Review: Din Tai Fung, World Square

This place is so popular, it took me about six months before I managed to get myself organised enough to try it.

It is also quite expensive, so it is handy that the Entertainment Guide has a 20% off the bill voucher.

However, you can’t use your entertainment voucher on big-event days such as Valentines day or Christmas Day.

So, queuing on a Friday night, you are given a copy of the menu whilst waiting, and a sheet to mark up the dishes that you want, such that you can place your order as soon as you are assigned your table (similarly to Sushisuma).

You can also watch the chefs hard at work, pinching and poking the dumplings into being.
Don’t look for dumplings cooked any other way except for steamed.

The ones to try are the: xiao long biao, or steamed pork dumpling with a little soup or stock inside. Don’t burn your mouth! The trick that I have found is to put the dumpling on one of the soup spoons, and then nibble a corner of the pastry gently, such that the soup spills out into the spoon, before consuming it in two gulps. Yum! (Although, my most recent visit, I do recall this being a bit too salty for my taste).

Another popular one is the crab roe and pork dumpling. Delicate parcels topped with pink, and a rich almost gamey flavour of the roe throughout the dumpling.

The pasty is almost paper thin, and delicate. Very easy to tear, even when trying to pick up the dumpling from the steamer in your chopsticks!

The downfall in sharing a table is that you always want to reach over to your neighbours’ dish and try it out.

Last visit we saw a delicious looking fried rice with a what looked like a gooey and yummy semi-cooked egg.

on top. We tried organising for the Taiwainese fried rice, but it didn’t look the same, and was actually quite oily. Next time I see it, I will have to try use the phrase: “Wo he ta de yi yang de” (I’ll have what she’s having, in Mandarin Chinese).

Also tried:
Lychee and mint mocktail – delicious on first taste, looks wonderful, ends up being too sugary!

Green tea icecream, and Taro sweet bun. Both very nice the taro bun had an aldente pastry!
The vegetable offerings that I have sampled - Fried waterspinach with chilli and Garlic fried green beans, both I have found to be very oily. Disappointing.

So - would I go again - yes. Would I pay full price - no. These guys are a Taiwanese chain. Having spotted the xiao long biao in DTF Taipei city for the equivalent of $9 AUD, we pay twice the price in Australia for the same product. I guess the add-on comes from making the 'same' product all over the world. The DTF index, instead of the big mac index?

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Din Tai Fung
World Square Shopping Centre
Level 1, Shop 11.04, 644 George St
SydneyNSW 2000
(02) 9264 6010
Daily 11am-2.30pm, 5-10pm

Review: SIFF 100 Mile Dinner at Mamre House, Orchard Hills

I was super excited when I saw that there would be a Sydney International Food Festival Event “out west”, featuring the food of a local African community garden. Night before I move house? Not a problem.

Mamre House is a historic homestead built in the 1820s, and was the home of the colonial chaplain, magistrate and pastoralist, the Reverend Samuel Marsden. It is currently owned by the NSW government, and leased to the Sisters of Mercy. What I didn’t realise, when booking, was that the night was also to be a fundraising night.

Unfortunately, the African Performers cancelled at the last minute, so there was no African music. I also note that the “African food” ended up being Western style salad greens, grown by local African refugees.

The menu included:

* Platter of antipasto - including a delicous thick aged balsamic vinegar from Simply Original
* Roast Duck/Wagyu Beef
* Orange Almond Cake, or Chocolate Tart
* Wine from Jubilee Wines, Beer from Blue Tongue

The entrée platters were assembled by students from Western Sydney Tafe, two highlights were the sticky oozy balsamic vinegar and the marinated cheese from Muswellbrook.

There was a bit of artistic licence in obtaining the food from 100mile (160km) radius. Chocolate for the chocolate tart was “bought” locally. In reality, you can’t get chocolate (or flour) within 160km of Sydney if you were strictly applying the 100 mile ethos. Same again for the beer – Blue Tongue brewery is based in Newcastle, and it is 178km from Sydney.

Outside, a bunch of astronomers had set up their telescopes, so you could take a peek at the stars if you could ignore the light pollution of the fairy lights.

Overall, a fun event, and considering the obstacles encountered in getting the event organised, still well worth supporting.

