Jasmyne Tea

Parramatta Phoenix, Parramatta

A couple of people who read my blog have asked me about the relative proliferation of Yum Cha posts I've done. It is true, out of all the cuisines I've featured on this blog, Yum Cha does tend to crop up more than others, and I'll tell you why:

Every time I start editing the pictures for Yum Cha posts, I remember how good the food was and I start to get cravings for it again!

Steamed Prawn Dumplings

I think I'm so attracted to it compared to other types of food because I had absolutely zero exposure to it as a child. The only Chinese food we had came from a corner-store Chinese restaurant where the floors were covered with peeling lino and ten-year-old Christmas lights hung from the windows in a derelict fashion. Not only was this a depressing scene, but the food was simply terrible, all oily and soggy, and it put me off Chinese food for a very long time.

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns

Luckily, the Phoenix chain of Yum Cha restaurants are nothing like the restaurants of my childhood. They opened up a new branch last year in Parramatta called Parramatta Phoenix, which is awesome because it's not too far away from where I live and work. True to the other restaurants, the decor is airy and modern, the service quick and snappy, and the food made with fresh, quality ingredients.

Dim Sims

All our old steamed favourites were there - Prawn Dumplings, BBQ Pork Buns and Dim Sims, which were all executed perfectly and served to us hot and fresh.

Fried Noodles

Combination Dumplings

Deep Fried Vegetarian Spring Rolls

Of course, all our favourite fried dumplings made an appearance as well, including Fried Noodles in Soy, crunchy and crispy Combination Dumplings, and Vegetarian Spring Rolls that were a little soggy but still full of flavour.

Eggplant and Minced Prawn

This was something new for me, a little tower of braised eggplant and minced prawn doused in some kind of sauce, I imagine made from seafood considering its overall flavour. The contrast between the slightly mushy texture of the eggplant and the firmer, meatier texture of the prawn mince was magic.

Mango Pancakes

This was a dessert I'd never tried before. It was pretty simple - whipped cream (which I suspect may have been mock cream) and slices of fresh mango were enfolded within a light-as-air mango pancake. It wasn't very sweet in the way true to form for Chinese desserts, which made it all about the mango.

Sweet Tofu Soup

This was also new to me, but I wasn't a fan. I found it to be flavourless, and whilst the tofu was deliriously soft and silky, I definitely prefer it in a savoury dish.

Mango Pudding

The reliable mango pudding was served at the end, with delicious pieces of mango dotting the pudding and condensed milk in a thin layer over the top.  Of course, this was demolished.

Parramatta Phoenix

Westfield Parramatta
Level 4, Shop 4070
159 - 175 Church St
Parramatta NSW 2150.

Ph: (02) 9891 3338

Sky Phoenix & Becasse Bakery, Sydney CBD

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I always savour the time I get to spend with my fiance. Stephen and I have very different schedules: I work 4 ten-hour shifts a week, whereas Stephen works 3 shifts a week and spends 4 days teaching or working at Hawkesbury UWS. Normally we only get a couple of hours a day to see each other, but this summer Stephen has taken some time off uni, and we now have Tuesdays together.

We normally make the most of our Tuesdays, playing tennis with friends, going shopping or seeing a movie. One Tuesday we were craving Yum Cha, and found ourselves at the Westfield's impressive food court in the city; there sat Sky Phoenix like a harbour of hope for our hungry bellies.

Fried Noodles

The service here is impeccable, as we're greeted from the entrance and led through the clean and spacious restaurant to a table promptly. We were given our pot of tea, and before we could even finish pouring, our first trolley had arrived. When I saw they had fried noodles, I picked them out quick smart.

Probably my favourite Yum Cha dish of all time, the noodles are firm, thin, with excellent resistance when bitten. Lightly flavoured with soy sauce, they also include bean sprouts, spring onion, and sesame seeds. Simple, yes, but also delicious.

BBQ Pork Buns

These, on the other hand, are Stephen's favourite dish. These specimen consisted of soft, fluffy bun dough that stuck a little with each chew, and the pork was shredded roughly, tender morsels cooked in a thick, sweet sauce.

