Suburban Crawl #2: Shanghai Garden Dumpling
Reconnecting with my brother over lunch in a Box Hill family restaurant
Shanghai Garden Dumpling has been on my radar for some time. I first saw it pop up on the Instagram of some eaters I know. Then, last week I ran into friends in Box Hill Central who'd finished dinner there as one of them is the son of the owners. So it shuffled back up higher in my mental stack of places to visit.
My younger brother had a day off before he started his new job so we organised to hang out on Monday. I suggested we go check out this place together. It seems I've kept it very local in this journey so far. Shanghai Garden Dumpling is right next to the house we grew up in when we were in primary school. Located on the hectic intersection of Canterbury Rd and Station St in Box Hill. Next door to Tatsing, an Asian grocer, my family still shops at to this day.
We arrived at the tranquillity of a near-empty Monday lunch rush. Grabbing a table to the side, we eyed the paper tick-box menus and started reading. The owner came over with the biggest smile (she was wearing a mask but the eyes said everything).
I scanned through the menu and cross-checked against the photos of the dishes on Google Maps. I asked about their specialities and pointed towards the Xiao Long Bao and the Fried Mini Pork Buns. Boom. Ticked off the list. My brother and I agreed to order things we hadn't tried. The Tea Smoked Chicken and Kao Fu (wheat gluten, Google revealed) stood out.
While we waited, we spoke about my brother's new job and about back in the neighbourhood we’d spent our early years in. Soon the first round of our food arrived and it was the steamed Xiao Long Bao and the Kao Fu. The owner motioned that the dumplings would be very hot and pointed out a very helpful sign behind me.
We decided to wait a moment for the dumplings to cool down a bit and started on the Kao Fu. My brother made an uncertain face towards it, less clear on what we had ordered. It is almost identical to the kind of faux meat you'd get in a vegan joint. It has a spongey texture, and like a sponge, it absorbs all flavour of the sauce which explodes in your mouth. The black fungus mixed with it provides a contrast of textures and adds a smooth umami flavour. It actually ended up being my brother’s favourite dish of lunch.
Now they'd had a moment to cool it was on to the dumplings. Placing them on my spoon and poking a hole as the sign directed, I slurped it up. The light broth washes around my mouth. It was damn good – a great Xiao long bao should feel comforting like chicken soup when you’re under the weather. The meat inside was flavoursome and tasted fresh.
Our order of fried mini pork buns arrived, along with a similar temperature warning. Then shortly after, a very pink tea-smoked chicken landed, chopped up and arranged. The flavour of the chicken blew me away – If I'd closed my eyes, I swore I could’ve been eating a Christmas ham. The skin of the chicken was flakey and crisp. It was a delight, the stand out of the meal for me.
Where there’s good food, there’s generally good conversation. The two sit in tandem – and my brother and I experienced that. This sounds cliche, but in truth, our relationship has waxed and waned in closeness over the years. Often I longed for the familiarity we shared as kids. In our 20s, our relationship had developed a distance we seemed unable to bridge. I was aware of it but unsure of how to get back to this place of comfort.
So on this day, across a table of food, I could feel this ease between us settling in and it was a joy. I wondered if the changes in our lives had helped. The next day he would start a new exciting job and I, well, I’m unemployed, a little adrift, and living back home. So, the tables have turned somewhat but if it’s allowed for this ease back into our relationship, then I’m all for it.
I reflected on how I’d ended up here. The connection of friends of friends, knowing it was his parents behind the counter. Being a child of hospitality is an interesting life. You feel this ownership and pride for an establishment that is a reflection of your family. My brother and I were familiar with this feeling too. Around the age we’d lived nearby, my parents had opened a cafe in Camberwell. We’d grown up in that business. Sneaking around, occupying spaces away from the customers, marching down to try and get our 3rd hot chocolate for the day. We spent so much time hanging out amongst the boxes of takeaway coffee cups in the store room.
Well, if this were my parents’ establishment I’d be proud of it. The dumplings were amazing. The flavour of the tea-smoked chicken is still with me as I write this. I will be going back, with a few more people and making our way through more of the menu (I’m looking at you tea-smoked duck).
An amazing write up. A delicious meal and the best company.