I'm sure I took pictures, but I can't find them at present.
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Note: As you can see, I found some pictures.
I had a chat the next day to a guy from Blue Mountains Honey at the markets who had also been at the event, and also to a colleague: turns out that this event was always going to be a charity fundraiser, and then someone on their organising committee suggested adding it the list of events on the SIFF calender to get some more publicity. And then the problems with the alcohol: turns out the more "local" breweries weren't interested in assisting an event like this.

Review: SeaBay Restaurant

I made it to Seabay at 4pm. The staff were busy eating their own dinner in preparation for the dinner rush, but were happy to serve.

Based on a recommendation, I got a half portion of the Spring Rolls. Not the deep fried little things you normally associate with the term; it came with a wheat based wrapping pastry the size of a plate. The spring rolls are HUGE. Vermicilli noodles, wood ear fungus, egg, bean curd pastry sheets (foo jook). Delicious and warm.

I had greedy eyes, so I got "handmade noodle soup with dumplings" as well, which came in a light broth (probably chicken) with a bit of herb stuff and some shredded wombok or Chinese Cabbage. The noodles were nice - al dente, but with a slight raw wheat/flour taste. The dumplings were DELICIOUS, and were a highlight. I think I got five or six of them: a tasty pork and vegie and other flavouring dumpling in a thickish wheat pastry (not as fine as the din tai fung dumpling place in world square). I got a bit sick of the herby and plain broth taste. The chilli was ferociously hot, but also very enjoyable.

On a later date I gave the stirfried handmade noodles with lamb a shot, stir fried green vegetables (shang hai buk choy) and revisited a half serving of the Spring Pancakes.

The stirfried noodles were a little oversalty, and both it and the vegetables had were too oily for my taste. Curses - I think it is the Chinese compunction to try and make foodstuffs look "shiny", glossy, and pretty on the plate. The action of cooking the noodles in the wok seems to have removed the slight raw wheat taste that I had noted before. I wonder what would happen if you cooked the noodles with water as the moistening ingredient, rather than the oil? I suspect everything would end up sticking together.

The vegies had a nice mix of garlic and ginger, and I did enjoy the noodles which came with some more wombok, capsicum, and little bits of lamb, like it was sliced thin for sandwiches or steamboot, and then thrown in.

Whilst I enjoyed the second serving of the Spring Pancakes, it didn't seem as novel or as delicious as the first time that I had sampled them.

I've been twice so far, and have yet to sample their panfried dumplings. Pictures to come!

SeaBay Restaurant

Open till 1030pm, everynight

372 Pitt St SydneyNSW Phone (02) 9267 4855

Review: Red Lantern Vietnamese, Surry Hills (Closed)

A last minute decision to eat out for dinner instead of cooking at home on the last day of a holiday, I ended up playing phone tag with the staff from Red Lantern. I wouldn't have guessed it, but they were almost fully booked on a Sunday night, and they could only fit in a table for two between 6pm and 8pm. I saw three couples turn up to try and get a table as a "walk in", and they were refused, so we were quite lucky to have grabbed a table.
The mains were $25-$35; the entrees were all just under $20. There was a 10% Sunday surcharge, and quite a few specials on the menu.
The food was really tasty ... I got to try :
1. soft shell crab with a tomato, cucumber, grapefruit (little yellow citrus wedges) and vietnamese herb salad (the dressing was quite sweet, but you needed a little bit more so you could dip the crab into more sauce. Also maybe a touch more salt;
2. beef lemongrass wrapped in betel leaves and on a bed of vermicilli. Very tasty, but with the smells of this dish and the crab one, I found this one almost offensive. When you smelled it on its own, it was okay, and smelled quite nice.
3. Shallow fried snapper with a sweet sour sauce (also a bit of green papaya salad). Yummo. I felt like I ate a lot of crunchy stuff. The sauce was nice, the fish was delicious and I crunched the smaller bones (and fins), the flesh was really tasty and still had some give.
We had a similar dish at our local thai restaurant and it was terrible!! the fish then had been deep fried for too long, and the whole thing was tough (deepfried), and rubbery.
4. Organic choy sum with a preserved (fermented) beencurd sauce. L liked this one and suggested that we buy a jar of the fermented bean curd to try and make it! That's the stuff in the jar that looks like cheese and smells ferocious
5. Green tea.
and yes... I did take a few pictures. I felt like I ate a lot of crunchy stuff - I wish the waiter had commented on that so that I could've had a rethink of the menu choices.