Prawn Spring Rolls

The prawns in this dish were SO fresh, plump and juicy. The pastry was super-crisp, and the sesame seeds lent their own nutty flavour whilst adding to the texture. They were served with a rather generic sweet and sour sauce.

Braised Duck

The duck fell apart with nary a touch, excellent considering the fact that we were using chopsticks. A soy based sauce lent some salt, and although the skin wasn't crisp (which is how I prefer it), at least it wasn't laden with a layer of fat.

Green Beans

These were ordered in a fit of guilt, but they were a good call. The beans were crisp and fresh, and lightly stir-fried in soy sauce.

Football Dumplings!

I STILL have no idea what these are called, but they were possibly the best ones I've had so far, probably due to superior ingredients and freshness. The minced pork burst with flavour, the mushroom had a beautiful texture, and the casing was chewy and crunchy at once.

Mango Pudding

This mango pudding was excellent, with mango chunks mixed in, giving it a more interesting texture than just plain, uniform  pudding. As always, it was covered in the obligatory layer of condensed milk.

As usual, I have trouble with the little stamps they put on the order sheet for food, so I'll just say that the total for the meal was $74.90.

After finishing our delicious  lunch, we went for a walk around Westfields. After a couple of hours we went for coffee and cake at Becasse Bakery.

Petite Carrot, Orange and Sultana Cake - $3.00

The carrot cake was teeny-tiny, about the diameter of a 50c coin at the base, but it was packed with flavour. Orange was the most prevalent, followed by the sweetness of the carrot and sultana. A generous piping of cream cheese frosting and the strategic placement of a walnut were both  lovely finishing touches.


Banana & Salted Peanut Brittle Tartlet - $6.95

 GOD, this was good. They definitely didn't skimp on the salted peanut brittle, which was amazing and crunchy without being too crunchy, if you know what I mean - I didn't chip a tooth. A banana custard supported the brittle, and a thin pastry crust encased the whole thing; delicious madness!

Zokoko Chocolate Jaffa Tartlet - $7.95

Stephen's jaffa tartlet was quite enjoyable - he enjoys a richer chocolate taste, which this dessert certainly provided. The chocolate jaffa ganache was encased in a gorgeous chocolate biscuit, and topped with a perfect disc of dark chocolate. This was topped by candied orange peel, and the dessert as a whole was divinely decadent.

Sky Phoenix

Level 6, Shop 6001
Westfield Sydney,
NSW 2000

http://www.phoenixrestaurants.com.au

Becasse

Level 5, Shop 5019
Westfield Sydney,
NSW 2000

Peking Duck Spring Rolls

Hi everyone, Stephen here.

My first time experiencing Peking Duck at the Hingara Chinese Restuarant in Chinatown was such a great experiment that I've been wanting to try making Peking Duck at home. I've been seeing a handful of posts over this time and many being unique and with excellent approaches.

Things have been extremely busy of late, juggling my PhD, academic teaching and a part time job, while slipping in as much cooking and time with Jasmyne as possible.  So unfortunately I've yet to have the chance to give the Peking Duck a shot but settled with spring rolls. They are really quick to make and the duck can be prepared a day or two in advance, or you can just buy a pre-roasted duck.

Peking Duck Spring Rolls (makes 18 spring rolls)

Ingredients

- 1 whole duck (about 2kg)
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 6cm piece of ginger, pealed and finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely grated
- zest of 2 oranges
- 4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
- 36 spring roll wrappers
- oil for deep frying, vegetable or sunflower
- sauce to serve, hoisen or peking duck.

 

Procedure

1 - For the duck, pre-heat the oven to 210°C. Wash the duck well, inside and out. The place onto a baking tin with a rack. Pat the duck dry with paper towel or a clean cloth. Combine the sugar with 3 tbs warm water and a tsp of salt, then rub the mixture over the duck. Bake the duck for 20 mins, then cover the duck with foil and reduce the heat to 130°C.  Cook for 1.5 hours.  Remove the foil then up the heat back to 210°C for 20-30 mins, or until the duck skin is a dark brown colour and crispy.

