Misplaced my photos and I didn't want to review without them. Turns out they are lousy photos but…read moreyou get the idea. This review is from March 2020 - just as the pandemic was about to really go nuts. I barely made it back to the US before things got really crazy. Sadly the onset of COVID-19 had brought the worst in some people and anti-Asian sentiment is a thing even in Australia. I wanted to support the Chinatown businesses as best I could. It wasn't a chore - the food and service here was top shelf. I wish I had more time on my trip to go back and sample more items from the menu because the experience from start to finish was delightful. I hope they are thriving and if you're in Sydney looking for some excellent hot pot/pot stickers, excellent customer service and experience this is recommended for sure.

You have to walk inside, get carded, and then take a lift upstairs to the 2nd floor. The restaurant…read moreupstairs is actually quite spacious. It's nothing fancy but then again, you didn't come for the atmosphere (tho as a sports fan, it's a nice bonus to have it on the TV screens). The food is what you came for and if it's fried dumplings that you want, this is the place to be. Their pork fried dumplings were cooked to perfection both nights I came here for an after work meal. The veggies were well cooked as well.

Din Tai Fung is quite popular for their Xiao Long Bao, but my last two visits (here in North…read moreSydney, and out in Los Angeles a few years back) were nothing special - odd since Boston isn't known for its culinary scene in the Chinese sphere. There seemed to be a Din Tai Fung in just about every food court we saw on this trip, so I wanted to give them a go. Two of us shared the Pork Dumpling Xiao Long Bao (4 pcs) and the Fried Pork Chop with Noodle Soup for a light lunch. Neither of us were too impressed. But at least I had the chance to try it and to get it off my mind.

I'm not going to say 'I don't get it,' because I do. I get it. It's a Thing. Din Tai Fung is…read moretrendy, and therefore we ignore the terrible value, average dumplings and utter absence of any charm or atmosphere in the slightest. We do this because our hip friends will recognize the location on the Facebook status update, and maybe even 'like' it. There's a qualification: I don't like xiaolongbao. Other than the baffling technical skill I imagine it takes to put soup inside a dumpling, I find them with as little purpose as they have flavour. I truly could eat ten little bamboo servings of the things and remain unsated. Gladly, Din Tai Fung does serve other stuff - the pork and bean dish is my favourite, though the serving is puny, as it is with the passable fried rice. I seem to recall actually getting my fill of it at the Westfield location - the one here was much smaller. Meanwhile, don't order one of the pork buns. It won't be what you want. It's crap. We're in Sydney! North Sydney's a cheap Opal trip away from a heady world of delicious dumplings in Chinatown, and closer still to a classy joint like Uncle Mings, where you can have your bamboo steamers and a crisp lager to go with it. Din Tai Fung may have been something, once, but now it's for people who know no better than to eat at literally the closest spot to the ATM.

Decent xiao long bao. They have the crab and pork version…read more The roast duck, however, was quite salty. Located on the B floor of a shopping centre building in CBD

Not bad for just the XLB pork and crab orders. The others are just mid taste, but perhaps I am too…read moreused to DTF (Din Tai Fung) standards. Not bad ambiance but there are flys that hovered the food and one fell into the plate lol

Tried for the first time and the food was good. We didn't…read moredine in, take out. I cannot complain about the taste or the smell, even the packing was good and the amount of food was perfect.

Waited like over 30 minutes on a Sunday and they charge you a fee of I believe 10%, which I don't…read morequite understand the reasoning for this fee. I thought the wait and C raving about how good this place is meant it was good, well IMO....NOPE. Ordered the following items: Zha Jiang Noodles - eh, probably the worse I have tried. Stir Fried Clams with X.O sauce - wanted a better flavour Xiao Long Bao Pork - okay the skin is way thicker than DTF and not sure if there is DTF, why go to this place. However, I don't recommend DTF in Westfield Chatswood. Dipping sauce for this sucks too. Nothing to put your sauce in and no offer of fresh ginger. Steamed Lion's Head meatball with Crab - I've tried other versions of this and this is the only thing I didn't mind. It didn't wow me, but I appreciate the homey feel of this dish. Pork Belly Steamed Buns - OMG and this is not a good way. I can't with these buns here - disgusting. Pork Belly is super dry and it's supposed to be Pork Belly and the cucumber was cut too thick and too dry tasting as well. Worse buns ever too! I don't get this place nor the high reviews.

