Quick Look - I-Shanghai Dumpling - best dumplings in Sac!

I've been keeping a secret because I wanted to be the first to break the news. There's a new dumpling place in town. Well, actually, it's been open for nine months. Somehow it's been a well kept secret and now I'm telling you. The best soup dumplings can be found in Old Sacramento at I-Shanghai Delight.

My friend and past coworker from CalPERS told me about it. She's Chinese and she said that word had already spread among the Chinese community when this new location (the first is in Fremont) opened up. Then my other friend is a soup-dumpling fanatic. I knew I had to go with her to try it out, especially when we learned there were at least three varieties of soup dumplings!

I-Shanghai Delight is located on Front Street in Old Sac. It's in the basement of the old set of buildings that are directly across from the railroad shed where Bali Kitchen is. As soon as you descend the stairs you see people making soup dumplings!

The restaurant is bigger than it first appears because the dining room wraps around the back of the bar and dumpling making area. It's bright and clean and you get excited about your upcoming meal as soon as you sit down. 

The menu is not lengthy, probably because the feature is the soup dumplings. There are five versions to choose from! Pork, shrimp, spicy pork, and crab roe and pork are the steamed selections. The fifth is a pan fired pork dumpling. Be careful because they arrive at your table piping hot. You also have to be very careful with how you bite into them so that you don't squirt the soup on yourself.

shrimp dumpling

We chose the shrimp, spicy pork, and the pan fried. First up was the shrimp and as soon as you bit in and slurped up that soup, you knew you had found the best dumpling place in town. The center dumpling has the shrimp peeking out so that the servers can tell the dumplings apart. Inside is some ground seafood and a whole shrimp, and, of course, the flavorful seafood broth.

spicy pork dumpling

Under that steamer tray was the tray of spicy pork. When you bite into these, expect an explosion of broth with chili oil. At first I thought they were mild, but the heat can sneak up on those who are sensitive to spicy food. I like spicy and would consider it to be at a low medium level. 

pan fried pork dumpling

The pan fried pork is just fried in a shallow bit of oil so that the bottom halves are nicely browned. While my companions liked them, I did not care for the bread-iness of the frying. It made the dumpling a lot heavier. Considering it was our last dish and I've been eating low-carb for eight months, the heaviness did me in. I had enjoyed the other dumplings as-is, savoring their ability to stand on their own without need of condiments such as the accompanying vinegar sauce or the nearby soy sauce. The pan fried dumplings were the only ones I used the vinegar sauce on and I think it helped to cut that heaviness.

I skipped directly to the dumplings, but in reality we had started with two appetizers. The first was sweet and sour pork ribs (no picture). These are the small, bite-sized pieces of ribs that you pop in your mouth and crew around the bone before spitting it out. These were covered in a sticky, thick sauce and the ribs were on the chewy side, making it a bit of a chore to munch on.

fried turnip cake

We were wowed by our other appetizer - the Fried Turnip Cakes. These are made with a mix of shredded turnip and green onions. I probably should have taken a picture of them cut in half so you can see the shredded nature of them.  While some might add a sauce to them, I liked savoring the oniony flavor and the texture of the crunchy exterior and soft (bit greasy) interior.

So there you go. THE BEST soup dumplings in town are conveniently in the center of the region in Old Sacramento at I-Shanghai Delight.