Birthday Dinner at Shanghai You Garden

Last month, we came to Shanghai You Garden in Flushing for birthday dinner for our friend Mandy. Shanghai You Garden is a  relatively new restaurant with beautiful, Asian artsy decor. The restaurant is fairly clean and the ceiling is hung with Chinese calligraphy and the walls have a Chinese floral design with Chinese paintings hung on the wall as well.

I made reservations for 8PM, but the restaurant would not sit us down until everyone arrived. While we were waiting for the arrival of our friends, the tallest waiter in the restaurant was willing to take down our orders so at least the food will be ready when we sat down.  It can get crowded here easily, so best to come early. Just an FYI: Most of the staff don't speak English except one or two staff members. This is also a CASH only restaurant.

Appetizers

These are three appetizers that my friends ordered: chicken in wine sauce, cold beef tendon, and spicy beef tripe. I've never been a fan of chicken bathed in wine sauce. The cold beef tendon was delicious and had a bit of a sesame taste to it. The spicy beef tripe was okay, but not something I would normally eat.

Crispy Noodle with Beef

We ordered a dish of crispy noodle with beef. It was absolutely delicious! My only complaint is that the noodles weren't crunchy enough. I was looking for that golden brown and crunchy bite, but it wasn't there.

Rice cake with Shredded Pork & Preserved Mustard

I must have this whenever I go to Shanghainese restaurants.This was amazing, but the only complaint here was the portion size was a little small. We finished this dish in minutes.

Giant Soup Dumpling

The birthday girl ordered the Giant Soup Dumpling that they had in the restaurant. They gave her a straw as well so she can drink the soup from the bun. I've never seen a soup dumpling of that size, it was quite interesting.

We weren't full from the dishes we ordered so we actually ordered additional items, but I didn't have a chance to take pictures.

• Steamed Pork Buns & Steamed Pork and Crab Buns - these were amazing! I was never a fan of the steamed pork and crab buns at another restaurant I've been to with Will, but amazingly these were delicious.
• Steamed Soy Milk - I haven't had steamed soy milk since I was a child. It brought back a lot of memories. I was super happy and excited about having this. I thought it was interesting that it was served in a plate.
• Rice Cake with Beef - we ordered an additional entree as we weren't full from the dishes we had earlier. The beef version was okay, but I prefer my shredded pork and preserved mustard rice cake.

Overall, we had a great experience. Food was definitely a lot better than some of the Shanghainese restaurants I've been to. Service was good, but the only issue is that most of the staff speaks Mandarin and Will and I are illiterate when it comes to Mandarin. I would definitely return to this restaurant again.