Jolin Shanghai Restaurant

Xiao Long Bao and Steamed Pork Buns…
This is the first place I go to when I travel up to Auckland. I dream about those little soupy dumplings, and the soft nourishing pork buns… Sigh.
This place is a lovely little cheap eatery, with authentic food, and prompt service. It is definitely worth a visit, and you MUST try the dumplings.

I have had Jolin takeaway a few times, but only recently sat in. A group of seven of us shared a few plates of the xiao long bao, deep fried pork bun, and green beans.
Xiao long bao were the highlight, though the deep fried pork bun, which seems more steamed and shallow fried, is delicious, with sesame seeds on the fried bottom. The beans came in a black bean sauce and with pork mince tossed through, which were also great.
Tea was complimentary, and so after a really delicious meal we all parted with $ 10.50 each. This kind of value for money, and flavour, excuses the slightly indifferent service and OK dining room.
I had also read somewhere that the dumplings didn’t come with the commonly accompanied julienned ginger, though we just asked for this and out it came.

I can’t hype up the xiao long bao enough! These Shanghainese soup filled dumplings are the king of all dumplings. I get excited whenever I see them on a menu. They’re a bit tricky to eat at first but I’ve mastered my own special technique from trial and error. Here are some tips. First off, try your best not to go at them as soon as they arrive at the table. I’ve burned my mouth many times from being impatient. Wait a couple of minutes before digging in. Secondly, these little pouches of flavor are super juicy and will gush all over if you bite them in half. Instead, dip one in the sauce then place upright on the spoon and nibble the top off, meanwhile sucking up some of the juices. If you don’t suck up the juice at least the spoon will catch some of it. This is the slow way to enjoy the dumpling in 2 – 3 bites. Alternatively eat the dumpling whole. It’s kind of like eating sushi. You want to eat the whole thing at once to get the combo of flavors but sometimes they’re so big it’s too much to cram in all at once.
Thanks for reading my very technical guide for serious dumpling eaters.
On a side note, get the seasonal or mixed vegetables to balance out the rest of the meal. I’m also used to rice being included at family style Chinese restaurants but you’ll have to order it separately by bowl, which seems to be a more common thing in NZ.

If you come here, the pan-​fried buns are MUST! Jolin is well-​known for its dumplings and buns although usually when I come, I come solely for the pan-​fried buns. Their other dishes are all-​round good.
Service here is average, as is the overall atmosphere and overall experience.

Jolin is a restaurant that specialises in Shanghainese fare; to add to the already hotly contested Dominion Road dumpling wars, they offer xiao long bao, a personal favourite of mine that I have been unable to find elsewhere outside of a yum char restaurant. Literally translated as little dragon balls, these wee round pork and ginger soup dumplings contain a delicious stock within their delicate pastry jackets. The trick when eating these is to catch and slurp this prized elixir without burning yourself or splashing it all over the table.
Jolin is a bit of a sparkling gem amongst Chinese restaurants; from the brilliant lime green signage outside to the ornate, cut-​out lamp shades adorning the walls to the framed glamour shots (pay a visit to see what I mean) of dishes on the wall, Jolin has set out to do and succeeded where other Chinese restaurants have failed at: looking pretty. But it isn’t all about looks here. The menus, plural, are long and cater to all budgets and dietary persuasions (as long as you fall under the categories of vegetarians or carnivores). Most mains on the dinner menu (with the exception of seafood) are less than $ 20 and everything is generous. Having perused the dinner menu and decided on the xiao long bao ($ 8), cumin lamb ($ 15.80) and stir-​fried celery ($ 11.80), Nathan happened-​upon the lunch menu, which had an extensive array of dim sum and noodle options. Dim sum at dinnertime? No problem said the waiter. With that our lamb and celery mains were exchanged for dry noodles with a spicy pork topping ($ 8.80) and wontons with a peanut topping ($ 9).
The wontons, large in number, came accompanied by a nutty concoction aromatic with sesame oil, black vinegar, chilli and peanuts. The wontons themselves were juicy, chock full of chives and their wrappers delicate. Our bowl of noodles was pleasingly bouncy (hinting of the hand-​pulled variety) and was deceptively large; it came topped with braised pork belly, which was tasty with a good lick of heat from the chilli in a wonderfully savoury sauce we couldn’t quite get enough of. The main event, however, were the xiao long bao, which arrived in a large bamboo steamer. They were pert little things; as I gingerly picked them up with my chopsticks I could see their secret soup swishing to and fro within their springy casings. These dumplings are for the pork enthusiasts, with a soft and delicately flavoured filling; their soup was a wee bit on the sweet side, but this was counter-​balanced well by the black Chinese vinegar they were dipped into. The only thing missing was the side of finely chopped matchstick ginger that they’re normally served with overseas.
We took home lefts overs enough for one very hungry individual. Over the coming winter months Jolin will be the place to go on a cold night, where the tea is free and the food is comforting.