Follow the happy dancing panda with the tray of soup dumplings to Shang Kitchen (2917 Magazine St.), newly opened and bringing a very different kind of Chinese restaurant to town.

The Shanghai-born chef told me it’s his ‘dream restaurant,’ and he’s done it up with pretty design elements, a dumpling-making station in the dining room and a range of Chinese regional dishes.

The menu makes room for some Chinese American dishes too, but they are almost hidden among the true Chinese specialties, a welcome inversion of what’s been the norm.

Here’s a look and a few dishes:

Boiled beef, which sounds bland but is the precise opposite with building heat and Szechuan spice

Soup dumplings, color coded for their fillings (jet black is truffle pork)

Zhajiang noodles, with pork and fermented bean sauce, ready to mix up around the fresh cucumber and cilantro (and great cold from the fridge later that day)

Cool cucumbers with a flavorful marinade

Link in my bio has the full read

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