Lynn was a huge letdown for me. The reviews were very positive, the prices were reasonable, and the…read moreportion sizes seemed fair. Maybe we visited on an off-night? The restaurant had no more than four parties when we arrived for a late dinner on a Monday night around 8pm. Then again, Lynn isn't very easy to spot if you're strolling along Castlereagh St, which may explain the emptiness. It's pretty standard to order xiao long baos at a Shanghainese restaurant. So of course, we got one order of #701 XLBs, along with #801 Shanghai Noodles with Shredded Pork and Vegetables and #805 Vegetable and Pork Wontons in Noodles with Hot and Spicy Sauce. The XLBs weren't amazing. The pork meat was bland, and the soup was very light and not as flavorful as I hoped. However, the skin was perfect: delicate and thin, yet sturdy enough to hold the meat and soup, and it had good texture. The Shanghai noodles weren't special either. I liked the variety of veggies and pork, but the dish overall needed more salt as it was tasteless and lacked any depth. The wontons and noodles in a hot and spicy sauce was a very heavy dish. Noodles had a very thick, starchy texture. Wontons were generously stuffed with a large amount of filling, mainly shredded vegetables because I didn't taste the pork, and the skin was too thick and chewy. The sauce was extremely spicy, and it irked me when we weren't automatically given water refills when our glasses were clearly empty. Lynn is a huge restaurant, so it can accommodate large groups. It's also very clean and modern. Service wasn't rude, but they certainly weren't attentive either. The only reason we tried this place was because they had a takeaway menu available at our hotel. The menu looked promising, but after dining here, we left unimpressed.

Din Tai Fung, better known as DTF (not the other DTF you perv) is generally tagged as the best…read moreShanghai/soup dumpling in all the land. Well, as much as I like the dumplings at DTF, I don't think they're THE BEST EVER...and not for the price you pay. So I started a search on other soup dumplings in the city and came across Lynn Shanghai, as it opened up relatively recently. The place is a little hard to find, the sign is small and it's actually inside a building so you have to walk through a lobby to get into the restaurant. The building is located next to the Scientology building (why, I don't know) and that's all you need to know to find it. The place is a lot bigger than anticipated, and there's an open kitchen so you can see the dumplings and food being made. The chefs all wear masks so you can feel relieved you aren't getting stank breath on your food. The menu is rather extensive and offers all sorts of cuisine from Shanghai, but I came for the dumplings. Pan fried and steamed please. For $8.80, you get 6 dumplings...not the cheapest but cheaper than DTF and just as good...if not BETTER. Seriously, I don't know what the fuss is about DTF, the dumplings are pretty small and while tasty, they're not that tasty. There also isn't much of a wait for this place as it's still relatively new, so if you're feening for some soup dumplings and don't want to queue at DTF, this is the place to go. I haven't been back to DTF since.

I love this place! The food is amazing and one of the coolest things is that robots serve you! The…read morefood time is sort of fast but the place very clean. Would come again!

Super tasty, fun robots, diverse menu. Great for vegetarians and kids. We enjoyed the bao and the…read morefried rice.

Mediocre at best. I've had better xiao long baos. Not enough soup in soup dumplings and lacked…read moreflavor. Naming other restaurants would not be useful because they're not in Australia. The chicken with chili oil was not spicy at all and there was more breading on the chicken than there was chicken. Of the 6 dishes we ordered, the string bean with minced pork was the best. The steamed pork buns were good. They have a creative menu; it was like looking through a magazine.

Dumplings! I guess…read morethere's some other stuff here, but it's all really just entree or desserts before the dumplings. Best I've found in Chatswood!

