Bamboo Basket, South Brisbane, QLD

For a long time, I had always thought I would need to visit China or Shanghai to taste the best shanghai dumplings, or shanghai cuisine, for that matter. I never thought I would find Shanghai dumplings as tasty as the ones at Bamboo Basket in Brisbane, but I was certainly impressed when I first took a bite into one of these hot, juicy, little things. 

The dumplings had a nice and thin outer layer ( I was told once that the thinner the outer pastry layer, the better the quality of the dumpling) and the juices inside had the pleasant natural sweetness from freshly made pork broth. The filling was made from minced pork but without the fatty bits usually contained in mince. The dumplings come with a small dish of sliced fresh ginger which you add black vinegar to it and use it as a dipping sauce for the dumplings. I prefer to eat the dumplings on its own to savor the natural taste of the delicious little things.

Shanghai dumplings

Look at the amount of soup that squirted out of those dumplings!

We ordered the pan fried Shang Dong style dumplings.. These looked interesting as they appeared to have been pan fried with a layer of rice water on the bottom which made a nice brown rice sheet stuck to the six dumplings. (I'm guessing they do this to stop the dumplings from burning). The dumplings were tasty and the filling was made from minced pork and chinese chives. These didn't have as much soup inside them, but please still be careful when biting into these as they can get a bit messy too!

Pan-fried Shang Dong style pork dumplings

It was extremely hot on the day we visited Bamboo Basket, so we decided to order a cold dish of shredded chicken, sesame and chilli sauce with clear mung bean noodles. While it was quite a refreshing dish, I would have liked the seasame sauce to have a stronger sesame taste, as this one seemed a little bit watered down and could have been a bit more salty. 

Shredded Chicken, Sesame & Chilli Sauce With Clear Mung Bean Noodle

We couldn't go without ordering a traditional dish of Shanghai style fried noodles with chicken. There were three sauces to choose from and we chose szechuan chilli because J & I like spicy food. The noodles were hand made and were firm but not chewy. It also had lots of chicken, mushroom and vegetables in it which tasted rather nice. Most importantly the chicken was not overcooked! 

Shanghai Style Fried Noodles With Chicken

nom nom nom:

• beautiful Shanghai food - the Shanghai dumplings are a MUST try!
• if you want the best dishes Bamboo Basket has to offer, choose the dishes with a small bamboo basket logo next to them and you can't go wrong!

uggggh:

• staff could have been more attentive (it took me a few attempts to get their attention to get a glass of water)