Day 3 - Dim Sum at Yu Ting

pork dumplings/siew mai - 9/10

so midway through our little shanghai adventure we discovered that our hotel actually had some pretty good restaurants. one of the restaurants was this cantonese place which suposedly served really good dim sum. i love dim sum, so i really wanted to try the one just downstairs. so on day 3, we decided to go to yu ting's for some lunch.

we took the escalator to the restaurant floor, and walked really deep into the other end of the building to get to the place. we really walked and walked and walked and i was surprised how far the place was and how big the hotel was too. so we finally arrived at the restaurant at a quiet 11am and we were greeted by a large nice chinese restaurant, with glass from wall to wall and the sun lighting up the whole place. the ambience was really great, and since it was so early on a weekday morn, we were one of the first few customers in the restaurant.

so i glanced through the menu and ordered, and started talking with d and patiently waiting for the food to arrive. it took a little bit longer than i would have liked but the quality really made up for it.

shrimp dumplings/har kau - 9/10

so we got the basics in. ha kau and siew mai are always there when we order dim sum. the har kau was really good. very nice and fat with lots of shrimp filling inside. the skin was firm but easy to bite through, and the filling was really delicious with lots of crunch that you get when you bite into well cooked shrimp.

the siew mai was really interesting. they made it nice and big too. the pork was firm and meaty, and each bite was bursting with meaty, chewy flavor. they decorated it with big round fish roe on the top, which provided a unique and interesting contrast to the taste.

rice wrapper roll with shrimp/chang fen - 7/10

up here we have the shirmp rice wrapper roll, served and then freshly drizzled with sweet sauce. the flour was nice and soft, wrapping the perfectly cooked shrimp snugly.

glutinous rice - 8/10

the glutinous rice was steamed and presented very prettyly and neatly. it was piping hot when opened and you could see all the steam coming out. the insides were filled with pork and mushrooms that were nicely stewed.

the insides of the glutinous rice

chicken feet / feng jiao - 8/10

Feng Jiao. Done slightly differently from the usual black bean sauce, preserving more of the natural flavor. I don't usually like this very much, but i must admit this one was done very well.

bbq pork bun/char siew pau - 8/10

the charsiew pau was nice and fluffy and you can see how the dough really is like in this picture. its so fluffly its almost like candy floss. the texture was really chewy and the filling was nice and moist.

steamed pork ribs/pai kut - 9/10

this is probably my favorite dish. perfectly steamed pork ribs with a nice amount of fat, so tender and meaty at the same time. cooked with black beans and a hint of chilli for extra flavor.

i think this restaurant has really good dim sum. if i were in shanghai i'd definitely go back again. plus the ambience and the service were both very good.