Zhang Ji Shang Hai La Mian Xiao Long Bao in Alexandra Village Hawker Centre 张记上海拉面小笼包

Zhang Ji Shanghai La Mian Xiao Long Bao | Stall #01-56, Alexandra Village Food Centre, Singapore ☎ 9880 6276 🕚 10am - 8pm (Mon & Tues off)

Been wanting to try Chang Ji's Shanghai dishes for a long time and finally made it yesterday. We had xiao long bao, guo tie, and zha jiang mian, and they were all nice.

Avoid the peak lunch hour as Chang Ji has one of the longest queues in Alexandra Village Food Centre.

The menu is on the signboard, so ordering is as easy as point and shoot. Owner Zhang You Zhu and wife hailed from Nanjing. After 10 years in Singapore restaurants, Zhang opened his own hawker stall in 2011 and quickly won a loyal following at Alexandra Village.

Xiao long bao at $6 for a basket of 6 mini steam dumplings - it's a steal in today's market.

Chang Ji knead their dough from scratch with flour, make their own dumplings, steam them a la minute, everything done right there, fresh at the tiny stall.

Chang Ji's xiao long bao was as good as any that I have tasted in Shanghai, Taipei, or anywhere in China that I have been to so far.

The wrap was tender and thin, containing a knob of savoury sweet soft-tender minced pork suspended in a savoury sweet soup (inside the dumpling). Nice layered flavours at the intensity that I like and I can taste the freshness of the ingredients.

Comes with vinegar and julienned ginger which I didn't used at all.

Gao tie 锅贴 or pan fried dumplings or pot stickers. $8 per 10.

Good size dumpling with thin crisp frilly skirt outside. The skin was relatively thick with a gentle chewy bite which I like.

The juicy pork ball inside was slightly more intense in savoury sweet flavours than the xiao long bao but sans the soup. I enjoyed this much too.

The la mien was done soft, and well coated with a quite robust sweet savoury sticky sauce. I enjoyed this slurpy noodle too.

All just humble staples from Shanghai, done well and affordably priced.

We had a sampling of dishes from different hawker stalls at Alexandra Village Food Centre. Chang Ji is one of the stalls that I will come back for more.