Picture of Shanghai, E8 2JS

Historical version 9 of Shanghai, E8 2JS (view current version)

Chinese restaurant just along the road from Dalston Kingsland Station, offering decent dim sum. It's part of the same group as Shanghai Blues in Holborn.

It's housed in the premises of an old eel and pie shop, and the front part still has the old-style decor, with wooden booths, a long counter (including a couple of stools to let you dine at the bar), ornate tiles, and lots of mirrors photo. There's a more conventional-style restaurant area out the back, with bigger tables.

Dim sum is served noon-5pm, and there's a dim sum "happy hour" between 3pm and 5pm every day; during happy hour, all dim sum (including cheung fun and congee) are £1.70 Mon-Fri and £1.90 Sat-Sun. The menu lists about five different teas, including pu-er.

Kake visited for dim sum on a Sunday afternoon in April 2008. Handily, I arrived just after the start of the dim sum happy hour. I was on my own, so was seated in a booth. The place was quite full; I saw one party of three being advised of a 20-minute wait for a table, though others arriving later were ushered straight in; not sure if they were bookings or just regulars. There did seem to be a lot of regulars coming in, many of them with children, greeted like old friends by the staff.

I ordered har gao (steamed prawn dumplings, 4 pieces), xiao long bao (Shanghai-style pork (soup) dumplings, 3 pieces), and yam and chicken spring rolls (3 pieces). The har gao were perfectly decent. Xiao long bao were juicy enough, but I wouldn't exactly describe them as containing soup. Spring rolls were fine, and not too greasy, but the filling was a little bland for my taste. Service was fine. My total bill at happy hour prices, including a pot of tea (80p for the entire pot), was £6.50 (would have been £7.50 at normal prices). Even with the 70p service charge that they added on automatically, this is a real bargain.

Kake's verdict: I would definitely come back if I was in the area, certainly for dim sum, and probably to give the main menu a go too.

Interestingly, they advertise roast suckling pig from £11 for one portion to £120 for the whole thing (advance orders required).

See also:

Last visited by Kake, 20 April 2008. Opening hours and happy hour times taken from sign on door, April 2008.
OS X co-ord: 533506 OS Y co-ord: 184970 (Latitude: 51.547330 Longitude: -0.074374)
This is version 9 (as of 2009-11-30 10:55:05). View current version. List all versions.