house of canton @ festival walk, kowloon tong, hong kong

After a day's shopping at Festival Walk in Hong Kong, we managed to rest our feet and refuel for dinner at the House of Canton. Thankfully it was a restaurant we didn't need to wait or book for and ended up being quite a luxurious affair and well, I can't help but feel a little grown up when friends and I dine out at a Chinese restaurant and order dishes which our parents would usually order.

House of Canton offer daily specials and the special this particular day was their Peking Duck. Paper thin pancakes topped with crispy Peking Duck.

I'm not sure how three of us thought we could eat an entire duck but somehow we managed.

The highlight of the meal was the barbeque pork - the perfect combination of 50% fatty pork and 50% lean pork; something you really only get in Hong Kong. The ones in Sydney tend to be quite lean and use the red colouring for effect.

A particular favourite of mine is the crab with egg white, served with black vinegar.

My friend E thinks that it's not worth it ordering white rice so we ordered the restaurant's recommended special fried rice which had scallops and fish roe.

And to balance out the meal, a nice, big plate of vegies.

Dining at a Chinese restaurant is a little more expensive than most food you can get in Hong Kong but once in a while, it does make for the perfect meal. The bonus of dining at a shopping centre attached to a MTR station is that you can finish dinner and make a quick getaway home - although I think we all waddled off from this particular one; maybe one less dish could've adequately fed the three of us.

tim ho wan @ sham shui po, hong kong

Since coming back from holidays, I've been asked numerous times by numerous people where I went and what I did. Most holidays overseas are usually filled with activities and sightseeing and when you happen to be Hong Kong, eating is actually an activity which you do about 5 times a day. So yes, I did a lot of eating on my holiday.

One of the most noteworthy mentions this trip was my visit to Tim Ho Wan. I've probably joined the Tim Ho Wan bandwagon a little late but to sum it up, BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun - order it!

The original Tim Ho Wan is actually in Mong Kok but to beat the crowds, a friend recommended us to head over to the Sham Shui Po store where the wait is considerably shorter. It helps that the store is a lot bigger and you aren't dealing with the crowds that linger around Mong Kok.

Yum cha staples - Har Gow and Black Bean Chilli Chicken Feet.

Steamed Prawn Rice Rolls.

Steamed Stuffed Eggplant.

Another yum cha must - Siu Mai.

Here's the BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun which you really have to order. A perfect balance of bun to filling; you can make it a meal just eating these. I believe this is also the bun that won them their Michelin star.

Each serve you order comes with 3 buns.

Here's how much it costed us for all the things we ordered - works out to be about $20 AUD for 2 people; you can't complain about that for Michelin star dining.

Hot Taro Sago Soup - taro and sago are two of my favourite ingredients and I think just work perfectly together.

After the BBQ Pork Buns, I'd recommend you try this one which is their Steamed Egg white dessert with Birds Nest. The steamed egg is ever so smooth.

Here's where the shop is. Suggest you actually get off at Shek Kip Mei station rather than Sham Shui Po as it works out being closer by foot from the station.

Never thought I'd actually try a Michelin star restaurant and one that I can actually afford! Did I mention already that you must order the BBQ pork bun? There's actually a lot of items on their menu which warrant a second and even third visit and had I stayed in Hong Kong for a bit longer, I definitely would've gone back. There's a few out there who are a little skeptical of their Michelin accolade but given they're making their dim sums fresh everyday and keeping prices quite reasonable and their pork buns are so tasty; I think they're doing a pretty good job!

baked chicken wings in thick sauce

Had the opportunity to catch up with a few friends yesterday and one friend who I haven't seen in ages cause she's been overseas even commented that I don't seem to go out so much these days. Made me think for a moment and she's probably right; I suppose I have turned into somewhat of a homebody. Home-cooked meals, DVDs and a glass of cider has turned into one of my favourite past-times with the hubby. I do miss seeing friends though so hopefully we'll be opening up our home to a few dinner parties in the near future.

