They set the bar high – this is yum cha fine dining style!  The usual pram jam and rampant children running dangerously around steaming hot trolleys might not be featured here – instead it’s likely to form a suit crowd. Verified by the waiter who said that it was packed out during the week. Well the proof is is in the dumpling – the prawn dumpling in fact. The yardstick by which all yum chas are measured!  The pricing here seems to be at a small premium for the upmarket experience, most are extra large at $9.50 a pop. but you do get 4 of each, unlike some cheeky yum chas who now give 3!    I loved the prawn dumpling.  The skin was correctly translucently but al dente. Not soggy at all, and the prawn filling had the appropriate texture and also this delicious seasoning that is usually simply pepper in other restaurants. Thumbs up!

The fancy sister of har gau is the scallop dumpling.  They look like little “cheeks” if you know what I mean! hehehe.  They were plump and nice.  But my only gripe is that a bit of cheap seafood extender is also in the filling.

Next, the other staple for comparison – the siu mai – or pork dim sum. Dotted with some roe on top.  The meat had some texture but my one didn’t have much prawn.

The lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice was good too. Also at the extra large price though.  The rice was gooey and perfect, but personally a bit more sauce would be excellent!

The scallop wontons were hot and crispy – served with mayo. I was a bit miffed that it too was $9.50 and also, had a bit of seafood extender in there.

This was my fave though – the vegetable dumpling. Vegos around the world cheer – because usually they have hardly any offerings at yum cha.  Chinese stick prawns inside vego things as that is perceived as being generous and more hearty.  But this triangular dumpling needed nothing of the sort. Finely chopped mushrooms, bamboo, water chestnut and carrot were taken to a new level with coriander and sesame oil.

And for dessert – some baked taro buns. Usually these sticky brown buns are filled with char siu.

So we ordered a steamed char siu bun to make up for it

And finally, some deep fried sesame balls filled with lotus seed paste.  I have to commend the really friendly staff. They were not pushy at all like some other yum chas. The lady really acted like a friend, saying “Try this, it’s only priced as a small, it’s really nice!”.  It was indeed a serious change from the frantic (but fun!) pace of other yum chas where they try to churn you out.  It’s absolutely worth paying a small premium for this service!  What else would you expect from this regal dim sum house in such a beautiful building as QVB!

Looks like the CBD yum cha scene is hotting up more – with Sky Phoenix having opened a few months ago in the Westfield Sydney, and the closure of beloved Regal Restaurant.  

Here is my finished product and the packet if you’re interested!

It’s really annoying, because my cravings for food are not just triggered by smells or by sight. They are also triggered by SOUND!  The pfffssttt of a can of diet coke opening makes me run for the vending machine. The crackle of a chip packet… and today – my friend talking about eggplant made me change my dinner plans from fajitas to eggplant.  Here’s the way I make a healthy version of spicy sichuan eggplant.  It’s usually sitting in a pool of tasty yummy oil from the eggplant being deepfried.  But instead, what I do is steam the eggplant!  A medium sized eggplant – chopped.  While you steam it (it takes 15minutes-ish), you can prepare the aromatics:  2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, a knob of ginger, a sprig of spring onion sliced and a handful of chopped coriander.

You can use pork mince or chicken mince.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a hot wok. I say a couple of tablespoons because you do want to make it a bit more yummy since you saved on the deep frying , then saute the ginger and garlic.  Add the mince and cook the mince.  When the mince is almost cooked, add the spring onions and stir fry until cooked.  Add the now ready eggplant plus 1 tablespoon EACH of spicy bean paste sauce,  hoisin sauce, soy sauce.  In a small bowl, mix a teaspoon of cornflour in some chicken stock and pour into the wok and simmer until thickened.  Now you can put a dash of sesame oil and then stir in the coriander at the last minute.  Serve with steamed rice.  YUM!

Next up, individual beef noodle soups.  As you can see here, what we have as “pho” in Australia is sooo much better because it’s made in beef stock. Whereas in Vietnam most of the time we got it in MSG style soup No meaty flavour at all.   Unless what we have in Australia is westernised??

Things were looking good! And then along came this BALL!!  What was this fried perfectly rounded thing?? 

