Temasek, Parramatta

I truly think that we here in Sydney are spoiled for choice when it comes to international cuisine. Case in point: I dined at Temasek in Parramatta a few weeks ago, and had what I felt was an authentic Singaporean/Malaysian meal...after driving for a mere 20 minutes from my place!

The restaurant was recommended to us by a family friend whose daughter seriously loves the Hainanese chicken rice there. We've heard recounts of the wee lass demanding to eat chicken rice and nothing. else. will. do! *insert girlish tween tantrum*. Because I was dining out with a large group, we decided to order half a chicken on its own with a steamer of chicken rice separately, rather than a single serve of the dish.

 

Hainanese chicken

  Chicken rice

The chicken was served cold, which I didn't mind. It wasn't as meltingly tender as some of the best renditions of the dish that I've tried, but still good. The chicken rice was a bit bland, not really having much of a chicken flavour. When I make chicken rice at home, I fry the uncooked rice in butter before putting it into the rice cooker with a few cups of chicken broth (from cooking the Hainanese chicken). When I open the rice cooker, the aroma is absolutely indescribable (as is the pain of having one's face scalded by chicken-scented steam, but let's not go into that). Anyway, sorry for bragging xD Next up - the beef rendang.

Beef rendang

 In spite of the crimson pool of oil floating on top, the beef rendang was only mildly spicy. The beef was fall-apart tender. I particularly enjoyed the odd bits of tendon and fat that added flavour and texture. The curry broth/sauce was aromatic with coconut and spices. One of my favourite dishes of the night. I mopped up the curry with bits of roti:

Roti

Ah, the roti! I could only imagine the amount of fat that went into the dough to make it so deliciously flaky. That knowledge wasn't enough to stop me from shoving piece after piece of beef rendang-soaked roti into my pie-hole. Look at them, stacked atop one another so innocently. I would have quite happily made my way through the whole plate, if it wasn't for the dishes that were yet to arrive.

The satay pork probably wasn't the most photogenic dish of the night, but boy did it taste good. It also provided an alternative for dipping my roti in :)

 

Mee goreng

Temasek's mee goreng is rave-worthy. I've never been a fan of noodles or pasta, but the sweet soy sauce, the juicy pieces of prawn and tomato, and the 'bite' from the egg noodles transformed this into something far better than a plate of insulin-spiking refined carbohydrate for me. 

Same with the char kway teow! Not being familiar with the concept or taste of the 'wok hei' (the smoky flavour that gets imparted to the dish by the intense heat over which the noodles are stir-fried), one of my dining companions commented on the "slightly burnt" flavour. It didn't taste burnt to me :D Rather, there was indeed a nice, smoky aroma to the dish.

The satay chicken skewers came with a peanut sauce that I mopped up with my second round of roti.

The lemongrass king prawns were succulent, and nicely crisped on the outside. I thought the serve was a bit small, though.

 Ah, the piece de resistance! The Singaporean Chilli Crab arrived last, in all its scarlet-hued glory. I admit to being a bit scared by the size, and wondered if we could even make a dent in it after stuffing ourselves on all the other dishes. We did end up taking a lot of this away with us, as well as leftovers of the other dishes. The crab meat itself was sweet and tender. I wasn't too crazy about the tomato sauce it was drenched in. 

We were definitely too full for dessert, but the next time I go to Temasek (and, mark my words, I will be back!) I'll make it a point to order the ice kacang!

Temasek

The Roxy Arcade

71 George St

Parramatta NSW 2150

Phone: (02) 9633 9926

Dooleys, Lidcombe

When the subject was first raised that we were to have dinner at a "club", I was concerned that our entourage, consisting mainly of young kids, their parents, and mild-mannered wallflowers like myself, would feel (and look) slightly out of place. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, and we found many large families like ourselves dining in complete comfort and enjoyment at the Dooleys club in Lidcombe.

