Dinner at Din Tai Fung, Chatswood

Don't be put off by the (relatively) poor Urbanspoon rating, I was almost in tears for the most part of this dinner because the food was so good.

Tofu with pork floss and preserved duck egg

The food comes out exceptionally quickly and following Asian food tradition, everything comes as it comes and there isn't really a set structure of entree/main/dessert. Ordering the tofu with pork floss and preserve duck egg (8.8), I was skeptical given that I (to put it mildly) don't enjoy pork floss; but lo and behold the dish was pretty damn good. The tofu was fresh and the combination of preserved duck egg, pork floss and tofu was strangely really nice. Of course, not a dish for everyone, but the flavour of preserved duck egg was incredibly mild in contrast to everything else - the pork floss is the flavour that seems to come through the strongest. So for me, not my favourite but it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be.

Spicy shrimp and pork wonton

Now we should note that I am extremely picky about wonton. Since I was born (no melodrama here I swear), I have never liked any wonton from any person or restaurant that is not made by my lovely mother. It's something to do with the flavouring, the amount of meat, the flavouring of the meat etc. etc.; but wow the spicy shrimp and pork wonton (9.3) was delicious.If I had a stronger chilli tolerance I would order bowls after bowls of this stuff, but alas I knew I had full dishes to myself to consume and so I had 4 of these and relinquished the rest to my sister who gladly gobbled them up (in conjunction with her own bowl). 

Fried pork dumpling

I will probably never say no to deep fried anything. The same was the case here with the fried pork dumplings (5.8). No fault, the serving portion was just the right size, the Japanese mayo (I'm assuming) was a lovely addition, the meat inside was juicy and sweet. No faults.

Pork xiao long bao 

I won't say too much about the pork xiao long bao (12.8) because there's a lot about them on the food blogosphere but wow they're worth the hype. The skin is thin and just right, the soup juices hot and delicious, everything everything was just right. 

Chicken fillet

My sister was incredibly skeptical that this would turn out really nice, but there was this beaming 'specialty' indicator next to the chicken fillet (10.8) so I got it and no regrets at all. Given this came out at the same time as the xiao long bao and the fried pork dumplings, I went into a bit of a delicious-food-shock having been presented with so many delicious things at once. It was also around about this time that I started tearing up because the food was so good (it might help to add for context that J and I had been surviving on tacos, instant pasta and everything in Heston for Coles food range so all these delicious, fresh things came as a bit of a hit in the face)

Vegetarian bun and Vegetable Pork bun

In all honesty the buns were probably the biggest let down for the night. Mum makes the best vegetable buns (and meat buns) ever, so really, this was sort of a doomed from the beginning.

When we went, wait time was very brief at about a few minutes and we were in. Upon being seated, you're presented with both a 'menu' and what looks like a take-away check list. You proceed to order through checking off what you want off the 'list' and then hail the waiter once selected. Wait time for food was a little longer but it didn't really matter in the end because the quality of the food was such top notch. We were also given a bag-stand-carrier (how does one even explain this?) which was very nice and hailed back to meals spent in Japan.

Anyway, point of everything is go there, go get a food baby, it's very much worth it.

High Tea at Sir Stamford Hotel, Circular Quay

My lord this post has been on a backlog for 5 weeks now (oops)

Reuniting with my high tea gang (backstory: the four of us have been going to high tea together on a quarterly basis since late Year 11/early Year 12), we finally made it to the Sir Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay for an absolutely delicious and lazy Sunday afternoon.

Quietly led through the hotel reception and into The Dining Room, we were allowed to sink into two couches and peruse the menu for a while. Ordering the Traditional High Tea (54 pp) we were accidentally treated to a glass of Moet & Chandon, before being offered our glasses of sparkling wine.
Carefully advised to eat from bottom to top (common sense I suppose, but its testament to the service and detail that the staff were incredibly knowledgeable on exactly what sandwiches were on offer). Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what was what, but the curry chicken sandwich in the middle was absolutely delicious.
Given on many an occasion of high tea, I've ended up not eating half the sweets on the middle tier purely because they just didn't suit my taste; this was far from it. The desserts were absolutely delicious, freshly made (none of that stale taste you sometimes get when desserts have been refrigerated) and not too sweet. 
And oh my lord the scones the scones. They're not much to look at, and it's not the usual savoury kind that I prefer, but my lord these were delicious. Soft and fluffy, buttery and light; fresh cream and jam. What more can I say?

The ambience here is absolutely enchanting (pardon the use of the somewhat archaic term). It's quiet and sophisticated, yet warm and homely. Usually these high tea reunions are a one hour, two hour affair; but we were here for a solid four hours just catching up and sipping on wine. What a classy affair, non?

Will definitely be back one day (after we thoroughly explore all the other high tea venues Sydney has to offer), but lord knows we won't be going back to The Victoria Room Tea Salon in Westfield again (except for their chips, but that's a story for another time)

Beijing

A quickie but a goodie

Exchange Registration: Paid
Paperwork: Complete

Done diggity, someone's going to be in Beijing for some time this year!