Post post note: Red Lantern Surry Hills has closed. However there is an alternative location in Darlinghurst 
street: 60 Riley Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010. 
phone: +61-2-9698-4355

The local thai restaurant

I have just found out that the local thai restaurant normally cooks "to aussie tastes" when preparing dishes. So the first green curry I had from there had a slight chilli 'spice', and was mostly flavoured milk. So much so, that I didn't want to go there again. Having this discovered this now, last night we ordered the Penang curry 'cooked thai style', it was a lot more edible, with a decent curry paste background..

Gamely enough .. I even ordered Som tum (Green papaya salad), which generally knocks my head off with the 'one chilli' specification. It was oh-kay... with iceberg lettuce, green beans and peanuts. i couldn't detect any dried shrimp in the sauce.. and very little fish sauce. Probably geared to Aussie tastes again. Next time... I will specify it to 'thai style'.... but only one chilli!

At least now, I won't be so adverse to visiting the local thai to encourage 'thai-style' thai food, and sample the other dishes.

Steamed Bonito

I love making up a Chinese steamed fish. Some ginger, spring onions, dried shittake mushrooms, red dates and silken soft tofu. Fish of choice is usually barramundi or silver bream. Yummo. I get cravings.
Yesterday,I gave Bonito a go. I've eaten this as sashimi, and I know it's the main ingredient in dashi or japanese stock.
Its texture was very dense, almost like tuna. Very filling too - we could barely finish half a medium size fish. Today, when I panfried the leftovers I worked out that texture and density- wise, it's much more like chicken!
ps - I find out later that Bonito is actually a type of tuna!

Review: Elephant Jump Cafe, Surry Hills

A new discovery!
Was lurking near Central Station, when I made this new discovery. The restaurant at the Madison hotel was shut for renovations, so I ventured into Devonshire street to have a look-see. Elephant jump cafe looks pretty new, seats about 15 people. There were definitely thai people behind the counter.

We tried one of the house specials - Yum Yum stir fried; and Penang curry.

'Yum Yum stir fried' had instant (2 minute noodles), egg, chicken, carrot, chinese cabbage (wombok) and lots of pepper.
The Penang curry was really rich and pumpkiny with bits of carrot. A mild to medium flavoured curry, but very moreish. I was quite tempted to lick the bowl clean.

They had plenty of visitors
Highly enjoyable. I shall have to visit again.


Elephant Jump Cafe
Shop 3, 99 Devonshire Street Surry Hills NSW
(02)9698-9119

Review: Ramen Kan, Bondi Junction

I found myself in the eastern suburbs, and having a craving for Japanese food, I went to Ramen Kan in Bondi Junction.
This is where I first discovered (deep fried) soft shell crab, several years ago.
The place was full of anglos. In fact, I only saw three Asians whilst I was there, and only one of them was Japanese. No matter, although the adage is that to find good japanese you should eat where the "locals" eat, the food is good.

Soft shell crab $8.90. One baby crab, cut into quarters, deep fried.
Ramen & Gyoza (set). $13.90. You get three gyoza (instead of the the six on the regular entree), a little heap of rice, a mini cabbage salad and your choice of shio/shoyu or miso ramen. I chose shio, because it had a tonkatsu base, and I adore tonkatsu ramen from ichban boshi.

The tonkatsu was a little disappointing. Instead of being really rich, sweet and satisfying; I found it slightly bland. Perhaps it was diluted to many bowls instead? After all, ichi ban boshi claims it can only make 15 bowls a day - and I've seen the stock with legs of pork all wrapped up in string, simmmering away.

I shall have to head back, and take some food pictures. If I had had space, I would have ordered the cabbage salad as well, for $1.50 a serve. (edit: going on the Haymarket store prices, this was probably $5.90).

Ramen Kan
Shop 3, Bronte Road (cnr Ebley Street), Bondi Junction
(02)9387-5691

Cirque du Soleil and Sushisuma

Had the advantage of being part of a group booking for some Cirque du Soleil tickets, for the latest production: Dralion. The advantage of the group booking? $10 discount. However, It still means that you pay over $100 per ticket.

