Student food review - David & Camy's Shanghai Dumpling, Box Hill

I can't believe I've never reviewed either this place or it's dirtier sibling in the city! Because it's not the city version, I will not call it by the pseudonym *DD* and it wasn't quite as dirty as the original (and the best/worst) but the Boxy branch of this dumpling shop is just as fast and reliable (sorta) in its output of food.

We had a variety of standard dumplings as well as one dish I've actually never had before! If some of the food in the pictures look like dog food and kinda crappy, it's because we dug in before I remembered to take a photo.

Now...this was supposed to be the dandan mian...I think it was actually zhajiang mian with extra chilli thrown in to make it spicy. And it was really spicy! Cue hilarious moment when Clinty bites in a chilli on the expectation that the sauce wasn't hot. It was. Hehehehe. Not bad, just not what we ordered, or at least, what we were expecting.

Fried pork dumplings! Pretty much as expected *thumbs up*

Boiled chicken and prawn dumpling. Not as good (read - prawn chunky) as previous times we've had it here but definitely on par with the city branch.

Thai fried rice! I've never had this before but saw some people getting this dish as we walked in and I was *oooh! egg pancake over fried rice! I want it!* And it was pretty good! Nice light, thin egg, good fried rice with pieces of chicken, egg, lettuce...can't remember what else but a good addition to my eating repertoire.

The real disappoinment of the night - xiaolongbaos. As you can see, they had very thick skins and look more like dimsims. To be honest, I still happily ate them because the quality is probably on par with the city branch but Clinty was particularly devastated as he knows they can do better.

And the ability of the Boxy branch to do better is probably the main lesson of the story. Being in the 'burbs and less under the pump than the city branch, I can say from experience that the food has been better (esp. the xlb) on previous visits. But on a busy Friday night and having a queue of people in the restaurant, I'm guessing they took shortcuts resulting in the okay but not as good as expected meal.

Still, for $10/head, can't complain too much! Otherwise, perhaps go for lunch. And to finish, I'm just going to post a screencap of this googlesearch I attempted.

Kekeke