Cultural Awakenings

It's quite bizarre to think that I had to turn eighteen to become so interested in my culture. Growing up with memories of wanting to have been born a different colour, of thinking that in order to be 'cool' I should try to associate myself with Anglo-Saxon caucasians as much as possible is a somewhat embarrassing recall. 

I've always thought it was petty and useless to try and direct yourself towards a certain specific end-goal; so all I can really say is right here right now all I really want is reconnect with my heritage. I used to barely speak any coherent Chinese at home, but now it's all I try to do. My watch list is full of Chinese serials (hello Voice of China) and movies, I find myself enjoying my brutally accelerated Chinese course at uni... 

Don't get me wrong, plunging myself into things like this is somewhat cruel (cue self-pity), but I think au bout du compte it's been a long time coming.

PS. I had to snitch the above photo of maybe my second-favourite place in the world, check out the photographer's flickr feed though (living vicariously through photos is probably the only thing I can manage right now)

Elie Saab

Sorry for the lack of anything new here - there are a couple of things on Joe and a couple of drafts to be finished but Sem 2 is killing me slowly.

In other news, Elie Saab, oh my god.

Aroma Festival and Back to Uni

Last day before the hell of uni begins again, Nat and I stumbled upon the Aroma Festival at The Rocks in the late hours of the morning when crowds were in full force.

Given I was hanging around the area to have high tea with the usual high tea gang and I had already downed a grande soy chai latte, I initially had no plans to buy anything or try anything (particularly as lines are not very attractive and I'm not exactly a coffee snob - who am I kidding, my coffee order is a soy chai latte need I say more?); but after seeing copious amounts of people weave in and out through the crowd clutching hot dogs with impressive weiners that fragrantly left a trail of caramelised onions behind them; Nat and I (against my better judgement) decided to share one.

Check out the bite Nat uncontrollably took before I could whip out Joe!

With some superb luck, we accidentally cut into the line discovered a new line right near the front and ordered the giant thuringer sausage (10).

Although the sausage itself was quite juicy, the spices could've done with more of a kick and the flavour itself was a bit bland. The bun was a bit too sugary and the onion could have been caramelised more. There was also something a bit off about the BBQ sauce, it wasn't tangy enough, in fact it was quite acidic.

Don't get me wrong, by no means was the sausage bad, it's just that given the lines, the hype and the amount of people cradling the take away box, we were a tad disappointed.

In extension I tend to find this is generally what happens when I (rarely) decide to venture out to food festivals completely unprepared. I feel like these festivals need to be enjoyed with leisurely strolls all day with a coin purse full of loose change and a whole group of people to try a large variety of things. But in all honest my god I hate the lines so much. I remember one time mum and I went to the night noodle markets and instead of waiting the absurd 2 hours lines to get a glimpse at the offerings of restaurants such as Chat Thai, we travelled to Chat Thai itself and dined there that night.

Anyway, in addition to the tangents I'm taking, let us take a moment to mourn these last few hours of my holiday. Setting out for a holiday of savings, working and revising content; instead I spent my entire holiday earnings under a week, worked six days a week and revised 0 content (hello cramming in this first week of sem 2).

Excellent stuff. Saving is overrated to begin with (said no one ever).

Dessert at Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst

Following dinner at Mad Pizza e Bar in Newtown, we journeyed to Kings Cross/Darlinghurst on a Monday night to consume the Masterchef-featured cone.

Choc Top: salted caramel gelato soft serve, Italian meringue, gianduja ganache, amoretti biscuits and a sugar cone

Not visibly available on any of the signage, should you want one of these delicious cones of joy, you need to pop round to the cake section of Messina at Darlinghurst, and ask if they had any choc top cones available, to which they respond yes/no and if it's the former, choc tops begin appearing out of a magical fridge.

What can I even say about this icecream. The salted caramel gelato soft serve is to die for. I would eat buckets and buckets of this stuff if I could. The salted caramel taste of the salted caramel is lovely and distinct, saving the gelato from tasting too overly sweet. The amoretti biscuits were a bit damp and the cone itself wasn't immensely crispy but there's nothing much that can be done about that given the icecream within the cone has made it damp in its storage (and I cant really propose any solution at all to this given they take 45 minutes - 1 hour to make). 

At 10$ a pop, they're far from the cheapest ordinary choc tops you can get from Hungry Jacks. But oh so worth it.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was because of the sugar or the general stupidity of the adventure, but from Messina onwards, these two lovely ladies became sober-drunk (0% alcohol consumed, 100% acted like they were drunk), repeatedly voicing the syllables of Wolloomooloo and demanding we take a 'scenic route' of Kings Cross, then promptly telling R and I that they were lost.

Whatever the reason, I'll miss you Sammie HAVE FUN IN UCLA, I will most definitely take you up on my request your offer and crash in your dorm at some point in the next four years; and here's hoping for more psych shenanigans with C and R in the next sem xx