Taste of Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield
There's something so enjoyable about eating dumplings. Here are some of the reasons I think why.
  1. Dumplings are small, so you can eat a lot of them.
  2. They have a very high filling to wrapper ratio, so when you eat a lot they don't feel as heavy as something wrapped in thicker bread or rice.
  3. Dumplings come in so many different varieties and flavours that it's quite impossible to find a variety that you don't like. 
  4. They're cute!
  5. You can eat them easily without embarrassing yourself or causing a mess (I'm looking at you, tacos)
...And the list goes on.

New Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield

Xiao long bao, those immaculately shaped pork dumplings bursting with steaming hot porky broth, are perhaps the most famous type of dumpling in Sydney. Din Tai Fung offers the holy grail of pork dumplings, with each crafted to a precise weight and diameter and filled with tasty pork marbled with gelatinous bits, have mouths drooling and queues forming at every joint. 

The lesser known relative to these dumplings are pan-fried pork dumplings, brimming with a similar filling and hot soup but with a fluffier bun wrapper and a bottom fried to golden crispy perfection. These are bigger, meater, more filling - call it the plump, loving auntie of xiao long bao.

Excelsior Jones, Ashfield

Ashfield
I know this place has been open for a while now and showered with a whirlwind of praise ever since its opening at the beginning of 2013. It's risen to fame in little over a year, and has gained Sydney-wide support for its great food and bustling atmosphere, a surprise find in the typically Asian-food-dominated suburb of Ashfield in the Sydney's Inner West. You need to go a little out of the way to find this cafe, situated unpretentiously in a corner block in the residential area of the suburb, and from the outside it may look quiet and unassuming. But behind the large glass windows lies a clean, simplistic but at the same time homey and comfortingly pretty little cafe with beautiful food.