Quality/Quantity - Meat and pork dumplings - Good, but the…read morebest ones would be able to retain their soup/juices inside the dumplings. Shredded pork with pickled vegetables - Someone was craving soup, I did not try, but they seemed to like it. Shanghai pan fried pork buns - My favorite. Good proportions with bread and filling. Shanghai salted pork and veg fried rice - Not good or bad, the dish did not stand out, fairly plain but good enough as a comfort dish. String beans with dried shrimp - Gotta have some veggies, same as above. Shanghai stir fried noodles - Another one of my favorite dishes, love those noodles. Tea from real tea leaves, see picture. Atmosphere - Medium size restaurant. Some portions of the restaurant sectioned off, potentially for private events. Open kitchen & open kitchen counter seating. Cool decor. Open 7 days a week from 11am to 8:30pm or 9pm; website hours differ. Direct competitor next door, you might be putting them out of business? Service - Okay, went out of our way to get the waitress and manager attention to let us pay. Our guests are aggressive, and we wanted to make sure we paid. The team was slightly confused, so I had to check with the waitress and manager several times to get their assurances that we were paying. Membership, loyalty program. See website. Price - After all that fighting for the bill, I signed the check in a hurry and did not even know what I paid. I'm guessing $150AUD, $100US...? Which I believe includes tax and tip? Sorry, can't remember. I just remembered being frazzled... Reasonable price for what we got. Owner Comment - Congrats on your 12 locations and growing! Oh, are you a franchise system? Just noticed it on your website.

My uncle who lives in Ashfield really likes this place. So much, that we went twice in one week and…read moreI can see why. There are some outstanding dishes (XLB) and the prices are quite reasonable for the portion size as compared to other restaurants in Sydney. + Really delicious XLB. Compared to Din Tai Fung's XLB (which I had in Seattle area), I think I enjoyed these more. Soup was good, the filling was nice and smooth. The skin was thin but not as fragile and I even enjoyed the thicker bit where the XLBs are sealed. + Weekday lunch specials are a great deal (~$9.80). + Dishes are prepared quickly without sacrificing quality and presentation. + Pastry with red bean paste was also very good as a dessert. The sesame seeds on top add a nice nuttiness to the flaky pastry.

I LLOOVVVEEEE this place to the bits!…read more Honestly BEST value/dumplings/steam buns! Really cheap, but authentic/tasty! The one thing you gotta watch out is that, it's not the cleanest; and service is basically non-existence; but hey at that price and that kind of food; that'd be one of your last concerns. Note: - focus on the dumplings/ steam pork buns (XLB) - focus on dishes with just plain rice - their fried rice/rice is generally a little too much water - drunken chicken, don't bother - noodles, not their strength Why do they still get 5 stars when there are things they don't do well, and not the cleanest? Cause in things that they do well, they do an awesome job! The dumplings, dishes, way too awesome! And basically cheap!!

Damn Daniel, this place is awesome! Food porn of a menu, lightning speed service despite crowds,…read moreand finger lickin' yummy food! Shanghainese food prices seemed to have skyrocketed since the introduction of dumpling tycoon Ding Tai Fung, but with WangWang, good food doesn't have to burn a hole in your wallet. Portions are 3x bigger than DTF and about 3x cheaper. Have favourited this place as my new go-to Shanghainese restaurant.

So good. This place warrants your attention. It is a pretty big room, but the food is on point and…read moreauthentically Chinese as the day is long. I really loved how fresh and crisp all the veggies were. Perfectly cooked. Bravo and thank you- look, it might look a little old fashioned from outside, and I know "fancy looking" is the new "tasty", but good food has always been good. And this is good food.

The food is good but the restaurant itself is in desperate need of a refurb. It's like they clutter…read morethe bar with bottles and junk so you can't see what they're doing back there. I stopped in with my partner for a quick meal mid week. We had the fried rice, sizzling steak and honey king prawns. It was all fresh and delicious. I think I'd just get takeout next time though.