So yes, you'll probably see a few less restaurant posts on this blog but more home-cooked dinners which the boy and I insist on making happen most days. It gives us a routine, we eat better and there's the satisfaction of cooking a tasty dish together (and grudgingly I have to admit, the boy is turning into the better cook). Whilst I'll be following the recipe to the letter, the boy will improvise and create his own dishes but that's how we differ and complement each other.

For some tasty baked chicken wings, I have the answer for you in this recipe. In a clean plastic bag, make a marinade of 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar and 2 tsp salt. Add 10 chicken wings & bind the bag. Leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Roll the bag from time to time to marinate the wings evenly. Preheat oven to 220 degrees and place the chicken wings in a baking tin and bake for approx. 20 minutes, turning the wings halfway.

For a truly 'Hong Kong style' of eating, smear the wings with honey and bake for  a few minutes more before serving. Love the sticky goodness of honey on soy sauce chicken wings.

So you might be wondering how two people can eat 10 chicken wings in the one meal...erm, here's the story and it's quite funny. The story is that we usually buy wings in kilos. Asked the boy one day if I should split the 1kg bags of wings we buy into two but when I told him that there would only be 5 chicken wings between the two of us, he stopped me from portioning them out, said he'd rather eat all of them. Thinking maybe we might need to start buying them by the wing so we don't get into our comfort zones and overeat!

baked tomato pork chop rice

If you're looking for a recipe which doesn't require you to be 100% precise about following it to the letter, this might very well be the one for you. And to top things off, it's a near perfect rendition of Baked Pork Chop Rice you'd find out at your regular Chinese restaurant; homestyle.

Tenderise 5 pieces pork medallions (or pork chops to be a bit more authentic) and chop into slices, mix with marinade (equal parts sugar, oil, dark soy sauce, corn flour, sesame oil and chinese rice wine; approximately 1 tablespoon each). Set aside for 30 minutes. In a jug, mix together 2 eggs, salt and a tsp of oil. Heat 1 tsp of oil and stir fry 2 cups of day-old rice. Pour in the egg mixture and mix well. Keep stir-frying until dry and then pour into a baking dish.

Heat 1 tsp of oil, stir fry 4 chopped tomatoes and add 5 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 cup water. When the sauce is boiled, add 1 tbsp corn flour to thicken the sauce. Pour on top of the fried rice. 

Stir fry 1 chopped onion, fry pork medallions with medium heat until half cooked. Place on top of the fried rice. Bake at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

The only thing I'd say is missing is the thick gluggy sauce you usually get if you have this at a Chinese restaurant. I actually don't mind this homestyle version!

Cutting up the pork medallions into slices helps speed up the cooking process. We cooked this on a weeknight and with weeknight cooking, speed is definitely the key. Three words for this recipe - yum, yum, yum!

shanghai stories 1938 @ victoria ave., chatswood

Can it please stop raining?! Why is it even raining at this time of year?! It was on a rather rainy weekday that Mashi and I made our way over to The Concourse at Chatswood to try out one of their restaurants - Shanghai Stories 1938 (next door is a pizza place called Gusto which I'm certainly keep to try - anyone up for it?) The occasion was a belated birthday celebration for Mashi and it actually worked out to be quite a nice place for the occasion; unbeknownst to both of us, Shanghai Stories leans towards the upmarket but still being affordable and being a school day, the two of us dined like royalty on their upstairs floor which is decked out quite nicely (certainly not your average Shanghai dumpling house)

The menu features a mixture of the familiar (dumplings, pancake, noodles) but also has its fair share of fusion items (pringles, Peking Duck and Osmanthus Jelly is one of them but I had this on my second visit), family dinner dishes as well as seafood sold at market price. There's definitely all sorts to suit different budgets so assume this is what the restaurant owner has set out to offer. According to the boy, their wine list is also quite extensive and very reasonably priced too.

Snowy River Sweet Pork Ribs - this dish features on the front page of their menu (and which we also missed until the waitress kindly recommended it to us as we were having trouble deciding); it was definitely too pretty not to try and ended up being a very tasty choice.

