeks after the restaurant opened and still had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. I took that as a good sign…
We ordered spicy shredded chicken, spicy wonton, xiao long bao, and dried scallop/​egg white fried rice. The xiao long bao were quite bland, both in the soup and the meat, and I did not enjoy them. The spicy shredded chicken had somehow turned into peanut butter shredded chicken, which tasted quite amateur-​ish and was too filling for very little taste. The spicy wonton were again nothing great, but not horrible either. Finally, the fried rice was the only thing that I found satisfying, although it’s hard to mess up such a simple dish.
The staff were quite friendly in that grand-​opening kind of way, and I had no complaints about the service. I think my greatest complaint about this place was the lack of freshness in the taste. Next time I want xiao long bao, I will go to Dinesty in Richmond.

Nobody’s been able to hold down this restaurant space since Le Petit Geneve cleared out years ago. Judging by the packed house on a weekday at 2:00 p.m. with a line-​up at the door, the newly-​opened Shanghai Kitchen has the potential to succeed where its predecessors have failed. Since Kerrisdale Village already hosts many Japanese, pseudo-​Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese restaurants, an establishment serving Shanghainese cuisine is a welcome addition to the neighbourhood.
STEAMED MINCED PORK DUMPLINGS ($ 6.95, eight pieces) (a.k.a. xiaolongbao), which come in various flavors, were decent, served with some minced ginger and dark vinegar. Not quite the burst of flavourful soup inside as I would like, but good nonetheless. SPICY BRAISED EGGPLANT ($ 7.50) was well executed, with large, succulent strips of purple-​skinned softness nestled in a gooey chili sauce. SPICY SZECHUAN NOODLE SOUP (a.k.a. Tan-​tan noodles, often found in Japanese noodle shops as well) was generously portioned, though somewhat wanting in flavour intensity. Crushed toasted black sesame made up for the paltry peanuts. $ 1.50 extra for a small bowl of steamed white rice.
Overall, while none of the dishes make you see the universe differently, they are reasonably priced and satisfying, and make for a worthwhile meal for those of us not in the mood to drive over to Richmond. I hope Shanghai Kitchen sticks around.
Friendly service with English– and Chinese-​speaking staff, modern décor, and free 2-​hour parking in the Kerrisdale Parkade a block away. Accepts credit cards.