We were rushing to take photos as our scissor wielding waitress was racing us to attack it before we could get a photo.  Our curiosity was satisifed and in fact it was hollow! A glutinous rice ball, slightly sweet in flavour and gooey in texture.

Then along came this fish.  Elephant ear fish apparently.  Lucky I had seen it on Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam program on SBS, or otherwise I would have gone to the waiter “oh … umm… you seem to have forgotten to descale it!”  But since I had watched it, I knew that the scales are meant to be delightfully crispy. Well in theory anyway… I decided I wasn’t game enough to try.  It’s a speciality of the mekong delta region.   What a dramatic preparation!  We were sad that the table of 2 next to us had the same banquet and had the fish between 2 and we had it between four

This time, our waitress came wearing gloves, and she proceeded to peel the flesh off the fish and wrap it in a rice paper roll for us, which is something I haven’t tried before. Usually it’s pork or beef or prawn for me.  Also, she put in a slice of fresh pineapple, plus the usual vermicelli and lettuce and cucumber.  We loved it! (I picked out the scales though).

We couldn’t fault the satays. But we were so engrossed in the fish it was cold by the time we ate it.  it was also surprising that they were so meaty.  Our the rest of our tour, we got the impression that meat was very expensive and as a result we never really got that much of it.

And the fried rice filled what room was left in our tummies but wasn’t anything special to comment on.

And for our 8th dish, tropical cool fruit.

The Mekong Rest Stop also has a shop and convenience store. The landscaped gardens are so beautiful and we spent some time taking photos around the place.  It’s a haven in such a busy country.  I wanted to sticky beak to see how much that amazing banquet cost, given that our tour budgets only US$5 per person per meal.  However no prices were available on the website.  But regardless, please check it out if you are in town!

www.mekongreststop.vn/

On our recent trip to Hong Kong, one new yum cha dish that we tried and adored was XO sauce fried rice noodles. Soooo simple to make, especially since XO sauce is so readily available now – even at Coles! By no means a low fat dish, but it’s just 4 ingredients! Firstly, buy a packet of those rolled rice noodles from your local asian grocer. I actually even saw them at Harris Farm too. Cut them into chunks. Then, heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok, then add the noodles and toss around until crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle. Then, add one tablespoon of XO sauce, stir fry until fragrant, and then a splash of light soy sauce. If you have some, add some chopped shallots until wilted. Take off the heat, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve. Eat alone. Do not share! hehehe  Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner – or all of them!

It was filled with ice and then displayed an array of fresh raw seafood for you to heap up onto a plate and ask the chef to cook for you as you wished – grilled, sambal, ginger and shallots, steamed….  That definitely made us pick the buffet over a la carte (in Vietnam you have no idea how long things coudl have been sitting around for).  We had scallops in the shell, huge prawns (which look like yabbies) and normal tiger prawns… yuummm…..

How about a bit of all you can peking/roast duck, chicken and mantou buns?

Mandatory sushi plate.  I didn’t try this – the purple is pretty but not quite authentic?? hehe

Then there’s the fresh green vege section – have you ever been on holidays and felt vege deprived and let’s say – been a bit irregular?   Well here you could also pick a plate of your preferred veges and the chefs will also cook it fresh for you!!

This isn’t an ordinary buffet, it’s more like an all you can eat cooked to order!!

There wasn’t much else we wanted to fill the remaining nooks in our stomach with, so we just nibbled on some of the other stuff which included these yummy rice rolls with herbs and duck in them, and some roast duck and pesto roasted veges.

The fruit platter also caught our eye.

I have no idea what those little lolly like balls are but they tasted of star fruit and had 3 little cardamom shaped seeds in them.  Anyone have an idea?

Fresh fruit and vege are your best friends on a holiday diet, and I can never get enough of the tropical stuff.

So there you g0, come here if you’re in HCM city!  It was a real shame that for the time we were there (Saturday night, 6:30 – 8:15pm), there were only 2 other tables. And there was also a band playing just for us at one stage as we had the whole restaurant to ourselves for much of this time!  I hope that yummy food dosen’t all go to waste.   It would be such a shame, with so many hungry people out here.