Prior to heading to fox studios, we went to Sushisuma to eat. I had been here the week before, prior to seeing Sigur Ros at the Hordern, and I have been here a few years ago. I remember having to queue up on the street outside waiting for a table.

The renovations have included a new "waiting room" upstairs, where you are expected to order. If you haven't ordered, don't expect to be able to secure a table downstairs. Terse communication from the waiters mean that it is generally the other customers that explain why you are up here, and what to do.

Luckily, no waiting on a Thursday night. We got the enormous Kaiso Salad (mysteriously lurking in the entreee section of the menu), the teriayki fish dinner set, and a bowl of tempura udon. The dinner set was very good value, and although only one set was ordered, the other party got some agedashi tofu and the vanilla icecream with red bean and green tea topping. I loved the sauce that the Kaiso salad came with - it was a mountain of mostly shredded cabbage, carrot and wakame. I ended up taking away some leftovers home, although of course, it was not the same the next day. Searching for it online only seems to come up with an "instant" packet of the stuff, and no explanation of what a Kaiso salad is, or what dressing to use. plum dressing?

Cirque du soleil - the acrobatics were amazing, especially the girl who stood upside down on her hand on top of a pole, and then twisted her body this way and that. Just watching it, you couldn't believe that her body was connected at all, it was like there were two separate disjointed "bits". I also enjoyed the trampoline section where the multiple acrobats bounced between two trampolines, "walked up the wall", and then onto an intermediate platform inbetween fun and enjoyable.

However... what I didn't like. I found the costumes a little bit "twee" and predictable. What is the point of getting the acrobats to head backstage, change one chinese style costume for another (including a fake "mop-end of hair" for another). I vaguely remember reading a smh review of the show, which mentioned something about a rather weak story line joining the whole lot. Some of the artists I actually, well, the girl in the blue costume near the end of the show, who did the ribbon acrobatics. Watching her, it was all very routine, and she didn't look like she was enjoying herself at all. And ARGH, what was the point of the two singers? Silly winged costumes, songs that were nothing, and the 'hey look over there while I change the set' technique. I - uh- ... actually got a little bored near the end of the show.

It's so very easy to be critical and judgemental .. but really, when you're paying over $100 for the ticket, wouldn't you expect more! Anyway. I did enjoy myself. I am glad I went and saw the show once, but I don't think that I would bother to do so again.

New England Scallop Chowder

L had bought a bunch of scallops, and had a craving for scallops "with cream". The directive was for cream with mushrooms, and my reaction was 'ew'. So I attempted New England clam chowder - with scallops instead of clams. I think it turned out quite well.

This is what I did, based upon elsa peterson-schepelern's "Soups" book.

250g frozen scallops
water to suit (125ml fish stock - I used beef stock powder)
Dried chinese shrimp
1/3 can of spam (preferrably 500g smoked pancetta or bacon!)
3 small onions, diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 bay leaves
a few small potatoes, cubed
1 patty butter (10g?)
1 tablespoon flour
250mL warm milk
parsley bunch, coarsely chopped to serve.

Put scallops in large pot, add bay leaves, carrot, celery, potatoes, pepper, shrimp. Add water/stock to suit. 1.5L or so. Simmer for 10 minutes (when the potatoes are cooked).

Meanwhile fry up the cubed spam until 'crunchy' , or the sides have seared.

Instead of adding cream, I made up a roux, so this could be reheated later without separating.

1 tablespoon of flour, and butter, melt together. Add warm milk. Stir constantly to prevent it clumping. When it goes 'thick', add the roux to the soup.

Serve with chopped parsley and spam/pancetta/bacon on top. Garlic rubbed toast on the side.

Review: Sushiya at Artarmon

Sushiya near Atarmon train station today, because I got stuck in traffic in the lane merge on the cahill expressway, and couldn't be bothered going climbing, despite having made the effort to buy cheap disposable clothing: having left my climbing clothes at home.

Second time there. For some reason, I was drawn to the sea urchin sushi *again*, but this second attempt, I agree: it was too strongly flavoured and slimy to eat as one person! I really wish I had gotten the generic sashimi platter: I could have tried the sea urchin again without it being overkill. Also tried Scallop tataki (yummo!) with bits of fish roe, pickled japanese vegie and seaweed. Ponzu sauce as well? Most tasty.

