Really Good Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings) @ Shi Wei Guan, Shanghai

Exhausted from our 10 hour long meetings today, we decided to eat around the Daning Shopping Plaza just outside our hotel the Four Points Sheraton. The plaza had quite a few restaurants ranging from Bistros, South East Asian Food, Shanghainese Food, Japanese Food and even a Papa Johns.

Walking around we stumbled upon Shi Wei Guan and decided to give it a try after watching the restaurant's LCD Screen showcasing their delicious and colorful dumplings that was featured on Discovery Channel.



Entering the restaurant my expectations were lowered a little since it wasn't as full as rivals Din Dai Fung which draws a major lineup every night in their Shanghai Locations. The menu encompasses a variety of Dumplings, Soups, Noodles and some Taiwanese Dishes which reminds me of Din Dai Fung.

Drunken Chicken

The Drunken Chicken was actually really good! The Chicken was juicy with the aromatic Rice Wine infused into the meat.


Stir Fry Bok Choy with Garlic

Like most restaurants in China the Vegetables were a little on the oily side. The Bok Choi was crisp and perfectly seasoned with the garlic flavor well drawn out in this dish.


Taiwanese Style Oyster Omelet

The Omelet had way too much Potato Starch making it very dense. I usually prefer my omelet to maintain some crispness. They were very generous with the oysters which was very fresh and went really well with the sweet Chili Sauce.


Vegetable Dumplings

The dumplings were really really good. It had ample amount of minced vegetables and mushroom and most important of all was the texture of the skin which was very thin. Delicious!


Jinjiang Steamed Crab Dumplings


A signature dish of theirs. The Dumpling was humongous with a thicker skin than the smaller dumplings to encase the delicious Crab Meat and it's broth. Piercing the skin the broth leaks right out where you could drink it from the plate or take a spoon or straw.


Taiwanese Pancake Filled with Raddish

My least favorite of our dishes. The Dough was very oily and not crispy. The filling was mediocre at best.


Five Color Dumplings Stuffed with Soup


I've never seen such colorful dumplings before until coming here. Each Dumpling was a Xiao Long Bao with added flavors. White = Regular Xiao Long Bao, Orange = Crab Meat, Green = Towel Gourd, Purple = Goose Liver Soup and Yellow = Wild Mushroom. All were quite good especially the Crab Meat and Regular Xiao Long Bao.


Honey Dew and Sago Soup

The soup was very bland and had no Honey Dew Flavor or Milk Flavor at all.


I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Xiao Long Bao's and other Dumplings of Shiweiguan and actually felt it was much better than Din Dai Fung's Branch in KL, Malaysia.

Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Ambiance:3.5/5
Price: $$ (Under USD $15 per person)

Contact Information
Address: 1978 Gong He Xin Lu, Shanghai, Shanghai, 200072, China (Daning International Commercial Plaza)
Tel: +86 21 3387 0398