Mixed Cold Cuts Platter - the tomato is definitely the highlight of this dish (well for me anyway, it was something new and different and the sweet taste of the tomato was not something I was expecting from eating Shanghainese food)

Sesame Pastry. Despite looking at the menu and reading about what this item was (as it was one of the highly recommended items), neither Mashi nor I were prepared for the sweet inner of this pastry, we both thought it would be savoury and personally, I do think it would've tasted better if it were savoury.

Braised fish fillet and fungus in wine sauce. I actually love this dish for the fungus and could do with it just being fungus only - but that's because I love fungus.

Soy sauce Pork Fried Rice.

Panda & Panda buns! We knew that we were going to order these ones even before we started the meal - they're too cute not to. The inner is a red bean paste and yes, they are really too cute to eat!

With a pot of tea to share between us also, we wrapped up the meal for $90. Admittedly, not the cheapest fix of Shanghainese food in Sydney or even just in Chatswood where you actually have several cheaper options. Being a special occasion and with the level of service we had that night, it was a great school night dining option. I've actually already been back for a second visit (though we sat downstairs this second time and the atmosphere is actually quite different; actually more laidback), well I guess it speaks for itself, food is solid and with such an extensive menu, it will bring you back.

taste of shanghai @ rowe st., eastwood

I've lost track of the number of weeks (or months!) since I've been sick. I've spent this weekend mostly curled up in bed or sleeping on the go and I've hated every minute of it. In a nutshell, what started off as the flu developed into a secondary infection and despite a course of antibiotics, a dry cough lingered for about 2 weeks and I'm back with the flu and still coughing. I really think it's time for this sickness to go away! 

And whilst I've been sick, the backlog of photos and the blog posts have been building up and well, it's somewhat amazing the amount of food that I can still get through whilst I'm sick! For the record, I have resorted to slightly blander food in the hope of finally getting better and whilst this might feel like the worst thing in the world right now for someone that enjoys food, getting better is my priority - I can't stand another cough or another minute curled up in bed. Anyway, catching up on some eatings this year....

Taste of Shanghai has been in Eastwood for a good little while now and every night there seems to be the same queue that snakes out the door. That was also what put me off going there in the first place and good news for the restaurant (and perhaps not so good news for myself and other dining patrons), yes, you need to be prepared to wait for a table in that queue.

Seems like the renovating of the restaurant has also seen a revamp of the menu. I remember the food to be quite oily when the shop first opened but on this visit, the food was clean, crisp and certainly tasty. We tried this Pork with Bean Starch Sheet Noodle which is an ideal dish when you can't quite decide ordering between and entree and a main.

Steamed Pork Dumplings - how I love that slurp of soup when you bite into one of these but I always seem to be burning my tongue!

Noodles with sliced cucumber, pork mince and black bean sauce. 

Taiwanese Milk Tea - a lot milkier than a traditional Hong Kong Milk Tea (which I swear by) but still  a good cold drink for a warm day.

Seems like eating lunch at 2 or 3pm in the afternoon (or 8-9pm at night i.e. outside of standard meal times) is the only way to beat the queue here but otherwise, the usual 15-30 minute wait is worthwhile at the end of it - you just have to hang in there (as hard as it may seems). There's been times when I've grabbed a ticket and in the end, went elsewhere to eat whilst we were waiting. Other times, I've planned on going here and changed by mind at the last minute after seeing the queue. If only they could do something about it and then I could eat here a bit more often! 

Anyway, don't let me deter you from coming here. I definitely recommend the food. It's the sensible me that says don't bother waiting in a queue for 30 minutes for food which I think is open for debate. I'm personally not a big fan of it but you may think otherwise.

kungfu ramen @ george st., sydney

I can't decide what I like more; eating or cooking - both have their perks, both are great past times, both can be social activities, although both seem to add to my waistline so taking that into account, I guess I can't really like one more than the other! When it comes to eating, lately I've been on the scout for some cheaper options which are slightly kinder on the wallet. Still loving my fine dining and still have plenty of places I want to visit but in between the dearer meals, the cheaper options seem to get me through the week and I've managed to find quite a few gems amongst them all.

