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[Shanghainese Wonton] Delicious Comfort Food
2017-07-29 2455 views
Recently, I am excess with deep-fried food and pizzas. Too much beverages and business formalities as well have made me feel a need to eat something light and local. Aside from (shrimp) wonton noodles and dim sum, I've found a nice noodle place where the food and environment are both nice giving you a feeling of comfort, a feeling of home.  The shop I recommend today is called "Ah Fong Shanghai Wonton" located at Jordan. Yes, it's true that I ended up with wonton, but further clarification and c
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Recently, I am excess with deep-fried food and pizzas. Too much beverages and business formalities as well have made me feel a need to eat something light and local. Aside from (shrimp) wonton noodles and dim sum, I've found a nice noodle place where the food and environment are both nice giving you a feeling of comfort, a feeling of home.  
The shop I recommend today is called "Ah Fong Shanghai Wonton" located at Jordan. Yes, it's true that I ended up with wonton, but further clarification and classification should be paid to the wonton category--apart from the shrimp wonton from the Guang Dong region in noodle soup, there're also other varieties of Wonton in Hong Kong!  As a matter of fact, there is a complex mix of regional Chinese cuisine and dumplings/wonton in town. Each of the wonton variety has its own character. 
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 1) In terms of size and colour, for example,  the Guang Dong wonton is tiny with thin skin and a golden-fish-like tail. Touch of oil and duck yolk are applied to the wonton skin that give its pale yellow colour; the Beijing and Shan Dong wontons are relatively large with thicker and whiter (flour-like) skin.
2) In terms of filling and taste, since alkaline is applied to the Guang Dong wonton skin, it tastes slightly bitter, yet the overall taste is sweeter because of the juices of shrimp and lard; both Beijing and Shan Dong wontons taste more savoury, and the fillings are mixed with pork and vegetables (green leaves and scallions). You'd even find winter melon inside the Beijing dumplings! 
So what's about the Shanghainese wonton? Huh, the answer is the middle/balance between the two. The skin is not too thick, but rolled out into a lasagna sheet for wrapping the pork- and vegetable- based filling. As you might aware that Shanghainese food is always hinted with touch of sweetness, the same is also true for the taste of their dumplings. From my point view, the shop I recommend to you today is offering this type of delicious Shanghainese wonton that is worth a try!
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 The shop is located at Parkes Street in Jordan, which is opened recently. This is a small shop and the service is imitate that you have the feeling of dining in a family/family style restaurants. During lunch time, it took me about ten minutes to get the table with my father. Although the shop is small, the transparent door and white interior have brought brightness and liveliness to the small shop. Together with the wooden tables and chairs, the shop gives you some kind of Chinese home decor and cleanliness, too. Indeed, the shop is clean and tidy, albeit this is small. You'll see the Jie Jie wrapping wontons in the narrow corridor and they don't mind you to take a look of them

Seeing this, it made more hungry to try their famous wontons. From the menu, you can pick the daily lunchsets ($38-42)--six varieties of Shanghainese appetizers serving with Shanghainese plain noodles/ rice cakes; or you can choose the wonton all day set ($42). Adding extra money, you can also enjoy the cold appetizers for the wonton set. Both sets include hot/cold soy milk. Soy milk is a classical healthy drink serving with rice and noodles in Shanghai, which I enjoy a lot.
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 After some time, we made up our mind to order two wonton sets, plus an additional appetizer. For the benefit of the English audience, let me highlight and translate the wonton set menu for you, so you know what to order during your visit to the shop.
Here are the six sets and translations:
1. Green Beans and Pork
2. Pak Choi (Chinese Cabbage: 白菜) and Pork
3. Shepherd's Purse (薺菜）and Pork
4. Onion and Pork
5. Garlic Chives （韭菜）and Pork
6. Vegetarian Carrot
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 After ten minutes, my father's Shangahainese Five Spice Smoked Fish set (五香燻魚--$42) arrived. To define a well-cooked smoked fish, the colour must be dark red (reflecting the colour of dark soy and brown sugar) and embody the taste of sweetness and saltiness.
Smoked  Fish  set
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 If you taste smoky flavour, this actually means the opposite that you are not having the authentic dish! Shanghainese smoked fish is entitled with "smoked" because of its colour, not the cooking method. Using grass carp (鯇魚/草魚) in this dish, both the colour and taste are very traditional! The dense texture of the fish with the flavour of the anise and soy released from the meat, it is really a well-made dish. Although my personal preference is to serve this with rice, it is good to serve with noodles for light lunch!
Five  Spice  Smoked  Fish
$18
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Shanghainese  noodles
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 Accompanying this with the cold soy milk, the dish won't be too heavy, for the lightly sweetened soy milk mediates the saltiness of the smoked fish. It is quite refreshing with visible soy flavour.
Cold  Soy  Milk
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 Then, my wonton set arrived the table. Let me first introduce you the cold appetizer, namely, Seasoned Wheat Gluten (烤麩 +$18), which is a common vegetarian appetizer featuring steamed wheat gluten and assorted veggies, like beans and black fungi.
Seasomed  Wheat   Gluten
$9
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 The wheat gluten is first steamed, then soaked in sweetened soy base so that the cold juice will explode in your mouth as you bite it. Also, this is a healthy dish I enjoy a lot with my parents, especially when you want to eat something light.
Shepherd's  Purse  and  Pork  Wonton
$42
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 For the main dish today, Shepherd's Purse and Pork dumplings with Shanghainese noodles ($42), it was more delicious than I expected. The skin was medium-size rolled as I described earlier. Throughly cooked that it didn't taste chewy and maintained glutinous.
Shepherd's  Purse  Wonton
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 The filling was juicy and meaty, which simply brought out the natural flavour the ingredients! The light taste and glutinous texture somehow made me feel home, too. The broth of the noodle soup was nothing more than boiling water and salt, yet there's genius use of dried shrimp that added flavour to it, as my mom would do. The attention to small details of the chef should be credited!
Shepherd's  Purse  and  Pork  wonton
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 Overall, the food and service were very satisfactory. Although there're people waiting outside the shop, the waitresses would not force you to leave. By contrast, the customers followed the beat naturally so that the waiting time for tables was not too long. For me, this small shop was very local and comfortable that worth both local people and tourists to try the Shanghainese food or the art of home cuisine here. Recommended!
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
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    DETAILED RATING
    Taste
    Decor
    Service
    Hygiene
    Value
    Date of Visit
    2017-07-04
    Waiting Time
    10 Minutes (Dine In)
    Spending Per Head
    $42 (Lunch)
    Recommended Dishes
    Smoked  Fish  set
    Five  Spice  Smoked  Fish
    $ 18
    Cold  Soy  Milk
    Seasomed  Wheat   Gluten
    $ 9
    Shepherd's  Purse  and  Pork  Wonton
    $ 42
    Shepherd's  Purse  Wonton
    Shepherd's  Purse  and  Pork  wonton