[Monrovia] [Chinese] Shanghai Bamboo House

Shanghai Bamboo House
上海竹軒特色本幫菜
933 W Duarte Rd
Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 574-5960

My brother has been to Shanghai Bamboo House a few times.  He thought the food was good and the price was reasonable.  So we had our family dinner there last night.



I remember coming to the same location before with my parents.  It used to be a Korean soon tofu place.  The food wasn't very good.  So we weren't surprised that it was closed.  Business at Shanghai Bamboo House was very good.  The restaurant was completely full on Sunday night.




Dad was looking over the menu deciding what to order.  He ended up ordering 13 dishes!!  Both Dr. P and my sister-in-law Ayami had presents for my mom.  The shirt was from Dr.P, and scarf from Ayami.  Mom tried them on at the house and didn't want to take them off.  haha...



Brother and his wifey.  He has perfected his fake camera smile.



Dr. P tried on a fake camera smile and failed.  Too fake....



He needs to learn from the fake smile pro, ME!  haha...  Ok!  Now it's time to eat!


馬蘭香干 Boltonia Znaica & Dried Bean Curd ($4.50)

Almost every table ordered this cold appetizer, Boltonia Znaica & Dried Bean Curd.  Does anyone know what Boltonia Znaica is?  I googled the name and found nothing on the internet.  Did the restaurant just made up this veggie name on their menu?  I know this is a Chinese green veggie, but no idea what the English name is.  The chopped green veggie and dried bean curd was pretty good.


特色烤夫 Vegetarian Delicacies ($4.50)

Vegetarian delicacies was anther cold dish appetizer.  It had baked bran, bamboo shoots, mushroom, and peanuts.  We didn't really like this one because it was too sweet.


特色三絲春捲 (4只) Spring Roll ($4.50) x 2

Each order comes with 4 spring rolls.  Since there were 6 of us, dad asked for 2 orders.



The spring roll was stuffed with cabbage.  It had a lot of juice inside the crunchy skin.  I think all the juice came from the cabbage?


上海鮮肉生煎包 (6只) Pan Pork Buns 6 Pieces ($4.95)

Pan Pork Buns was very good.  The meat filling was very juicy and had a lot of flavor.


招牌八寶東坡肉 House Special Pork with Sticky Rice ($10.95)

House Special Pork with Sticky Rice was everyone's favorite.  This is a must-order item at Shanghai Bamboo House.



The meat was so soft and tender.  Sticky rice was really really tasty.  And the sweet dates balance the saltiness of this dish.


招牌苔條魚 House Special Seaweed Fish Fillet ($7.95)

House Special Seaweed Fish Fillet was Ayami's favorite.


雞火煮干絲 Shredded Bean Curd with Bamboo ($7.25)

Shredded Bean Curd with Bamboo was pretty tasty.  A lot of other people ordered this one, too.


肉末粉絲煲 Shredded Pork with Bean Noodle Pot ($5.50)

Shredded Pork with Bean Noodle Pot was good with rice.


麻婆豆腐 Ma Po Tofu ($6.50)

My brother likes their Mapo Tofu a lot.  I thought the spiciness of this dish came from lots of pepper, instead of chili pepper.  It wasn't too bad.  But I still prefer the traditional style of mapo tofu.


雪菜百葉毛豆 Preserved Vegetable with Green Bean ($6.25)

Preserved Vegetable with Green Bean was pretty bad.  My parents always order this dish in Shanghai restaurant.  They said this was the worst one they've ever had.  The bean curd tasted horrible.

I forgot to take a picture of the last dish that arrived at the table, Shredded Pork with Fish Sauce (魚香肉絲).  I thought the sauce they used was overly sweet.  But I guess Shanghai cuisine is generally on the sweeter side.


特色什錦砂鍋 House Special Hot Pot ($10.95)

House Special Hot Pot wasn't good at all.  The fried pork skin was disgusting.  The soup tasted like mop water.  Yuck!


招牌酒釀桂花湯圓 Sweet Rice Flour Ball Soup ($5.50)

We LOVE Sweet Rice Flour Ball Soup.  It was tiny sesame mochi ball in a slightly sweeten wine soup with egg drops.  They made this dessert really really good.  I will go back to this restaurant just for this desert again.  My mom doesn't speak English all that well.  But she tries her best when Dr. P and Ayami is around to communicate with them.  She took a bite of the mochi in the soup, and said, "Oh!  It's SESAME STREET mochi!"  Sesame what?  hahahaha....  She's so goofy and always say the funniest things.



All that food with enough leftover for a whole week, it was only $103!  Chinese food has such good value!  We had some hits and misses at Shanghai Bamboo House.  But overall I like this place.  Will be back again for the pork with sticky rice and sesame mochi dessert!

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