Shanghai surprise

Where Marrickville to Ashfield

Why Back when I started plotting this food/cycling blog hybrid, one of the first destinations that sprang to mind was Ashfield for Chinese – shamefully, despite six years as an inner-west resident, I'd only been there as a shopper not a diner. So I cheered when Gusto suggested a Saturday night dumpling dinner. The obvious choice was Shanghai Dumpling [337 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield 9797 6999] – a few doors down from Ashfield Cycles – as it's listed in the 2010 SMH Good Food Guide, even though walking our bikes along the main strip we saw plenty of other places to come back for (and soon). Settled in our window seat in this modern, bright and clean eatery, however, we were happy, hungry and ready to devour a dozen or two.


The dumplings menu offered a choice of soup or dry, and we thought we'd prefer them by the plateful. Our waitress suggested we try the special of prawn dumplings, so we went for that along with our usual pork & chive and a side dish of shredded chicken.




The chicken arrived first, a beautiful stack of shredded bird well seasoned with szechuan pepper, dried chilli and sugar, plus shredded shallot, sliced fresh chilli, coriander sprigs and mixed salad leaves. Dipped in Chinese black vinegar, it was a tastebud-tingling hit.


Then the dumplings arrived ... in soup. Not what we thought we'd ordered, but probably what the doctor ordered and so delicious we were grateful they'd got it wrong. They came in a very clear broth with seaweed, preserved vegies, shallot and some salted black beans hiding in the depths.


The mild-tasting soup is a blank canvas – we daubed ours with droplets of sesame oil and some soy sauce mixed with oily roasted chilli flakes, but later we spied some lemon wedges on the condiments trolley which would be great to squeeze over too.

Swapping dumplings between bowls and slurping them up with the vinegar between chopstickfuls of chicken, we couldn't decide which we liked more - the classic pork (above) or the juicy prawn specials (below). As for the broth, well, to Gusto's surprise, I ate the lot.


How We did the usual cut-through by Henson Park, walked along Addison Rd, rode up Audley St to Petersham and turned left onto Trafalgar St, then went all the way along the train line through Summer Hill to Ashfield. At Liverpool Rd we got off and walked all the way to the restaurant. While parts of this direct route were bike-friendly, it got a little scary in the single lane traffic at times, so I wouldn't recommend it; next time I'll find an easier trip along quieter streets.

Distance About 6km or a 20-minute ride (one way).

Damage About $35 for two including soft drinks

Tips
• They don't have a takeaway menu, although the lovely waitress offered to write one out for us. The best thing to take away though would be frozen or better yet fresh dumplings to cook at home. We'll be back for these for sure.



• If you have enough room in your bike bags, stop off at the amazing Ashfield Fruit World for some serious edible bargains - we rode off with a load including bananas for 89 cents a kilo, a huge bunch of lovely leeks for $3 and a $1.99 bag of mandarins. Come back in a car to pick up cheap boxes of oranges, tomatoes and eggplants, too.