2 - Once cooled, finely chop the duck and combine with the ginger, carrots, orange zest and spring onions in a bowl and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

3 - Position a spring roll wrapper in a diamond shape on the work bench. Put 2 tablespoons of the duck mixture across the bottom half and fold the bottom corner up over the filing. Fold over the sides and then roll the parcel up to close.  Seal the exposed corner with a little bit of water.  Repeat with the remain wrappers.  Also keep a moist towel over all the wrappers to prevent them from drying out.

4 - Heat the oil up to 180°C and frying the spring rolls in batches for 1 minute each or until golden.  Remove from the oil and allow to drain on some paper towel.

5 - Serve warm with some sauce (I had found some peking duck sauce at my local asian grocer) and some fried rice (fried rice recipe courtesy of Kylie Kwong from It Tastes Better).

New Shanghai, Chatswood

I can't believe how far some people travel to get to work every day. My friend Sonia lives in Erskine Park, and travels five times a week to and from Chatswood on public transport. INSANE! And I thought I had a rough time getting to and from Auburn.

Sonia took Mary and I for a little tour around Chatswood the other day, seeing as we had never been before. The train trip alone took us over an hour and a half, and when Sonia met us at the station and led us toward a darkened staircase leading into the bowels of a building, we were intrigued - what an adventure!

We ended up at the back entrance of New Shanghai in Chatswood, which was lovely and warm, a welcome change from the cold weather outside. Sonia tells us that although the New Shanghai at Chatswood Chase is very popular and new, the service and food can sometimes suffer due to the sheer amount of people who dine there, and that this branch is where it's at.

A waitress pointed us to a table and handed us massive menus. We ordered, and as we were waiting for our drinks and dishes, we watched the ladies in the window making dumplings:

Drunken Chicken - $7.80

Sonia ordered the Drunken Chicken, which was composed of thick slices of chicken cooked in Shao Xing wine, a rice cooking wine, shredded cucumber, and thick noodles reminiscent of spaghetti. She dumped a whole lot of chilli into this dish and went to town - the chicken was sweet and juicy, and the cucumber cooled the burn of the chilli.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings - $8.80

I'm a fan of pan fried dumplings, and honestly, these were possibly the best pork dumplings I'd ever tasted. The whole dumpling just smacked of freshness, from the impossibly tender pork, the the silky dumpling skin and the beautifully crisp bottom.

Stir-Fried Shanghai Noodles with Pork - $8.80

This dish included noodles that were supple and slippery with sweet and sour sauce, and which had a lovely bite to them. The little specks of pork were slightly chewy and resistant, and the greens gave some much needed contrasting texture to the dish.

Xiao Long Bao - $6.80

These little pork dumplings were served to us at the perfect temperature, so that when I popped one into my mouth and started chewing, the gelatinous soup that burst forth didn't scald me with third degree  burns. Again, I was simply struck by how fresh everything was.

Crispy Shallot Pancake - $4.80

This disc of golden, doughy goodness was possibly my favourite part of our dinner. The dough was deep fried so that the outside was brilliantly crispy, but the inside remained slightly chewy and soft. It was flavoured with spring onion, giving the pancake a savoury hit that was a pleasure to experience.

Crispy-Skin Chicken with Rice - $9.80

Mary ordered the Crispy Skin Chicken again, but didn't end up eating much of it as she'd filled up on everything else. She was impressed with the crackle of the skin when she cut into it, and trying it, I was also pleased; it was sweet and salty and crunchy, and the chicken beneath was beautifully soft and tender. The dish was served with some steamed rice and soy sauce, but the star of the dish was the chicken.

We wandered off to Gelatissimo after dinner for some frozen dessert. I tried a couple of flavours from their 'Death By Chocolate' range, a scoop of Chocolate Cherry and another of one that reminded me of Ferrero Rocher.

We ended the night at Tomato Karaoke Bar, where we sung our hearts out to Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" and "Y'all Want A Single" by Korn, while laughing at the unrelated video clips of K-Pop bands dancing and a guy reading a book. My bottle of Korean rice wine set me back $10.50, but we had an excellent time regardless. Chatswood is definitely not what I imagined, but it seems to have many excellent places to catch up with friends.

New Shanghai

Shop 20, 427 - 441 Victoria Ave
Chatswood, NSW
2067

Phone: 02 9415 3536

 

Gelatissimo

Shop 2, 376 Victoria Ave
Chatswood, NSW
2067

 

Tomato Karaoke Bar

Cnr Anderson St South & Victoria Ave
Chatswood, NSW
2067

This is our favourite karaoke song. What song do you rock out to?

