Sydney’s love affair with Chinese food, is starting to favour Shanghai cuisine

• Lilong by Taste of Shanghai
• Address: Level 4, Westfield Hurstville, Hurstville
• Phone: 9570 9051
• Shanghai specialties and then some

You’ve got Taste of Shanghai, New Shanghai and Shanghai Night, which congregate around Ashfield and the CBD, and now Lilong, the latest by the Taste of Shanghai group.

The dishes are similar to its other restaurant offerings and it still makes dumplings in the front window but the interior here, by Giant Design, has stepped up a notch. Its hanging lanterns, fans and plants give the feeling of being in someone’s home or hanging out in a lilong, a Shanghainese neighbourhood.

The large menu features dumplings, soups, vegetables, noodles, rice and Sichuan-style dishes.

Each dish has an accompanying image and a box you tick to order but it’s not foolproof. There’s so much going on that even though our waiter double-checks our ticks, but we still miss out on the braised eggplant ($16.80).

The whole point of picking Shanghainese over a standard Chinese restaurant is the region’s famous xiao long bao dumplings ($10.80). Here, the skin is delicate, almost translucent, and the encased soup is sweet and satisfying but they’re eclipsed by pan-fried pork buns ($10.80). The bread-y buns with golden, crunchy bottoms house as much soup as the xiao long bao so bite carefully to avoid burning your tongue. There’s a reason they come with a “caution, hot” flag.

Thick, flat ribbons of stir-fried rice noodles ($12.80) are mixed with slivers of tender beef and crunchy sprouts in a soy sauce base, all of which have that smoky breath of the wok, while a plate of stir-fried pak choy with mushrooms ($18.80) glistens in a gelatinous oyster sauce.

Salt and pepper pork ribs ($19.80) are quickly gobbled up, the meat tender, the batter thin and, if the addictive seasoning isn’t enough, it’s also dusted with deep-fried garlic and chilli.

Making a detour to Sichuan province, we take our waiter’s recommendation of lamb in spicy chilli oil ($23.80). There’s no doubt the sauce, bright red with dried chilli, is hot but it’s deceptive. A slow burn gives a false sense of security, so you think you’re OK, but then it hits with the second mouthful. The lamb comes with round, translucent Korean-style rice noodles but order a side of rice ($2) if you want to soak up the sauce.

A regional Shanghai restaurant probably wouldn’t have a Sichuan dish on the menu, but that’s the beauty of Sydney-style Chinese, we can cross regions because, as long as it tastes good, love knows no bounds.