Din Tai Fung in Sydney

One of my favourite places to eat in Sydney is Din Tai Fung. No trip is complete without a trip to this dumpling of a place. 

 

Minced meat and Green Beans

OMG these chilli wontons are my favourite ever! The combination of sweet and hot is just so delicious. It is so extremely addictive, I don't care how many white shirts I might ruin or how hot my tongue gets. Must have!

Chilli Wontons

This was a random dish we ordered because it said it was a Chef Special. Hey normally I don't listen to the chef special, because in so many cases I have been burnt by some old untasty dish dressed up as a special to be sold. But this was a pleasant surprise. The meat was tender and tasty and the veggies crisp.

What else more can I ask for? 

Some Special beef

Ok I admit I love pineapple in my food (think sweet and sour pork and Hawaiian pizza), was that the reason why i ordered this or was it because it was fried with mayonnaise? Who knows. It was delicious! A good balance of batter, not too heavy and over powering. The sauce was simple and a nice way to add moisture to it and the prawns were great. Plus it had pineapples in it! Happy happy

Prawns with pineapple

Why else do people come here other than to eat the Xiao Long Baos. There is some technique to this otherwise you lose the whole experience of it. I picked it up pretty quickly because I know what to expect, but to those who have never heard nor tried it. Don't make any holes in it! You'll lose all that delicious juices that makes it so tasty. So many places (even in Shanghai) make the skin too thick and the juices not gelatin. But this place is one of the best in around. 

Xiao Long Bao

Food!

 I was very surprised about the service here. I'm expecting the asian style service which is minimal, but they offered a bag holder and a jack protector when you drape your jacket over the back of your chair. This is great! Why don't more places do this? It made the whole experience much more enjoyable, not having to worry about your bag or your clothes.

Bag holder

And for our dessert? We had mango pudding. We ate it too fast for me to remember what it was like. That is a good sign ;)

Mango Pudding

www.dintaifung.com.tw

644 George St
Sydney New South Wales 2000
(02) 9264 6010

Richmond Hill Larder

I've been here for brunch before, but I didn't take any photos the last time. Though there was a dish that was seared into my memory. It was the buttermilk pancakes. OMG it was the best pancakes ever! I'm generally not that big of a fan of pancakes, because by the time you eat it, its kind of soft from the steam of cooking it. Its lost its outer crunch, or it just lacks the flavour (this is flavouring without syrup). But this pancake, well it was amazing. Crunchy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside! Its a lot thicker than normal pancakes, but wow it was great. It was sweeter than normal pancakes which meant you didn't have to add any syrup or cream. And there was a slice of banana baked into it too! All in all the perfect pancake. So of course I've been dying to go back again. Finally we found a weekend to check it out. We couldn't make a booking (one of those places that don't accept bookings) so we waited 45 mins for our table.

I didn't take a picture of the pancakes, but I'll tell you about it. *deep breath* I'll be honest, it wasn't good. They over cooked it. It was hard on the outside, hard on the inside, it tasted like a cake. Was very disappointing, I had spoken so much about this to Dylan, we waited over an hour for this, and it turned out to be quite bad. Not average but bad.

We spoke to the waiter about this and apparently they cook it in this huge oven for 20 mins, and the texture/degree of how cooked it is is dependent on how it goes in there. And as orders come in, the oven is opened to put stuff in and take stuff out this changes how cooked/uncooked the pancake is. So that was why my pancake wasn't great. *sigh*

Dylan made a good choice with the crab risotto and avocado. It was delicious and light, filled you up without making you feel to weighed down.

Maybe when you have something so delicious you shouldn't try to recreate that moment, because it will never live up to it.

Crab Risotto with avocado 

View from our table

48-50 Bridge Road  Richmond Victoria 3121
(03)9421 2808

Takumi

When you work so hard it is nice to be rewarded. The company was nice enough to appreciate our efforts and take us out for a nice dinner out. Our designer suggested Takumi and here we were.

Placement at Takumi

Our hot bbq grill

Karubi

Ox tongue

Karubi on the grill!

Squid

Japanese parfait 8.5

Black seasame ice cream

Japanese pound cake

Magawayaki - Japanese pancakes

What can I say? Lots of meat and lots of beer, is always a good combination. The meat was obviously really good quality and everything tasted great. Also great value for money, we were stuffed at the end. The never ending supply of delicious meat. YUM!

32 Bourke Street  Melbourne VIC 3000 (03) 9650 7020

Bavarian Beer Cafe in Sydney

I love Bavarian beer and Bavarian food, so I'll definitely won't miss the opportunity to try out the Bavarian Beef Cafe. We decided to go by for some food and drinks on our last day in Sydney, a bit of a last minute thing as we just finished watching two movies and had lunch at Din Tai Fung! Because of this we didn't book, I was worried when we made it to the cafe because it was really packed! Fortunately we were seated quickly and even given a "reserved" booth :) (A waitress later came by and asked if we were given the table or if we just sat down :P). Dylan noticed that the uniform for female waitress is very tight blue tops with most of the buttons undone. This may or may not come with muffin tops. Go service!

Our coveted booth

First up happy hour on all tap drinks! I've been hearing about fruit flavoured beer from my non beer drinking friends and how awesome they tastes, so since i'm here, Mango Beer! It was great, so crisp, refreshing and it wasn't overly sweet. Its not like just poured some mango juice randomly with beer. I can totally image drinking this all day in summer.