I spotted Kungfu Ramen on George Street whilst on the bus to heading down to QVB. Actually, the place kept getting my attention and when the boy and I decided to grab dinner in the city one Thursday, it was a no brainer that we'd come here. When I saw the sign, I actually thought these guys offered Japanese Ramen but don't be fooled like me, this place offers up a Chinese style ramen (or what you'd refer to in the language as a pulled ramen).

Ramen in Soup with Chilli and Beef Slices. This was my preference out of the two types of noodles we ordered as the chilli masked the taste of the floury noodles more than the other dish did.

Ramen noodles with minced meat, sliced cucumber and a black bean sauce (served also with a bowl of clear soup).

Pork dumplings. If I see dumplings on a menu, I have to order it and I'm glad I did!

It was a really nice and quick dinner and if you're sitting facing the back of the shop, you'll get to see the guys pulling the flour and making the ramen which is really quite a sight. I'm always amazed how these chefs can transfer a blob of dough into thin strands of noodles merely by the continuous pulling and it all seems rather easy when you watch them! Anyway, I think I might give making a noodles a miss as it's much easier coming to the guys here and having them make me a bowl!

There's plenty of other items on the menu to try and it seems like people are starting to find out about this place so I suggest you get in here quick!

mango restaurant @ archer st., chatswood

Up to this day, I've always looked forward to holidays to Hong Kong. Shopping is fantastic (love H&M and wish they would bring one to Sydney), love seeing my grandparents (and having grandma telling me that I should really eat more and that I'm too skinny which I assure you, I am not but is great to hear nonentheless), getting red packets, seeing all the extravagant X'mas displays which are quite unmatched and unheard of here in Australia, catching up with friends that have moved back to Hong Kong to work, I can tell you many more reasons why I love going back. Amongst all the reasons though and you might think that I'm weird, but the one foodie thing that gets me really excited about Hong Kong is getting to have a decent cup of Hong Kong style milk tea.

Believe me, I have searched high and low, far and wide for a decent cup of Hong Kong style milk tea in Sydney. There's been a couple of places that have managed to do a decent one but I do think the best ones are to be found in Hong Kong and the great thing is that in HK, every place you go will be sure to do a decent one. Well if you're like me and get cravings for a decent HK style milk tea, let me tell you now that Mango Restaurant on Archer Street in Chatswood is the place to go.

I've actually been here 3 times now and have tried both the hot and cold HK style milk tea. I like both and let me just say, I like their lemon tea too!

J's latest favourite soup is Fish Chowder after having the one here. Love it how they serve their soups with freshly baked Chinese style bread rolls and butter.

I actually don't mind their French Onion Soup which I've ordered 2 out of the 3 times I've been here.

Baked Ox Tongue with Sweet Cream Corn Sauce, served with rice.

If you were to ask me about the one dish to order here, it would have to be the Baked Pork Chop rice with Egg.

After coming here a few times, you'll probably find that a lot of their dishes taste quite similar. You have your key meat ingredients (e.g. chicken, ox tongue, beef, pork chop), your key sauces (tomato based, cream, portugese style), your key carbohydrate (rice, spaghetti, potato) so don't be surprised to find if a different dish you order to one you've ordered before tastes quite similar! 

To be honest, I actually don't think too much about the food when I come to Hong Kong cafes. My main priority is my cup of milk tea. A place will be in my good books if they serve up a decent Hong Kong style milk tea and I really do think that Mango Restaurant is high up on my list. Do give it a go!

taste of shanghai @ world square, city

Reading food blogs often comes in handy. Whether it's learning about new places which have opened up, dishes to try at certain restaurants, what not to try, what to expect, where to shop for food, what's new in food; there's so many food blogs out that that provide this information that you wouldn't find anywhere else. I'm constantly seeking out new food blogs to read and then there's also those select few which I've gotten quite attached to. Amongst those select few is missklicious who I remembered when looking for a place to eat last Thursday night.

There's a Taste of Shanghai in Eastwood (which I've been to a couple of times), the original store in Ashfield (which constantly has a queue) and there's now a new store in World Square (downstairs opposite Coles). J&I were at the store in World Square at about 6.30pm on a Thursday night and were given a ticket to wait in the queue. The wait wasn't too bad; just 5-10 minutes before we were seated at a table.

