Vegie Ducks at the Dumpling Village

So I strayed from my staple of dumplings on my second visit today and it was a mixed blessing.

I couldn't resist ordering the Vegetarian Duck $4, just to see whether it was a salad-eating-antatid or something entirely different. As it happens, it is some kind of tofu/wheat gluten concotion (see pic). It tasted salty and had an interesting texture, but is probably a dish best enjoyed in combination with something else as its flavour is somewhat one-dimensional. I can't tell you how much the taste resembled its flesh and blood namesake because I haven't eaten any ducks for decades, but as a tofu vegetarian dish, it was quite enjoyable.

The same can't be said for the anaemic Vegetarian Spring Rolls $3 (see pic) which were mostly pastry and very little filling. I guess their price might have given me a hint of things to come, but I always hope for the best. I'd estimate the percentage of pastry to filling was probably 80/20 which made for a crunchy but rather tasteless dish.

The highlight for me today was the Buns with Vegetable and Mushroom $4 (see pic). I haven't had a huge number of steamed buns in my time as most of the places I've encountered them, they have been filled with dubious meat products of uncertain provenance. But at Shanghai Village Dumpling, they were full of delicous stirfried mushroom, spinach, and onion. The buns with light and fluffy and they came nicely presented in a bamboo steamer. Thumbs up for the buns!

I've also included a photo of resturaunt's Black List taped to one of the pink walls. I couldn't help it, I just found it quite funny. The List is designed to shame diners who have done a runner without paying. Maybe it's wrong, but it just reminded me of a tarring and feathering from times of old. I wonder how effective it is?

I shared my Shanghai Village Dumpling visit with Scuba Steve so we could have a bit of a catchup. Steve wasn't overly pleased by his experience as you can see his review on urbanspoon, but we had a good 'ol chat anyway while we waited and waited for our dishes to arrive. To be fair, they were quite busy.