New Shanghai (新上海) @ Pavillion Kuala Lumpur

I’ve been hearing a lot about this new halal dim sum place in Pavilion lately. Good comments praising this outlet as well as unfavorable ones were widely circulated, so I decided to give it a shot and find out for myself. 

New Shanghai is a pork free (Halal) dim sum restaurant with a wide selection of steamed and fried dim sum, congee and desserts as well. It has a Shanghainese decor and traditional Chinese design. The bakery style concept allows you to select your dim sum from the menu at the counter and then they’ll steam it and send fresh and hot to you. However, you need to take the fried selection and dessert on your own. 

BBQ Bun @ RM 3.80 ~ This bun was flaky and the bbq chicken fillings were tasty and not too sweet either. 

Baked BBQ bun @ RM 3.80 ~ As the name suggests, this is the baked version and the rest was the same as the bbq bun. Fluffy bun with an oily skin. I prefer the former as the crisp skin was a pleasure to chew on. 

Yam puff (芋角), Shrimp roll (虾捲) & Pineapple BBQ chicken puff (菠萝鸡包)@ RM 3.50/each ~ Shrimp roll has a very crispy skin and a decent sized crunchy and fresh prawn in it. While this was enjoyable, the yam puff and the pineapple bbq chicken puff was rather mediocre.  

Mango cake (芒果布丁) @ RM 5.80 ~ Wifey’s choice. Never quite like sweet stuffs! Custard form, smooth texture compliments well with the rich mango flavour but tasted more like cordial. So so only. 

Porridge with century egg & shredded chicken  (皮蛋鸡丝粥) @ RM 12.00 ~ Porridge was smooth, mid sized serving but the century egg and chicken slices were minimal. For the price you can get something much better elsewhere! 

Fish Roe Siew Mai (鱼孑烧卖) @ RM 8.80 ~ I still prefer the pork dumpling but this with the prawn and fish paste wasn’t bad either.

Lotus leaf glutinous rice (荷叶饭) @ RM 6.80 ~  Delicately fried with all the associated ingredients, the rice was encased in a large lotus leaf before steaming. Nuances of the fragrant lotus leaf were fully infused into the glutinous rice and stickily laden with tender chicken, mushrooms & salted egg. Very nice! 

Caviar dumpling (鱼子饺) @ RM 8.80 ~ This is basically a prawn dumpling with a different way of wrapping and topped with a little caviar. Nothing exceptional. 

Shrimp dumpling (虾饺) @ RM 8.80 ~ This pouch-shaped dumpling is wrapped with  a thin and translucent skin, yet sturdy enough not to break when picked up with chopsticks. They came with very crunchy prawns with a good mouthfeel. 

Jasmine Chinese tea (香片) @ RM 15.00/2pax ~ Refreshing and delicate tea with a distinct fresh Jasmine fragrance and taste. The strong flowery aroma of this tea was very soothing, but the price…. 

For RM 33.90, I enjoyed all the above through a deal I bought online, otherwise I would have to foot out almost RM 100.00 for it. Overall, I  think they are way overpriced based on the fact that this is more like a fast food dim sum outlet with a chic deco and nothing more!

Attitude of staff is left to be desired as Cat had a row with one of their manager earlier (fat lady with black trimmed glasses) when she forbid her and two others to dine on the same table using 2 coupons! They were told to sit separately on 2 tables, which means taking up more tables thus creating a longer queue! How stupid! No wonder I always see a queue, guess not so much for brisk business but having inefficient staffs with “sotong” mentality! I must admit I definitely enjoyed the shrimp dumpling, bbq bun and the lotus leaf rice but with this price, I’d want to be served and not queue like being in Burger King!  

• New Shanghai (新上海) @ Pavillion Kuala Lumpur
• Lot 1.02.00, Pavilion KL
• 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang
• 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
• Tel – 603-2142 2833
• Business hours – 1000-2200 (daily)