But since it was a "club" after all, we ordered a round of beer to occupy us while our dinners were being cooked. The food at Dooleys is traditional bistro fare: steak with chips, fish 'n' chips, pasta dishes, burgers, etc. I was quite hungry, and ordered the 350g T-bone steak (done medium rare) with chips and salad:

T-Bone 350g (gluten-free), $24.60 ($20.50 for members)

I personally don't like my beefsteaks with sauce, preferring to season it myself with salt and pepper, but the steaks here usually come with a sauce of your choice out of the four: dianne, mushroom, pepper, or gravy. Someone else in our group ordered theirs with mushroom sauce:

I'm sure I specified that I wanted my steak done 'medium rare', but maybe the only options are 'well done', 'medium' and 'rare'? When I cook steaks at home, I usually eat it rare, red juices flowing and all, but I'm a bit more cautious when I dine out. I needn't have worried about bacteria and such, because my steak turned out 'well done'. It was like eating shoe leather. My molars ached with the effort. I think I should have ordered it 'rare', because then it would have turned out 'medium rare', like I wanted ;P

Hacking away at my shoe, I mean, steak.

The 250g scotch fillet done 'rare', which I ordered to share with two others, on the other hand turned out to be perfectly juicy and tender. And looked...'medium rare'! Guess it's worth it to pay the extra for a better cut of meat.

Scotch Fillet 250g (gluten-free), $28.20 ($23.50 for members)

Fish 'n' chips (I didn't get to take a picture) and chicken schnitzels were ordered for the kids. Both were well received. In particular, 'DOOLEYS Famous Fish and Chips' looked really good. The deep-fried batter was a beautiful shade of gold, and the fish was steaming hot and flaky on the inside. I should have taken a photo of it!

Kids Chicken Schnitzel, $7.50

In addition to the traditional, 'Western' options, Dooleys has a selection of dishes "From the East", according to its own menu. These included a ginger prawn and bento box, chilli chicken with steamed rice and bok choy, curry with naan bread, and sichuan pork chops. Two pork chops were ordered, and I got to have a taste. The pork was very tasty! It came with a sweet and chilli sauce, which went well with the lean pork. I like the spring onion and red chilli garnish on top. 

Sichuan Pork Chops, $19.80 ($16.50 for members)

My cousin, a growing teenage boy and lean as a beanpole, was still hungry after wolfing down his steak and chips, and went back to order something else. He got the chicken linguini arrabiatta, which looked really good and was covered with melted cheese. He didn't share, the greedy boy xD

Chicken Linguini Arrabiatta, $18.60 ($15.50 for members)

With every five meals purchased, you get a free piece of cake, and with every ten meals, a free meal up to the value of $12.00. We had ordered enough meals to get two complimentary pieces of cake. There was the sticky date pudding which was very sweet and covered with a thick layer of frosting:

Sticky date pudding

And a pretty mini Mars Bars cheesecake tart:

Overall, the food was decent and the atmosphere family-friendly. There's a nice play area for young children, and the option of courtyard seating. Our meals took a while to come out, and there is a notice at the ordering counter stating that 'well done' steaks require a 30 minute wait. The club does have a strict policy on clothing and foot-ware; my aunty, who was wearing her stylish rubber thongs, was refused entry. In the end, she paid $3 for a pair of glittery sandals from the reception, and accompanied us inside while we all heaved a sigh of relief :D

Dooleys

24-28 John St, Lidcombe, NSW 2141

Phone: (02) 8745 6100

My Chinese Kitchen, Burwood

Happy Year of the Dragon! I have just returned from a trip to New Zealand, and this is the first opportunity I've had to write up a new post. While touring NZ, we alternated between admiring the truly amazing scenery, and doing outrageous stuff like jet-boating this close to the cut-throat rocky protrusions over a river in Queenstown. And hand-feeding alpacas:

 And posing in vast, open fields:

I have heaps of great photos so I may very well do a write-up of my trip, even though we had very little in terms of interesting eats. Come to think of it, I don't think we had any interesting eats. Thanks to the fact that we signed up for the trip as part of a Chinese tour group, we were forced to eat cheap, bland food for the duration of our time there. Stuff like steamed catfish (which looked deformed and off-colour), fried eggs, and stringy, stir-fried vegetation. Urgh. Therefore, it was with relish that I devoured dinner at My Chinese Kitchen in Burwood. It was the first decent meal I've had in over a week.

We've been here on many, previous occasions, and enjoyed the food immensely on every visit. The dishes are interesting, and the prices reasonable. We always order the Nanjing Duck. Don't be put off by the pallid appearance of the dish. The flesh of the duck is flavourful (and salty! very salty!) with shaoxing wine, soy sauce and sesame oil, and the skin is quite addicting. 