Ramana Saigon Hotel – 323 Le Van Sy St, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam www.ramanasaigon.com.

Chef’s Gallery just popped up next to KFC next to the Lumiere building in Sydney.  It seems to have offended an earlier Taiwanese dumpling place which apparently has put up a sign on its front door saying that they are not affiliated with any other restaurant in Sydney! Touche! Personally, I think it’s brilliant that in Sydney we now get many different interpretations of Chinese food, which was once just fried rice and sweet and sour pork.  Our palates have developed and we are becoming so open to trying new cuisines from other parts of China.   But anyway, back to Chef’s Gallery!   The service is quick, but you are not merely a number and not rushed out.  Even the busy staff who are run off their feet (note the long queues) always remember your requests and respond to them.  And did I mention clean?  Marvel at the open kitchen, where you can watch staff craft their wares.

Something healthy to start with – steamed pork and cabbage buns.  Perfectly round, with a moist pork filling.

Something substantial – the sweet and dark pork ribs – 5 lip smackingly delicious pieces of lean pork on the bone. It was a favourite of the group!

Green noodles – spinach noodles with calamari, prawns and straw mushrooms.  I loved the al dente texture, but in contrast to the flavoursome ribs, may do with a bit more salt.

Now this is something that I haven’t tried before – Chinese roti served with pork floss.  I loved the sweet pork, it had an interesting light as air texture, and it went really well with the roti that had crispy bits, and wasn’t oily like some of its asian relatives.  Yuummm.

These prawn dumplings were hands down the best har gaus I’ve ever had.  The prawns were really “meaty” and were not “fishy” at all.

However, its pan fried version was to die for!!! I had three of these  They too were meaty, with crispy bases that weren’t oily at all.  Sooo full of prawns.

Shallot cakes with ham – the pastry was light and flaky – look at the height of these things.  They can easily be oil logged in other places, but done very well here, served on a doily hehehe.

Lightly pan fried pork buns.  Dusted with black sesame and shallots, I believe these were the same as the steamed versions just lightly toasted on the bottom.  And again, without being oil logged like some other places.  How perfectly smooth and round are they!

The soy braised beef is a standard on Asian banquet entrees.  I didn’t try any as it’s not something that’s to my taste, but I’m told it was okay!

Same with the pickled cucumbers not being my cup of tea too. Sour stuff “shudder”! hehehe.

Pork belly is rolled around cucumber and served with a garlicky sauce.  I would prefer it warm myself, but very tender pork.

Here’s another thing I haven’t seen either – spinach egg tofu, topped with pickled veg, in a soy broth – Yummo!! Give me more of this!!

Silken egg tofu that’s in fact green inside still! It’s deep fried such that it’s crispy on the outside but still creamy and smooth on the inside. Yum- how do they do that!

My personal favourite. The prawn and pork wontons served with handmade noodles in a spicy sauce.  I loved the tangy spiciness of the sauce, and the al dente, thin and perfectly cooked hand made noodles.   Others found the heat a bit much, but I just think they need some chilli training because it could have done with even more in my opinion! hehehe

If you still have room for dessert at this stage, and let’s be realistic – I didn’t, try the piggy buns. They are devastatingly gorgeous – pink little snout, bow on one ear and black sesame seed eyes.  Too cute to eat!!!

And pumpking dumplings – how intricate are these as well!

A glutinous rice flour outside is wrapped around a lotus seed filling.  Perfect amount of sweetness too.

And finally, the red bean pancake.  Thin and not as oily as some, it was very delicate with a layer of redbean paste in the middle.

The owners have created such a nice decor.  The room is lined with glass boxes with artefact style pieces illuminated simply and stunningly.

What was also surprising to me was how the owner, Yardley, came and greeted me – knowing that rewas kinda in charge of ordering for my table of 14 (yes, there were 14 of us who devoured the lot!), and asking me if everything was to our liking.  She really seemed to care and loved hearing feedback as much as I loved talking to her about the concept – a new one that she has created, and how she carefully handpicks staff to suit her vision.  Note that as usual for Foodiechat, we paid for our meal and the above comments are all independent and honest  Sadly, I’m not famous enough to be invited to eat for free hehe

Located on the corner of the main drag of the pedestrian part of Chinatown (corner of Liverpool and Harbour streets), next to Mamak, it is famous for its taro pearls.  Syrupy bases of shaved ice are topped with all manner of asian specialiaties including Azuki beans, mung beans, lotus seeds, tapioca pearls – the combinations are endless, and you can also have silken tofu based desserts too.  And both can be served hot or cold.