Pork & Crab Meat Xiao Long Bao. If you come here, you must order this dish. From all the Xiao Long Bao's I've had in Sydney this is arguably one of the best. The skin is just thick enough to hold the dollop of soup that's inside (and don't worry, that soup won't cook your tongue, it's at just the right temperature).

Originally we were going to try the Cold Dumpling & Sesame sauce noodles but was told it was unavailable at the time. Ended up having the Pork Mince Noodles with the fresh sliced cucumber. It's a very generous serving and I suggest you share this one between two.

J loves the Chinese Sweet & Sour Soup and insists on ordering the medium serve. The medium serve is actually quite good value ($9) as opposed to the small serve ($5). The medium serve works out to be at least 6 individual bowls - I suggest you only order this if you're like J and can stomach all that soup. I had the one and was already quite full. Also some advice, make sure you mix up the soup before you drink it. I had a nasty surprise with my bowl having all the pepper in it!

Salt & Pepper Pork - pieces were bite sized and well seasoned; I could've kept eating this one! (but had to stop for fear of a sore throat)

For two people, I admit that 4 dishes is a lot of food. J&I were both quite hungry but J was insistent that he was hungry enough to get through all 4 dishes and he did end up eating all of it. And well, I do have more than average appetite when it comes to food so I'm probably not the best person to advise on how much to order. I guess my motto is that always order what you want to eat and well, you can always take it away if you have too much.

Anyway, I do think that this Taste of Shanghai branch is much better than the one in Eastwood. Service is a lot faster and the food is much better (not sure what's happened with the Eastwood branch because the food is definitely not as great as when they first opened up).

new shanghai restaurant @ chatswood chase

For my cousin B's birthday, we celebrated at New Shanghai Restaurant @ Chatswood Chase. This is the newly furnished version of New Shanghai (you can find other branches in Lemongrove Shopping Centre and also Ashfield). I've been to the one at Lemongrove and without doubt, this one at Chatswood Chase is much fancier.

The birthday boy at the head of the table.

My family were the first family to arrive after the birthday boy so we took our places near the head of the table. The reason why I say this place is fancy? Well, take a look at the decorations you see in this pic. There are paintings adorning the walls, the tableware is modernly chic, there's a touch of authenticity (with the wooden furniture) and my favourite would be the wooden table blocks holding the sauces (is there a name for these things?)

The ordering of dinner was quite an event in itself. With the volume of food we ordered, we had three waitresses try to tell us that we'd ordered too much food. We were insistent that we could eat it. They were insistent that we couldn't and stressed that 'never in the life of this restaurant has any table ordered this much food' (and I kid you not, those were their exact words). In the end, we ordered everything we wanted and well, there were quite a few takeaway boxes but it was all in good fun! Here's the Minced Pork Noodles...

Boiled Dumplings and one of my favourites from the night (if only I knew what it was called?!), prawns deep fried in an egg yolk batter. They were divine (probably not good in terms of cholesterol but absolutely divine!)

Xiao Long Bao (definitely one of the staples to order).

Shandong Chicken. Love this one. Great also that the sauce comes separate so that the crispy skin of the chicken doesn't get soggy.

Braised Pork Belly. The size of the pot is a little misleading but eat a piece of this, you'll think twice about wondering why they don't fill up the entire pot.

Boiled dumplings in a peanut sauce. As heavy as this one looks, I do love it!

Every inch of the table was covered up with food.

After awhile, it did get a little stuffy in the restaurant (we were at the back where the entrance to the kitchen was). Without any water in sight, J resorts to drinking some dumpling soup with a straw.

So how many boxes of takeaway did we have at the end of the night? I think it was 11 and each and every one of them was packed to the brim. I actually don't mind Shanghai food eaten the next day - it reheats well in the microwave and retains a lot of the flavour. I asked my dad what he thought of this place (he rarely likes to try something new) and well, he thought it was ok. He still thinks that the Eastwood Peking Restaurant better and between him and I, we do miss the the Peking Restaurant that was in Chatswood before they pulled down the lot it was in to build the new council building (I wonder if those owners have reopened up elsewhere?)

Anyway, Happy Birthday B!