Located in Oldtown Sacramento, I was surprised to see a Chinese restaurant here. You have to walk downstairs to be seated and there are plenty of tables. There is an area where you can see chefs making their dumplings which reminds me of Din Tai Fung. Focusing mostly on Shanghainese and dim sum, I-Shanghai Delight has a great selection of noodles soup, dumplings, appetizers, fried rice, and noodles. Etc. To order, put a check next to the menu items and give it to the waiter. I decided on the braised beef noodle soup, pork dumplings, and fried rice Yangzhou style. The noodles and fried rice came out pretty fast but the dumplings came out 20 minutes after.
For the braised beef noodle soup, the soup base was more on the soy sauce side versus beefy. I am a huge fan of noodle soup and had this plenty of times so I was surprised to see it was more on the soy sauce base which isn’t bad. The noodles seem like they were made in-house since the texture was on the doughy and chewy side. The dish came with huge chunks of tendons and beef. The beef was so tender and melted once it was in your mouth. It was delicious, but I wish they would make the pieces smaller and bite-sized. Since this is an authentic noodle soup, it also came with a side of pickled vegetables and a hard-boiled egg.
The pork dumplings were the game changer and favorite item that I ordered! I've had xiao long bao before and this is even better than the ones I had at Din Tai Fung. The soup had a very thick and juicy texture, similar to egg drop soup. I think they were steamed and made on the spot since it took a while to come. The soup is piping hot so make sure to poke a hole and let the soup spill out to devour its deliciousness. I also got the Yangzhou-style fried rice which was okay and mediocre. It looks like your typical fried rice with peas, carrots, shrimp, Spam, egg, and rice. The flavor was bland and I felt like they could go heavier on the seasoning. However, my friend enjoyed it while I loved the dumplings.
Overall, I would recommend I-Shanghai Delight if you are looking for a fantastic place to grab dim sum and authentic beef noodle soup. Even if you order to-go, the dumplings are still piping hot and delicious. Highly recommend and I plan on coming back when I am back in the area.