 

Nanjing Duck, half for $13.80 (1/4 for $7.80)

The Pan-Fried Fish with Soy Sauce is our second cold dish. The fish has been fried, and then soaked in a mixture of soy sauce and sugar. Again, a dish we order every time.

Pan-Fried Fish with Soy Sauce, $9.80

Rationalising that I've been living off of catfish for the past week, I insisted that we order the Spice Salt Soft Shell Crab, which arrives piled in a golden heap. The crab has been battered and deep-fried, and is wondrously crunchy without tasting greasy at all - the mark of a deft hand at controlling the temperature of the frying oil. "I've been eating steamed fish all week", I repeated in my mind, as I helped myself to what seemed like half the plate.

Spice Salt Soft Shell Crab, $18.80

The Yangzhou Meat Balls held a high fatty to lean mince ratio, and were very moist and flavourful as a result of it. The braising liquid had infused deep into the meatballs, as well as into the bed of vermicelli lining the dish.

Yangzhou Meat Balls, $15.80

 The Boiled Beef in Spice Chilli Sauce was the only miss of the night. Much too salty and peppery, not to mention positively swimming in thick, starchy sauce.

Boiled Beef in Spice Chilli Sauce, $15.80

If there is a single dish that you must order at this restaurant, it is the Stir fried eel Huaian style. Each, tiny eel has been deep-fried, and then coated with a sticky, sweet and salty sauce. The combination is irresistible.

 

Stir fried eel Huaian style, $22.80

We ordered three steamers of Juicy Buns (aka. xiaolongbao) because they're my siblings' favourite. These ones were juicy indeed, but the wrappers were too thick, in my opinion. 

 

Juicy buns, $7.50 for 8 pieces

The Crispy King Prawn Egg Rolls were beautifully presented, but unfortunately were nondescript in flavour.

Crispy King Prawn Egg Rolls, $18.80

The Steamed Duck with Prawn Dumplings, by comparison, is something I would definitely order again. The duck is covered with the same thick, sticky, and slightly-sweet sauce as many of the other dishes. A ring of prawn dumplings in egg wrappers encircles the generous serving of duck.

 

Steamed Duck with Prawn Dumplings, $24.00

As usual, our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we had over-ordered. We were beyond full by this point, but we still had a few dishes to go. Next to arrive was the Pork Ribs in Special Shallot Sauce. The pork turned out to be so succulent and delicious that I polished off a sizable portion despite my ready-to-burst stomach. The ribs are brought to us wrapped in foil, and the waiter pulls apart the meat and soaks it in its own cooking liquid (the "Special Shallot Sauce", I presume) at our table.

Pork Ribs in Special Shallot Sauce, $18.80

 The pork after being pulled apart

Some of us were groaning "no more!" by now, but we still had one more dishes to go. Our final pick for the night was the Steamed Egg Plant with Salted Fish. The salted fish was somewhat stinky. I was honestly too full to appreciate the dish.

 

Steamed Egg Plant with Salted Fish, $15.80

Oh wow. I feel bloated simply writing all that down ;P

All in all, a highly recommended restaurant!

My Chinese Kitchen

195A Burwood Road,
Burwood, NSW 2134

Phone: (02) 9715 6699

Fro-yo @ Noggi, Strathfield

The weather's been so hot for the past couple of days. Perfect for frozen yoghurt!

Strathfield seems to have become a magnet for fro-yo businesses lately. Moochi opened up sometime late last year, and recently Noggi has popped up only a few doors around the corner. I have been to both, and each has their respective merits. In my opinion, Noggi has the upper hand atmosphere-wise, and I got more of a youthful vibe from its staff and decor :D

I like in particular how everything is green and fresh-looking. The menu is placed next to a panel explaining how to assemble your own, customised fro-yo dessert.

