Shanghai Street Dumplings Upper Riccarton serves lunch and dinner from its Riccarton Road tenancy, bringing the energy of a casual dumpling house into a more deliberately styled dining room. Chinese lanterns and colourful propaganda-inspired artwork create the promised street-food atmosphere without reducing the venue to a takeaway counter. Seven-day split service makes it suitable for a quick midday plate or an evening meal assembled from several shared dishes, with the menu extending well beyond its headline dumplings.
The dumpling list is concise enough to compare fillings around one table. Pork comes with either coriander or garlic chives, chicken is paired with coriander, prawn with garlic chives, and a vegetable filling provides the meat-free option. Siu mai adds another texture and a more intricate mixture of pork, prawn, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and scallions. Steamed buns broaden the small-plate side further, so a group can move between soft dough, juicy fillings and the firmer bite of the dumplings.
Noodles and rice turn the restaurant into a complete meal rather than a snack stop. Fried noodles can be ordered with chicken, beef, barbecue pork, vegetables, prawns or a combination of meats. Fried rice follows a similar range, while lu rou fan and braised pork belly on steamed rice add slower-cooked depth. Fried Akaroa cod offers a local seafood variation, creating a useful contrast for diners who want something beyond pork, chicken or beef.
The wider menu groups starters, soups and more substantial Shanghai-style dishes around those core sections. A practical group combo combines six dumplings with fried rice and fried noodles, capturing the restaurant's strength in variety and sharing. Smaller orders can stay focused on buns and dumplings, while a larger table can add rice, noodles and mains in stages. That flexibility, together with the lively interior, makes the Upper Riccarton branch work equally well for a focused dumpling craving or a broad communal dinner.
Address: Tenancy 5, 364 Riccarton Road, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
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