Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: GCS

Shanghai Dumpling Shop
455 Broadway, Millbrae, CA
(No website; Yelp reviews at http://www.yelp.com/biz/shanghai-dumpling-shop-millbrae)
Review date:   March 2011

Decades ago Carlos' family introduced me to Shanghai dim sum and noodles long before they were readily available. These days there's several Shanghainese restaurateurs in most cities in the Bay Area, and even the Cantonese dim sum houses now offer the Shanghai steamed dumplings, called xiao long bao or sil lum bao.

Our favorite for Shanghai dumplings is the Shanghai Dumpling King in San Francisco's Richmond district. But it's frustrating that they don't make the Shanghai chow mein, which uses the thick, chewy, handmade noodles that are reminiscent of the fresh udon noodles we occasionally enjoyed when I was growing up in Chicago. 

Many people rave about this competitor, Shanghai Dumpling Shop, located in Millbrae. We were in the area and decided to have lunch here. They have received great reviews on Yelp.

Shanghai Dumpling Shop, being located in the Peninsula where so many of the upper middle-class Chinese migrated when they left San Francisco, has one of the larger menus offering Shanghainese dishes like eel, fish heads/tails, and soy sauce braises, in addition to some of the usual dishes like walnut prawns and mu shu wraps.

We ordered five dishes: the sil lum bao dumplings, spicy won ton, crab and pork dumplings, lion's head meatballs, and the Shanghai chow mein. These are our favorites, and except for the chow mein would be a direct comparison to the San Francisco competition.

Disappointingly, we didn't care for any of these dishes. The chow mein noodles were wonderful – chewy and fresh, cooked perfectly. But the pork and cabbage stir-fried with them was skimpy and the flavor lacked enough of the soy/vinegar/brown bean sauce seasoning, so it was bland tasting. 

All three dumpling dishes were marred by thick dough skins, minimal fillings, and excessive salt. The spicy won ton, which is an essentially simple dish of steamed potsticker-like dumplings doused with chili oil and garlic, was so bland that even Inez could eat one of them.

The lion's head meatballs were huge, but so heavily redolent of five spice that Carlos took one bite and that was it. This dish, too, was extremely salty, so it was ironic that the one noodle dish, which needed salt to balance the thick mein, lacked it.

When we're in the mood for Shanghai dumplings and don't want to travel to San Francisco, there's a restaurant in the Richmond 99 Ranch Mall that makes passable versions, although they also do not offer the Shanghai chow mein. So for now we'll stick to the East Bay or San Francisco, and search elsewhere for our favorite noodles. This place isn't it, and we have no desire to return.

Five dishes with tip cost $57.