In addition to four kinds of frozen yoghurt (original, wildberry, green tea, and biscotti) with various toppings, Noggi offers waffles served with fro-yo, smoothies, and the usual selection of espresso beverages. The fro-yo comes in various sizes, ranging from a cone (which doesn't come with toppings) to the crazy 1300g serving known as a "groupi". With the exception of the cone, all sizes come with 3 free toppings (ETA: A friend brought it to my attention that the 3 toppings are actually not free; you can either buy the fro-yo without toppings, or get it with all 3 toppings for a higher price. Thanks, S.!). The sign on the bottom right hand corner says, "Come in your high school uniform & get your toppings for free!"Is this referring to the 4th topping? I can't believe I'm even contemplating suffering the humiliation of bumping into someone I know while donning my old high school gear.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you will direct your gaze to the larger measuring cup in the picture above. That is what the 1300g "groupi" comes in. On a second visit, I saw one being prepared. I hope whoever had ordered it was planning on sharing, because that was one giant-ass bucket of fro-yo. There were three different flavours of fro-yo in the single cup, so I guess they'll let you combine flavours. I stuck with the regular size on my first visit, and chose green tea as the base. The toppings? Fresh blueberries, mochi, and Oreos.

I went with a few other fro-yo aficionados on the second trip there, and we got two regular cups. One was biscotti fro-yo with mochi, Oreo and Cocopops:

The second cup held the original flavoured froyo, with gummi bears, mochi, and fresh watermelon pieces:

Next time, I shall try the wildberry fro-yo, and report my findings! :D

Noggi

2/2 Albert Road, Strathfield, 2135.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Noggi-Strathfield/252426288138707

My Hong Kong trip: notable eats! (Part 5)

I woke up surprisingly hungry and ready to eat, despite the meat and sugar feast from the previous night. The perfect solution to my growling stomach = xiao long bao! Lots of it!

And dumplings of another variety: the crispy-bottomed steamed pork buns!

This was also my first time trying a sweet xiao long bao. This batch had a sweet, red bean paste filling:

An interesting idea, but too much sweetness in one go in my opinion.

We got our dumpling fix at King's Dumpling, situated on level 3 of Windsor house. 

Some other dishes we ordered:

Jellied meat (sorry, I don't know the proper name)

Braised pork intestines

Chicken in broth

Beef brisket, sliced thinly and doused with chilli sauce and peanuts

Token greenery

'Crystal eggs': Smoked eggs with still runny insides. Amazing!

Pork cutlet with fried rice

Extra serving of fried crumbed pork cutlet!

Jelly fish and cucumber

Pork belly with chilli sauce

Some sort of cool, crunchy vegetable side dish

A semi-dessert: sticky red rice with glace fruits and beans

After eating, we watched the dumpling experts in action for a while:

Before spending the rest of the day...you guessed it!...shopping :D

We remedied the afternoon low blood sugar blues with frozen yogurt from Yo Mama on the third floor of Windsor House.

There was a choice of either the original frozen yogurt base, or a green tea variant. We ordered three cups to share, and tried out both flavours.

TOPPINGS! Someone went a bit nutso, and chose the unlikeliest of combinations:

Froot loops and mini marshmallows - urgh, my eyes smart from the food colouring

The green tea flavour came out very strongly, but the tanginess of yogurt (which I like) came out more strongly in the plain flavour:

Some sort of jelly, and urgh, those darned froot loops again

Another cup of the green tea!

Mini cubes of brownie and gummi bears(?!)

You'd think that we would be bouncing off the walls by this point, but it just so happened that we found ourselves in a ginormous food hall in the basement level of Sogo at this point...

There were many exciting things to be tried, most of them sweet. I continued with the frozen desserts by getting two scoops of ice cream from Milk Top. In my favourite flavours, of course - black sesame and green tea!

I love the shade of green.

The texture wasn't uber-creamy, but I kinda like it that way when I'm eating "Asian"-flavoured ice creams. 

Prettiness!

I also had a bite-sized Japanese-style cheesecake:

How can something be so fluffy and creamy at the same time?! This was delicious!

And some bite-sized "normal" cheesecake as well:

I really would have liked to try more things, but my pancreas was screaming in protest. So I just looked around some. There was a mochi promotion going on, with free samples to try. Okay, I had some :D

So many beautiful cakes:

And chocolates:

Dinner was quite non-descript. We did have something light and refreshing for dessert, though:

Strawberry cheesecake and chocolate fudge brownie ice cream from Ben & Jerry's

Oops, by "light and refreshing" I was actually referring to this:

HERBAL JELLY!!! Also known as "gui ling gao". From Hai Tian Tang.

This was the last night we stayed in Hong Kong. I felt very sad :(

The final instalment coming soon in Part 6!