Green Gourmet, Newtown

Mock meat is something that used to squick me out a bit. I had never tasted it or even seen it before, but in my opinion, meat was meat and there was no WAY any susbstitute would be as good.

Well, I've become a little more open-minded since then, and when Stephen and I were invited to lunch with one of our vegetarian friends, we thought we'd try a vegetarian restaurant. While looking one up, I had a gander at the website of Green Gourmet in Newtown, and was instantly intrigued.

On top of not selling meat or animal-based products, Green Gourmet also doesn't serve dishes with onion or garlic, stating that "In "Vegetarian Recipies", five spicy scented vegetables are not used. They are onions, garlic, leek, spring-onions and chives. These pungent vegetables contain five different kinds of enzymes and when eaten, will not only induce offensive reactions physically and mindfully but also spiritually, as they have harmful dissipating effect upon the primeval breath of the five organs. Namely: - the lungs, the heart, the spleen, the kidneys and the liver."


Young Coconut & Fresh Mint Drink - $4.50

With this in mind, I thought I'd start with a cleansing, refreshing coconut drink. The drink was very mild, with not much coconut flavour at all, and the mint was also not as strong as I expected, but there was a hint; It was tasty and easy to drink.

Crispy Beijing Duck Wrap - $15.20

We were very excited to try these wraps, because we love duck with hoi sin, and we wanted to see what a vegan version would be like. We were pretty much astounded: the beijing style pancake, pickled cucumber and carrot, and hoi sin sauce were all pretty much the same accoutrements as the meaty version, but the "duck" was something else. Made of soy protein, it didn't really look or smell like duck, but when the whole thing was assembled and I took a bite, it was almost like the real thing. The crunch of the "skin" was there, the flavours of the sweet hoi sin and tart pickled vegetables contributed to the taste, and the pancake was light and paper thin (of course, if you've ever had a duck wrap, I don't think soy protein could measure up).

Spring Roll - $3.60

The spring rolls were a good size, and the pastry was more substantial than I'm used to. I found out later it was made of wheat. It was filled with crunchy carrot and bamboo shoot, cabbage, mushroom and celery, and served with a house-made sweet and sour sauce.

Steamed BBQ Not Pork Bun - $3.60

Stephen absolutely loves BBQ pork buns, so we decided to give this a go. The bun was made with wheat flour and filled with wheat protein that was marinated in hoi sin sauce and water chestnuts. The taste was quite accurate, and the buns even looked the same:

Sweet and Sour Taro Fritters - $15.80

Our friend Cassie chose this dish. The taro fritters, a substitute for pork, were fried til crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, and were served with pineapple, tomato, capsicum and carrot. The whole lot was coated in their housemade sweet and sour sauce.

Better Than Salt and Pepper Calimari - $16.80

Made from kelp and yam extract, the "calimari" was AMAZING. While the strips didn't curl up like real squid does, they had the same slight bite that calimari does, and the outer coating was beautifully crisp and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Eating at Green Gourmet was a hell of an experience, and it's a place I would definitely take a vegan or vegetarian friend. They take vegan cuisine seriously, and it shows in the care and presentation of their dishes. Go and sample their a la carte menu, try the yum cha on weekends, or go in for a quick lunch where you pay by weight of your dish.

Green Gourmet

115 - 117 King St
Newtown, NSW
2042

Phone: 02 9519 5330

http://www.greengourmet.com.au

BBQ Pork for The Double Happiness Omelette

I had always wondered what made Chinese BBQ Pork the colour it was. For the longest time I eyed those little morsels of meat in my special fried rice with suspicion and distrust, and I always had a little pile of them left on my plate. Imagine my wonder when I accidentally ate some, and experienced a flavour explosion in my mouth!

There's a recipe in the first Masterchef book that utilises BBQ Pork, The Double Happiness Omelette, but the recipe for the actual pork that Stephen and I used was from Taste.com, simply because it worked so well for us. Here it is, in all its sweet, caramelised glory; there ARE a lot of sauces, but the process is so easy it's laughable.

