Saturday, September 13, 2014

上海人家 Shanghai Ren Jia


A tiny enclave in the Ang Mo Kio area serving up shanghainese cuisine.
Tucked away in the void deck of Block 151 in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5,
it's a blink and you'll miss it.


Ordering for four.
They don't have GST or service charges here.
But they do have a table setting fee of $1.20 per person which includes the wet tissues and hot tea.


These were the first to arrive.
The popiah freshly deep fried.
A delightfully crisp exterior with a filling of moist savoury cabbage that melt in your mouth.
$7.20 for 6 pieces.
Once you pop, you can't stop.


猪排鸡丁手拉面
Pork rib and diced chicken cube noodles at $6 a portion.
The pork rib was a bit of a misnomer.
It's just a piece of pork cutlet so painfully thin and tough.
The diced chicken cubes were rightfully so with three pieces, the rest were pieces of tau kwa.
The saving grace?
Their noodles.
Delightfully springy and although pale, were delicious with the shallot oil and dark soy based gravy.
At a price of $6, the toppings were tragic.
And this didn't use to be the case when I had them a couple of years back.



小龙包里的内涵。
This bamboo basket of 5 soup dumplings go for $6.
These were packed full of savoury soup with a hint of ginger.
That would be the reason why they do not serve ginger slices here.
Vinegar is served only on request.
The dumpling skin was a tad too thick for my liking so for the price they are charging, 
I'd rather have the ones at Din Tai Fung.


These pan fried pork buns cost $8.40 for 6 pieces.
Which works out to be $1.40 per bun.


上棉下脆。肉馅多汁。一口的完美。
What I loved was the texture of each bite.
The pork buns had a soft fluffy skin on the upper half.
And a crisp exterior on the lower half where it had been pan fried.
I would've liked the pork filling encased within to be a bit more generous but that pint sized filling packed a punch on its own with its savoury juices aplenty.
It left me a little moreish after every bite.

Would it work if I bought those deliciously fluffy handmade pork buns from dim sum stalls and pan fried them at home?

The cosy interior of the restaurant promises a queue for lunch and dinner since seating space was very limited. 
Wait time for the food was not as long as mentioned in other reviews, we waited for about an average of 10 minutes before the noodles arrived and time in between dishes was about 5-10 minutes.

We will be back to try the other more substantial dishes for dinner. :)

Address: Blk 151, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 #01-3046
Operating hours: 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm, closed on Monday

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