My 'main' was kitsune udon. Udon good. Wakame good. Seafood extender and kitsune tofu (I thought it would be tofu puffs, not flat bits of sweet dense tofu!/wail). Got to try the tempura set too. The batter was lovely and light, and there was a good variety of tempura foodstuffs there. The most interesting was the tempura fish - there was a slight ammonia taste - was that supposed to be there, or accident?

Highly recommended.

Review: Kai on King

I went to Kai on King some nights ago. It ended up being $48 for two. I was told that a friend liked it because it was innovative? I suppose being newtown, it had to label which was and which wasn't vego; but most of the stuff going around was samey: salmon on rice, tuna on rice. It reminds me of what the cheap sushi trains used to be like (but not anymore). I had a bonito (I think) on rice, and it looked dry, and not moist and fresh.

Not licensed (but byo), so the craving for sushi and sake was also not satisfied

Very disappointing.

Da Gianni Trattoria

Kicking myself because I never visited Three Clicks West when it was going, a proposed family gathering gave the opportunity to try the new place in its shoes 'Da Gianni Trattoria'. It got a recent rating of 14/20 in the smh's good living.

Walking in, it reminded me a lot of the good times and great food that I had enjoyed at Billingsgate in Randwick. It had a great buzzy atmosphere which in the end turned out to be a bit too loud for this old bat.

Service was a bit variable. The people closest to the serving corridor got their water glasses refilled, but I felt quite neglected up back near the wall. My water glass got filled up once, just before dessert.

Main dishes sampled: roast quail stuffed with fennel sausage with marsala and grapes; duck pappardelle with chestnuts and unfindable funghi, and roman-style slow cooked roast lamb.

The lamb had had the following comment in the review: " Roman-style roast suckling lamb is an early leader for favourite dish of 2008. On-the-bone chunks of baby lamb, initially marinated and cooked in a white wine, tomato and herb braise, are re-roasted then coated in a rosemary-pungent reduction of the cooking juices. Thus the angelically tender lamb is wetter than Romans would expect, but no less for it."

The waiter had recommended the lamb as well, saying that it was dish of the month. My lamb was tender, but over the top too salty. The sampled duck pappardelle tasted sweet and mild in comparison. I needed to intersperse the bites with the sharp vinegarette of the rocket, radicchio and parmesan salad. The rosemary had been deepfried or roasted, and was providing crunchy bits of rosemary flavoured entertaintment. But really? It was almost a relief to finish it.

I seemed intent on filling my stomach with rich-flavoured food. I dithered between the chocolate, hazelnut and frangelico semifreddo; and the vanilla panacotta. I went the semifreddo - great dish to share, almost impossible to finish on ones own! It again was very rich and intense. I thought that it would be a layered type of dessert, but it was a mix, with some intensely spiced cherries as an aside.

I also had the chance to sample the olive oil and rosemary cake with marscapone gelato and stewed figs. That was interesting: the cake was dry yet moist at the same time, and had a faint rosemary herb taste. The figs were tasty: and reminded me of the fig glut I had had whilst in Croatia. The gelato was also an interesting taste: it made the whole dessert more of a savoury affair.

I'm glad I had walked up to the restaurant, because I definitely waddled on home afterwards.

Upcoming eating outs

Next week looks to be quite busy in terms of eating outs (and going-outs). Monday will be sushi and sake from Kai on King. I'm still adoring Umi Kaiten Zushi near central station, so I'll see how this compares. This'll be followed by Ross Noble at the enmore theatre. I don't know how I'll cope with his accent, but I'll try.

Then Tuesday is next next installment in my stc theatre subscription - rock-n-roll is the play. L wasn't impressed with the Indian production of Midsummer Nights' Dream. I have to admit it took me a while to get into the play (once I worked out which particular storyline it was). Anyway, preceeding the play will be gourmet pizza & a beer at the Australian Hotel, in the Rocks.
Wednesday - normally a humpish day, but since this week ends on the Thursday, it really is the downhill end of the week. Anyway - debating whether to head to Restaurant Sojourn in Balmain (run bay another ex-banc chef! I must go!), or the three weeds pub restaurant, or the ex-three clicks west Da Gianni Trattatoria.

Having moved out west (but *not a westie, I'm not, I'm not!!) I somehow manage to pack in my social life into lots-of-stuff in one week, and then nothing for months, don't I?