Friday, October 6, 2006

Shanghai Tim Sum - SingShang Cuisine



I thought that Shanghainese dumpling and la mian cuisine was quite a recent trend in Singapore until I found this 30 year old little Shanghainese Food Stall in the old Margaret Drive FC! Oh, you mean the Shanghainese were around 30 years ago! Ah Soh Des Ka! Started by Sebastian's father over 30 years ago, the food here has evolved into what I term as "SingShang" cuisine.

Take for instance the Tom Yum soup pictured above, this is like Tom Yum meets Sharks Fin soup. It is thick and gooey like Shark's Fin soup but it has the chillies, lemon grass, galangal, lime flavours of Tom Yum. Whoever heard of Shanghai Tom Yum? Quite interesting. $4 per bowl (bigger bowl then picture above) (Ok, I realised that Tom Yum is Thai cuisine, but this is the SingThai version of Tom Yum, ok? Pedantic!) 3.5/5




The handmade Guo Tie deserves to be raved about. Crispy on the outside, juicy and savoury meat morsels on the inside AND you get 10 for $4!! Nothing better then good food then GOOD AND CHEAP food. Buy two plates and you will be very happy. Simple pleasures in life. 4/5




This is the Shanghai rice cake. It's like hor fun, but instead of kway teow, you get what looks like sliced Marjong tiles. Its very chewy and supposedly, the yardstick in gauging its quality is how much of it gets stuck to your teeth. Good to try it once, but not really my cup of tea. (Don't try it if your dentures are loose) 3/5




The steam dumplings are quite commendable, the main main selling point being real value for money. Not as tasty as Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure which are my favourite Shanghainese food places, but hey, $3 per plate, can't complain, especially if you have a family of 10 mouths to feed. 3/5



Conclusion

The original sign board says it all! This is one unique food stall in a Food Centre thats looks like its next on the HDB upgrading program. So try it will you still can!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've eaten the Guo Tie at this stall from young, over 15 years.

I make it a point to try the Guo Tie at food courts, or even sushi outlets, but none of them can be compared to this.

It is darn crispy with just the right amount of fillings, tastes great with the vineger.

Others are either too much meat, too little meat, not crispy. Somehow, others also end up blistery and not like this !

My favourite Guo Tie in Singapore !

Anonymous said...

The one in people's park also not bad
should try...

Anonymous said...

The Steam Dumplings is $4 per plate, not $3.

I simply love the fried dumplings from this stall. They are still the best ever.

In my opinion, steam dumplings should not be taken as a comparison to what Crystal Jade and Imperial Treasure offer. What they offer is another variety and thus cannot be compared.

I still prefer the food from this stall.

Anonymous said...

The stall owners are very sincere and courteous. They even offer Chrysanthemum tea for 10 cents and unlimited refills.

quop said...

my gf introduced me to this stall last year, and i found the fried guo tie really hard to resist. actually most guo tie is pan fried and different to the way this is cooked, so it's the first time i've had a guo tie fried this way, and it's great! i really shouldn't read food blogs this late at night/early in the morning... getting hungry when i should be sleeping!

karen said...

hey guys, is this stall still around and if so is it still at the margaret drive FC? my mom's a shanghainese and we dig rice cakes! wanna try if this is decent.. the ones at crystal jade, frankly speaking, isn't very great and lacks in ingredients..

Wendy said...

Yes, lovvveeee the fried dumplings .... always take the dumplings with the fried noodles, and its damn shiok with the cold chrysanthemum tea ... should try the soup next time ... hopefully they relocate elsewhere once the upgrading takes place (quite soon right?) ... otherwise, they will be greatly missed !!!

Vitis Vinifera said...

The crispy Guo Tie is one of the best, and good value too. I can down 20 in one sitting.

If you observe how they fried the Guo Tie, they sprinkle water into the hot frying pan before serving, may be that is the secrete to the crispy skin?

Anonymous said...

yay man!
my fav all time guo tie!
we alws ta-bao when we need to bring a dish for potluck or when frens pop by our house. it taste good even when itz cold! beat tt!

n must eat it with the chilli! its simply out of the world! i alws eat my guo ties with vinegar but this stall changed it all!
-livetoeat-

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