BBQ Pork
*Recipe adapted from Taste.com

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice
500g pork fillet

    1. Add all of the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Add the pork to the mixture and turn to coat, then cover and place in the fridge to marinate for a couple of hours.

    2. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius and add water to a deep roasting pan so that it comes about a centimetre up the side. Place the pork fillet on a wire rack in the tray, reserving the marinade for later. Roast for 30 minutes, basting often and turning over once after 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and set aside to cool.

    3. Slice into thin slices (about 2mm thick), then set aside for the omelette.

 

Double Happiness Omelette
*Adapted from Masterchef Australia: The Cookbook (Vol. 1)

INGREDIENTS

Filling
100g bean sprouts
200g sliced BBQ pork
4 spring onions, finely chopped
6 shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced
2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame sauce
1 cup shredded Chinese cabbage
3 cm piece ginger, very finely diced

Sauce
4 tbs soy sauce
4 tbs sesame oil
2 garlic clove, peeled
5 cm piece ginger

Omelette
4 tbs peanut oil
6 cm piece ginger, finely sliced
6 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned

    1. Mix all of the ingredients for the filling together in a large bowl. To make the sauce, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan over a low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then remove the garlic and ginger.

    2. Meanwhile, heat half the peanut oil in a large wok. Add half the ginger and fry for 5 minutes (to impart the flavour into the oil). Remove the ginger, then pour the eggs into the wok and cook for a minute on each side, being careful not to overcook them. Drain on paper towel, then repeat with the remaining ingredients.

    3. Assemble the omelette by spooning the filling into the middle of the omelettes, then fold over to enclose. Drizzle with the sauce, and serve immediately. Serves 2.

Chef's Gallery, Sydney

There's been a lot of buzz about Chef's Gallery on the interwebz, so when my darling Roxy suggested we go there on Saturday before a night out, I readily agreed.

Even though it was a Saturday at 7pm, we were shown to a table quite quickly. Our waitress was a trainee, and we could tell she was quite new, but she was doing a pretty good job regardless. We spent some time with the menu, then gave our orders and waited for the dishes to start rolling out.

Fried Rice with Crumbed Chicken Fillet - $12.90

The Fried Rice in this dish was fluffy and beautifully flavoured with soy sauce and retaining the flavour of the peanut oil it was cooked in. The egg was soft and tender, and the green onion freshened the dish up nicely. The crumbed chicken was crispy on the outside, and the chicken was juicy and delicious, but the two elements of crumbed chicken and fried rice seemed disjointed, and didn't strike me as a whole dish.

Xia Jiao - $5.90

These prawn dumplings had beautiful, glutinous skins that had been steamed to perfection. The prawns were plump, juicy, and the little dumplings were stuffed with them.

Guo Tie - $8.90

These pan-fried pork dumplings were softly steamed on the top, and pan-fried and crispy on the bottom. They weren't as deliciously crisp as I would have liked, but the succulent pork mince more than made up for it. I only wish I had ordered the pork and cabbage variety, because I think the filling was just a tad too plain and needed something to break up all that pork.

Diced Chilli Chicken with Handmade Noodles - $12.90

This dish wasn't anyone's favourite. The chicken was well cooked, but the chilli was sweet due to the fact that it had been pickled, and it gave the entire dish an odd smell. I'm not sure if it's normal, but this bowl was barely touched. The noodles, however, were beautifully uniform, perfectly al dente and firm yet silky, as they were in all of our noodle dishes.

Wok Fried Handmade Noodles with Chinese Mushroom, Beansprouts and Soy Sauce - $10.90

This was probably my favourite dish of the night. The wonderful noodles were covered in a thin coat of soy sauce, which was subtle in it's flavour, allowing the taste of the chinese mushrooms and the carrot to come to the fore. The bean sprouts give the dish a little crunch, so that it's not boring to eat.

Shanghainese Style Cold Noodle Salad - $11.90

We had to chase this dish up, because our waitress forgot about it. The salad was quite simple in terms of ingredients, and the flavours stood out because of it. The noodles were dressed in a smooth sesame sauce, and the raw vegetables freshened the dish and prevented the sesame from being too cloying.

