New Shanghai, Malvern East MELB

I am a sucker for dumplings and being assigned as the person responsible for choosing a suitable place to dine at with friends (on most occasions), I often fall back on picking this delicacy. For one, it is affordable and secondly, there is surely something for everyone out there.

Having opened a second Melbourne branch in Chadstone, this restaurant has been consistently flooded by customers for lunch and dinner. No, they do not take reservations and have a first-come-first-served policy.

Iced lemon tea - very sour it was and could do with even a teaspoon of sugar.

Crab meat xiao long bao - Hesitant by the price of it. we still went ahead and ordered it but sadly, disappointment loomed in the corner. It was a very small xiao long bao and we could hardly taste any meat in it. For $14, it does feel like a ripoff.

Prawn wontons with chilli oil, peanut and sesame sauce - I liked how its subtly spicy and the peanut and sesame sauce added a pleasant nutty flavour to the overall dish. I wouldn't mind ordering this again despite it verging on the pricey side of the scale.

Braised beef noodle soup - this dish took a good 30 minutes to arrive at our table, of which, we had a strange suspicion that staff may have forgotten about our order at some stage. The noodles had a good bite to them and that's where it ends. Beef was tough and broth lacked flavour. About an hour afterwards, I found myself to be extremely dehydrated, a sign of excessive use of MSG, according to my body that is.