Experiencing a simple but surprising new dish for the first time is always a treat. I’ve enjoyed plenty of Shanghai-style cuisine over the years across the San Gabriel Valley, but I’ve never found the kind of “meat pastry” that Old Shanghai has served in San Francisco since 2000.

The airy Inner Richmond dining room houses round tables covered with lazy susans and white cloths and walls lined with portraits of beautiful Chinese women. It was the Meat Pastry ($8) that really caught my attention, featuring flaky pastry encasing juicy pork filling. This tweener wasn’t a dumpling, and not quite a pie, but still very good. Old Shanghai serves their pastries naked, so request soy sauce and vinegar to ratchet up the savory quotient and tang.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.