Warm Soy Bean Drink - $2.90

Roxy, who has given up all animal products (except seafood) for lent, had this soy bean drink for her dessert. She told me that she's pretty sure it's just soy milk, and gave me a taste. This was my first time trying soy milk, and it had a sort of muted, nutty flavour that I actually really enjoyed.

Piggy-Face Buns! $5.90

Nooooooooo!

I had to get these buns, they've been featured in blogs all over (almost as much as Charlie Sheen!). The inside was filled with a sweet, black sesame paste, and the outside was soft, doughey and CUTE!

Pumpkin Pastry - $5.90

We also ordered these bite-sized lotus filled buns as well, and look how adorable they are! They were deliciously moist and very easy to eat.

There were some really excellent things about our experience here, namely the noodles and the dessert buns, but the chilli noodles were a bit strange, and the service could have been a bit better. The menu has the air of a place that is feeling its customers out, trying to figure out what to include. I think, given some time, Chef's Gallery could be fantastic.

 

Chef's Gallery

http://chefsgallery.com.au/

Shop 12, Ground floor

Regent Place,
501 George Street,
Sydney, NSW
2000

Phone: (02) 9267 8877

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, Ashfield

Dumplings have got to be the ultimate comfort food. There's a variant for every country, from the Scottish 'Clootie Dumpling', to the Polish 'Pierogi' and the Chilean 'Pantrucas', and there's a reason - they're warm, filling, tasty and versatile, with as many fillings as you can think of.

To satisfy my dumpling craving, Stephen drove us to Ashfield's Liverpool Street so that we could take our pick of Chinese restaurants. I chose New Shanghai, which is right next to China Shanghai Night, on the basis that I hadn't been there before.

When we walked into the restaurant, we were met with a sparse atmosphere - the walls were pale, the furniture was dark, and the only ornamentation came from some red chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a lone gold christmas bauble hanging from one of the mirrors on the wall. The kitchen was behind a glass partition. However, I've learned not to judge a restaurant completely on the decor, and so we sat at a table and started looking over the menu.

We were left for quite some time with the menu, even though we had closed them about 5 minutes after we received them, and were looking pointedly at the waitstaff, two of which seemed to be just standing around. About 10 minutes later, someone finally came to take our orders - she was swift, polite and efficient.

Steamed Mini Pork Buns - $6.80

These little balls of steamed goodness were the first to come out, and we weren't advised on the fact that they were filled with broth as well as minced pork, so things got a bit messy. They were really well cooked - the skins were super thin, the mince lifted by the onion, and the broth was rich.

Prawn and Pork Wonton Soup - $8.80

The wontons in this soup were AH-MAZE-ING. The prawn and pork mince was beautifully seasoned, and the wonton skins were silky and supple. And then the soup happened. It was bland and, to be honest, tasted like packet beef stock, which is a shame because that dish could have been wonderful. We didn't touch it at all, and only ate the wontons.

Handmade Noodles with Pork and Vegetables - $8.80

These noodles were quite good. The consistency was great, nice and slippery, and when I bit into a noodle it had a firm, solid texture. The greens were tasty, and the little bits of pork were a little bit tough. The noodles tasted of garlic and soy, but the sesame oil overpowered the other flavours a little bit.

Fried Lamb and Leek Dumplings

Funnily enough, on my receipt there's no price for this dish. Our grand total was $42.20, and we didn't order drinks, so I can only deduce that they cost $9.80, which would make it the most expensive dish... And this was the small serving.

These dumplings were pan-fried and were a little more substantial than the mini-pork buns. The skins were thicker, the lamb a tad chunkier, and the leek gave an almost onion-y, fresh note to the dish.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings - $8.00

The pan fried pork dumplings were the last dish to be thrown onto our table, and they were larger than the other 2 varieties. The bottoms were beautifully thick and crunchy, and the tops made silky by steaming. The pork mince was tender, and firmer than the pork and prawn dumplings.

