It was there that I learnt how they get the soup inside the dumpling, by cooling a concentrated stock until it’s jelly, dicing the jelly and adding it to the filling Ingenious. I also learnt how to eat them without burning my lips or losing the broth down my sleeve. All you do – take notes now – is carefully pick up the dumpling in your chopsticks or rest it on a spoon, then nip a hole in the side with your teeth and suck the broth through the hole It’s not graceful but it works. Then you dunk the remaining dumpling into the ginger vinegar and finish it off.Tragically, my four dumplings have all been punctured and have lost their broth, and their pinched tops are thick and dry Not a good start. At least the fresh, tropical-fruity New Zealand Goldwater New Dog Sauvignon Blanc works, from a mixed-bag of a list that goes way up to an 1986 Ch?au Lafite for £440.Drunken chicken is another traditional dish, marinated in fragrant shao hsing rice wine and gently simmered and cooled. This version (£8.50) is bland and over-cooked rather than sensuous and spirited.

It has one foot in the past, with lemon chicken and sweet and sour pork, and another in the future, with chicken fillets with pineapple and red wine sauce and sea bass with strawberry sauce.But if this is Shanghainese, where’s the beggar’s chicken, Westlake fish, Wuxi spare ribs, and all the red-cooked and slow, simmered dishes? Determined to put together a Shanghai meal, I begin with xiao long bao (£5.50), the famous pinch-topped, purse-like Shanghai pork dumplings that should miraculously contain a spoonful of hot soup.When it comes to Shanghainese soup dumplings, I have been to the mountain top, once eating 16 of them at a single sitting at Shanghai’s famed Nanxiang Dumpling House. I love the ceramic blues and chocolate browns, huge lampshades, lovely filigreed lanterns, silk panels, round tables and grown-up powder-blue leather chairs. There is a live band on Friday and Saturday nights, and rather insistent recorded sounds at other times. It’s not exactly blues, in spite of the name, but then, it’s not exactly Shanghainese food either.While Shanghai Blues claims to focus on the hearty cuisine of this Eastern region, its lunchtime menu is based on Cantonese dim sum and the evening menu treks a gastronomic tour of all of China.

There is now a distinct post-Hakkasan genre, filled with designer dim sum, sultry nightclub surroundings, sophisticated cocktails, high-status tea leaves, and ambient music.
The new, cool and classy Shanghai Blues restaurant in Holborn slots neatly into this genetic profile, although the heavy columns, tall ceilings and screened windows of the old St Giles Library would not look out of place on The Bund in Shanghai.The restaurant is the most glamorous venture yet from David Yiu’s well-established Weng Wah group. But I think you should also give credit to my team, they way we dug deep and never gave up Brian O’Driscoll, Ireland captainIt was Wales’ day. They got a few breaks at times, but I don’t want to take anything away from their performance It’s great for rugby that Wales have won the Grand Slam. When they got the smell of winning, they defended and scrambled very well. It was a tough one to lose but I have to say we didn’t deserve to win it Eddie O’Sullivan, Ireland coach.

Just as Nobu changed the DNA of Japanese restaurants, so Alan Yau’s London restaurant Hakkasan reinvented the Chinese experience. Gareth Thomas, Wales’ injured squad captainI take my hat off to Wales They seemed to want it a bit more than we did. They capitalised on our mistakes and took their chances well That’s the sign of a good side. They’ve been ruthless when they’ve needed to be and I think they deserved the Grand Slam. The noise coming from the crowd at the end was fantastic and dragged us to the end, really.

The crowd were fantastic, they were watching in the best stadium in the world.. and we gave them what they deserved. Kevin Morgan, Wales full-backThere are so many emotions – exhaustion, relief It’s probably not going to sink in for a couple of weeks. Michael Owen, Wales captainThis meant everything to the boys after three years of hard work. It was an unbelievable atmosphere in the stadium – the support was tremendous The fans carried us through Shane Williams, Wales wingIt was something different today I’ve never heard the anthem sung that loud. Mike Ruddock, Wales coachThe fans came out and the boys performed. The fans have been awesome, they’ve followed us everywhere and this is a great reward for them.