(L) Stiegl Goldbräu

Lager – 4.9% alc., 19 IBUs, Aromatic, mild and satisfying

500ml $10.5

(R) Franziskaner Mango Weissbier

Pale Wheat Bier (ale), With a splash of mango juice

500ml $11

According to Dylan this was the best pretzel he has ever eaten, it was soft and not too salty and totally addictive. If we had more room in our stomach we would have more. The serve comes with butter, but you don't need any at all.

Freshly baked Pretzel with butter $3.5

I love tasting platters because I love being able to try a little of everything on offer. This tasting platter was great because I couldn't decide between which type of schnitzel or bratwurst and the famous roast pork with crackling. This had it all! And I have to say... I'm definitely coming back for everything on that tasting platter!!! Everything was sooo tasty! The schnitzel was nice and crunchy on the outside and moist and succulent on the inside, and there was this amazing after taste that just lingered in your mouth and sent shivers down your spine *shudders* It was great!

They didn't give you the names of the sausages but there was one in particular (the darker one) that was amazing. When you bite in there was a nice pop of the skin popping and then it bursts of sausage juice. Yes that sounds gross. But it was a very juicy and tasty bratwurst. *I dream of bratwurst*

The roast pork was good too, I'm sure eaten on its own I would of written a paragraph on its awesomeness. But it was overshadowed by the awesomeness of schnitzel and unknown bratwurst. 

Bavarian Tasting Platter Succulent Pork Belly, Sausages and Schnitzel all served with Traditional Bavarian Condiments $26.5

Dylan had a hard time deciding what to eat too, everything on the menu sounded great. I think in the end, under the pressure of the waitress he picked the veal. Not a bad choice, but nothing competes with my tasting plate :P I remember the sauce wasn't very strong on its flavour, it did however have good flavour... if only there was more of it. The rosti was ok, nothing special about it. The veal schnitzel itself was good... just like roast pork it was owned by my chicken schnitzel. I wish I had more to say about it, but I'm not that crazy about veal. Dylan enjoyed it, he finished the whole thing and half of mine!

Zurich Veal Tender strips of Veal Sautéed in a Creamy White Wine & Mushroom Sauce, 

served with Rösti $27.5

The meal was great and I'll definitely go back again when I'm in Sydney. There is like five of the Bavarian Beef Cafes around Sydney, we went to the one on York, why can't they bring just one of them here?!?!

Bondi

108 Campbell Pde Bondi Beach NSW 2026

Manly

Shop 2-5 Manly Wharf Manly NSW 2095

York

 24 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

O'Connell

16 O'Connell Street Sydney, NSW 2000

Parramatta

2-8 Phillip Street, Parramatta, NSW 2150

Entertainment Quarter

212 Bent Street, Moore Park, NSW 2021

James Squire in Sydney

I do enjoy going to James Squire, and the last time I was in Sydney with Dylan I had a great time at James Squire, and then the Christmas party at James Squire in Melbourne, best Christmas party ever!

During the home show in Sydney we dropped by for drinks and great atmosphere.

Pork Ribs (600gm) $34.50 served with James Squire Barbecue sauce and spicy wedges

I shared this with Dylan, and its very messy to eat. I had sauce all over my face and fingers. From memory these ribs weren't outstanding. I found there wasn't enough meat on the bones, and it wasn't very easy to remove the meat from the bones. Too chewy for my liking. And the sauce was only so so, doesn't beat the TGI Fridays Jack Daniel sauce.

Maybe you don't come here for the food, but the beers and atmosphere is great. Because half way through the meal, Alex and TC came by for dinner, but I had already smashed down two pints of beer so I wasn't in a state to take photos. The place just makes you drink more and more.

James Squire Brewhouse & Restaurant

King Street Wharf, Sydney

+61 2 8270 7901

Cooking with the boys

Sunday afternoon bake time! Decided to spend some quality time with my two adorable cousins playing soccer and wii. My aunty pulled out boxes of white wing cake mixes, asking me how to make them, so I decided to put my baking hat. Teaching little Kevan how to cook is heaps of fun, he is so eager to do everything. Pouring the dry the mix into the bowl, pouring the milk in the bowl, getting chocolate all over himself hehe. First thing we made was chocolate mousse. That was super easy, all we did was mix the chocolate mixture with milk and let it set in the fridge and ta da! Chocolate mousse!

Next we made banana cupcakes. Super duper easy, pretty much Kevan just poured the dry mix into the bowl, poured the milk in, put in blocks of butter then mixed it all up. Of course I had to do some of the mixing because his little arms couldn't support the electric mixer for so long. I thought him how to scoop the mixture from the bowl into the cake moulds and make sure he doesn't put too much in so that it overflows or that there isn't enough so it doesn't look pretty. He got pretty good at it. Check out the pics!

Kevan and his cupcakes

K

Kevan icing his cupcakes

C

Cup cake smiles :)

Chocolate Mousse

Yumo!

Perfect Poached Eggs

This might be a big claim to make considering cafe vue and cummulus are making 65/65 eggs (not that I know what that is like, because I'm always missing out on the breakfast menu). But I reckon I've got it down pat.

See how the egg white just peels off the yolk?  Leaving behind *perfect* yolks still in their sacks ready to be popped and have the yolk flow all over the toast. This sea of yolk gets soaked up by the toast and when you eat it the toast is still crunchy but its full of the awesome flavours of the yolk. So creamy and buttery. There you go perfect nom nom nom

Best Poached Eggs

 Booyah!