There were a couple of downsides to our visit, one being the sporadic service, and the other being the wonton soup (just the soup though!). Also the strange bill, where I think we may have been overcharged. However, I am willing to concede that it was 6 PM on a Tuesday. There were enough positives here, the delicious dumplings and the noodles in particular, so that if I were to be passing by, I would definitely come back.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

273 Liverpool St
Ashfield, NSW
2131

Phone: 9797 7284

Alvin's Drunken Chicken and Bruised Salad

Masterchef Series 2 came and went, but Stephen and I still like to try out their recipes. For dinner last night, Stephen cooked Alvin's famous 'Drunken and Bruised', which consists of a whole chicken being broiled in rice wine, palm sugar and ginger, and a salad prepared in a mortar and pestle. The ingredients were easy to find, except the Shaoxing (Chinese rice wine), which Stephen couldn't find anywhere. I soon realised it was because he was asking people for "SHO-AXE-ING" instead of Shaoxing!

We used the exact same recipe as is on the Masterchef website, with the addition of rice at the last minute, because the salad was WAY too hot for us. Still, the recipe is super easy, and I'm sure next time, when we bruise the chili a lot less, we'll be able to enjoy the salad as well :)

According to the recipe, the chicken was meant to be cooked in the wine for 45 - 60 minutes, but ours came out a little tough because we used a small, free range chicken - so keep that in mind.

The mortar and pestle is important in this recipe, because the flavours are released through 'bruising' (plus it's fun!), but if you don't have one, you should be able to put the ingredients in a plastic bag and pound with the end of a rolling pin - it just won't come out quite the same.

Give this recipe a go, because it really is easy and tasty. The wine mixture comes out with a perfect balance of sweet and sour, and the salad is refreshing, salty, sweet, sour and spicy.

Emperor's Garden Restaurant, Chinatown

Happy belated Chinese New Year!

This year Roxy and I celebrated the lunar new year in delicious frivolity at Emperor's Garden Restaurant in Chinatown. To me, Yum Cha is an excellent way to celebrate: you have elaborate dishes, friendly atmosphere, and a communal style of eating that just seems to lend itself beautifully to festivity.

When we arrived at the beginning of Dixon St, there was a large group of people waiting in line, and a lady behind a lectern was handing out tickets to people. When we reached the start of the line, she told us we had a 10 minute wait, but we were actually escorted upstairs in less than 5 minutes, which was great. Everyone looked very organised, and that they knew what they were doing.

We were seated at our table with little trouble, and just let the carts start a-coming:

Steamed Prawn Dumplings

The steamed prawn dumplings were STUFFED with large, juicy pieces of fresh prawn, in a light glutinous skin. They were quickly devoured before we even had time to order another dish.

Red Bean Fried Dumplings and BBQ Pork Buns

The red bean dumpling had a delicious, subtly sweet and thick red bean paste centre, which contrasted well with the light, crispy texture of the fried dumpling shell. Although I prefer a red bean steamed bun, this was a good dish.

The BBQ Pork dumplings were great, as always. Fluffy bun exterior, filled with tender little bits of pork and the sweet BBQ sauce.

Mixed Vegetable Dumpling

The vegetable dumplings were moist and flavoursome, but I did notice that the edges were a bit dry and chewy.

Pork and Mushroom Fried Dumplings

Every time I go for Yum Cha, I always scan the carts for these beauties. If they don't have them, I ask the ladies for my 'Football Dumplings'. They laugh a little, then tell me if they have them. These ones were full of tender pork mince and flavoursome, earthy mushroom, and the outside was crunchy yet chewy at the same time.

Steamed Brocollini and Beans

Feeling mildly guilty with all the steamed and fried dumplings we'd shared, we had a stab at eating healthier and ordered some greens. The brocollini would have benefited from a little less soy sauce: it was drenched, and a little unpleasant, but the texture and flavour of the actual vegetable was ideal.

The beans were good as well, but were served with a mince that was burned so that I couldn't quite tell if it was pork or beef. They were accompanied with hoy sin sauce, but I preferred them on their own.

Alas, we had no room for dessert, but the food here, while maybe not as varied as Iron Chef Cabramatta, was just as delicious. Also, because I can't decipher the prices of the dishes on those little bits of paper that the ladies stamp, I'll tell you that the total price for everything (we only drank water) was $44.60. Not expensive at all for two people and 7 dishes.

Emperor's Garden Restaurant

Level 1, 100 Hay St (Cnr Dixon St)
Haymarket, NSW
2000

Phone: (02) 9211 2135