The famous taro pearls are also served with sweet potato pearls.  Steamed taro/sweet potato is rolled with glutinous rice flour and served in syrup.  I don’t know if it was my serve, or because of the hot business on that day, but my pearls were slightly too chewy and not sweet enough.

Shaved ice, pearls, beans, and the taro/sweet potato pearls with azuki beans peaking at the back – a refreshing summer’s treat. And bowls so huge – don’t eat lunch first, as it is a meal in itself!

This is the signature herbal dessert.  Don’t be put off by the “herbal” description.  Have you ever had grass jelly? It’s like that.

A bed of very finely shaved ice – it’s so fine it’s like snow! It’s covered with grass jelly at the pearls.  Extra toppings are $0.60 each. And costs $5.50 itself.  I was ssooooooo full after eating this after my lunch.  I’ll know next time to share or go on an empty stomach!  can’t wait to see what’s next in Haymarket!

Bring on the summer!!!  http://www.meetfresh.net/

Well, try I did.  And it was even better than I expected.  From the window I actually had no idea what type of food it was – it was definitely Asian – in fact, it turned out to be Thai.  Home Thai – as in home cooked style food.  But I don’t know whose home has such amazing food every night – maybe a palace?  It was so hard to pick what to eat, but guided by the photos in the extensive menu, and sneaking glances at what arrived at other tables, we settled firstly on the Pad Thai. Did I mention this place is cheap??? $10.50!!  Authentically with sugar, peanuts and chilli powder on the side, fresh and cooked beansprouts.  And not oily but also not gluggy!  Did I mention the staff all use ipads to take your order?  A bit too cute – because it failed on our occasion and the waitress didn’t want to hand write our orders cos it wouldn’t go through.  Luckily it went back online after around 10 minutes. Oh , and also the waitresses wear LV side satchels.  Were they also from Thailand?

Highly recommended: the banana flower salad, topped with 6 gigantic prawns. It was text book perfect. Crunch, salt, sour, spicy all in one bite through fresh chillis, fish sauce, coriander, peanuts – YUM.  And the prawns were so generous.  Served on an artfully carved leaf too.

We finished off with two desserts – $6.50 for this mango (Fresh!) with sticky rice and coconut cream.  Umm… not sure if the kitchen mixed up the sticky rice, because it was salty  They also have sticky rice as a rice choice too.  So not really a fan of this dish.  Perfect texture of rice though.

And definitely couldn’t go past the dessert sampler. A steal at $5.50!  Banana fritters and various sticky rice and coconut puddings.

Another word of warning – don’t wear nice clothes, cos you will STINK afterwards!  But it is SOoooo worth it.  I can’t wait to go again.   Awesome food, and well priced too.  The Haymarket dining scene is looking up and lifting up in standards!

We also opted for a sticky crispy skin duck with tamarind and orange ($33).  Viet style duck a l’orange I guess?  It was very sweet and sticky, and yummy, but bits of it were a bit too deep fried till they became like duck jerky!  But the garnishes were so beautiful and fresh, and the sauce very fragrant.

Regrettably, we thought we knew better than the waiter.  He (wisely) recommended that we opt for something different than our caramelised beef rib, as all our dishes were sweet.  He was right!  It would have been good to order something with a different element (salty for example), as the flavours were quite similiar.    Not so generous this one, but lip smackingly delicious all the same.

There is in fact a very good value set banquet menu, which is very popular to groups, it seems like group thing is something they do very well.  The staff are extremely nice and friendly and knowledgeable (Apart from not being able to cope with a quick seat swap!).  If you live in the area walking distance, or don’t mind catching the train, it’s quite a nice little funky place to try.  If you drive – maybe give it a miss, unless you are blessed with parking luck or can eat in an hour!