Xiang Yuan Ji – Drool-Worthy Shanghainese Pan-Fried Dumplings At Jalan Besar

30 August
bed bean spring rolls xiang yuan ji

The Shanghai expats here in Singapore have been raving about this Shanghainese eatery for ages, saying that this place sells Shanghainese food that is just as good as the ones they get back at home. It is hard to find authentic Shanghainese food in Singapore, so we knew that we just had to go down and see how good this place really was.

xiang yuan ji sign

Xiang Yuan Ji Shanghai Pan Fried Dumpling has been around for about 3-years and is nestled along Jalan Besar Road. It is easy to miss this place as it does not stand out very much, and is a very small, simply furnished restaurant that looks like any other Chinese restaurant.

xiangyuanji interior

We had pretty high expectations for this place due to all the rave reviews, but to be honest, despite the restaurant having its share of decent food, it did not deliver as well as we had hoped it would.

Xiang Yuan Ji is popular for their noodles and snacks, so we were hoping to try some of their most raved about dishes. However, to our dismay, when we went there around 11.30am, we were told that the person making the noodles was not going to come in until much later. Therefore if you are going there to try their noodles, do come in a bit later so you don’t have to wait too long.

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The first thing we ordered was the Fried Rice Cake With Shredded Pork And Pickpurse (S$10). The picture in the menu showed a plate generously filled with rice cakes. However, when the dish arrived, we were disappointed to find that the plate was barely half filled. Definitely not worth S$10 at all!

The dish’s only saving grace was that it tasted quite nice. The rice cakes were evenly coated with sauce and chopped pickpurse, which gave the dish a very pleasant and subtly herbaceous flavour. If you like the texture of Korean tteokbokki you will probably enjoy this.

bed bean spring rolls

We also tried their Red Bean Spring Roll (S$4.50)—it’s spelt as “Bed Bean” on their menu. The spring rolls were very small and barely filled up the massive plate that they put it on. The texture of the rolls shell was nice and crunchy, but the filling was rather subpar and tasted like any other red bean paste.

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Moving on to the next dish, we tried their Shanghai Style Pork Cutlet (S$6.50). After being disappointed with the previous two dishes, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they were rather generous with the portion of pork cutlet. The pork cutlet was well cooked and had a crispy, nicely breaded exterior, while the meat was tender and flavorful.

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Shanghai panfried dumplings

The final dish we tried was their famous Shanghai Pan-fried Dumpling (S$5), that is also known as Sheng Jian Bao. This dish did not disappoint and lived up to all the rave online reviews. The dumplings didn’t look that impressive in terms of presentation and looked as if they had been carelessly tossed onto the plate. However, they were really big dumplings that jostled for space on the small plate used.

shanghai panfried dumplings soup

The dumplings had a delicious, crispy, slightly charred skin that gave the dumpling a nice texture. When we broke open the dumpling, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was overflowing with soup, just like a Xiao Long Bao. They were also really generous with the fillings which were juicy and very flavorful. We found out later that the secret to their amazing soupy insides were bits of fatty collagen.

Overall, we feel that Xiang Yuan Ji had their hits and misses. But even so, it is still worth coming down to try their dumplings as they really are a must-try item. However, for the other items on their menu, they could use some improvement in terms of presentation as well as taste.

Xiang Yuan Ji 
405 Jalan Besar Road
Singapore 209011
Tel: +65 62911101
Tue to Sun: 11.30am – 10.30pm
(Closed on Mondays)
Nearest Station: Bendeemer

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