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

My Hong Kong trip: notable eats! (Part 6, the Conclusion)

And so, we have reached the conclusion in this Hong Kong saga of mine. Part 6 shall predominantly feature an array of meals I had while waiting in the airport for my flight back to Sydney, as well as the meals I was served on the plane. Riveting stuff, innit? ;P

Actually, I was mightily impressed by both the quality and variety of the foods offered in the departures terminal at Hong Kong airport. But, most importantly, it was the great money-for-value aspect that I liked. For example, the Hainanese Chicken Rice set that I ordered only cost me $52 HK, which is the equivalent of around $7 AUD. The price of a sandwich from any of the cafes located in Sydney airport. Except my chicken rice set was so much more filling and tastier than any $7 sandwich could be.

Hainanese Chicken Rice set

In addition to a reasonable portion of chicken and rice, the set also came with the usual dipping sauces, some pickled vegetables, and a bowl of chicken broth. The chicken was so tender. I am not exaggerating at all when I describe it as "melt-in-your-mouth".

The chicken skin was uber-fatty and therefore...uber-delicious. I ate mine, as well as my health-conscious companion's chicken skins as well.

From the same place, we also ordered toast with butter and condensed milk. I don't even know if a picture of it is necessary; the description alone sends my coronary arteries a-spasming. But show you I will:

I couldn't help myself - I kept going back for bite after bite. The bread was crusty and warm and had that indescribable flavour and texture of fresh toast. The butter had all but melted and seeped into the pores of the bread. And the condensed milk...why hasn't anyone else thought of doing this in Sydney?

The other main dish we ordered was a bowl of noodles in broth, with chunks of what looked like fatty pork on top. Simple, but delicious.

  My ideal in-flight entertainment - Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meals

Two hours later, we boarded our Cathay Pacific flight. I commend Cathay Pacific on its service, the friendliness of its staff, and the overall comfort of the flight. The thing which transformed the flight from merely "bearable" to "almost enjoyable" was the provision of a wide variety of programs on the in-flight entertainment system. There was Jamie Oliver (sadly only the one episode), Big Bang Theory, some recent movies like Harry Potter 2 and, amongst other things, America's Next Top Model (er, yes, my guilty pleasure).

Po about to unleash some serious whoop-ass in Kung-Fu Panda 2 

The fact that there was an electrical socket at the back of every seat was the icing on the cake. 

Charging up my iPad so I can read my ebooks when I get bored of watching ANTM contestants bitching at one another

Dinner onboard the flight to Sydney was the usual combination of main dish, side dish, bread roll and butter, and dessert. I was still stuffed from the Hainanese chicken, but when I saw that there was Haagen Daaz ice cream for dessert, I simply couldn't resist. And it was cookies 'n' cream as well - my most favouritest flavour in the world.

In addition to a Tim Tam; guess we really were going home :D

Cookies 'n' cream x 2

The main itself was some sort of braised fish. I didn't dare touch it.

A few hours later (and many, many episodes of Tyra Banks doing her thang), breakfast was given out:

I was quite hungry at this point, so I made the unpardonable decision to eat the bright yellow powdered egg concoction you see in the bottom right hand corner:

The sausage and bacon were nice, though. I guess when you're hungry even fake eggs and dubious-looking meat taste good. It was a pity that my first croissant in months had to be a limp, aeroplane one, but slather enough jam and butter on it, even a girl spoilt by Bourke Street Bakery will nom it down xD.

 But nothing, and I mean nothing, can make me go near low fat yoghurt again. *shivers*

Cool. That was entertaining, right? Right? Hahaha, I think it's pretty obvious by now that I've run out of things to write about regarding this trip. So much so that I have resorted to assailing you with pictures of soggy airline meals. Time to wrap it up!

A quiet moment of contemplation in my hotel room, at the end of a busy day of sight-seeing, shopping, and eating.

Thank you, Hong Kong! I had fun, and look forward to seeing you again.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, Ashfield

I honestly don't mean to sound like a food snob when I say this, but...I really, really, really hate fast food outlets like McDonald's. It's mostly to do with the smell. The places themselves stink. The food stinks. And you stink after eating the crap they serve you.

Therefore, when I'm tired and just can't be bothered to cook for myself, or whoever is responsible for cooking dinner that night is tired and just can't be bothered, I'd rather we choose the lesser of two evils and go someplace like a Chinese dumpling or noodle place rather than bow down to the Golden Arches.

 At least the food from those places smell and taste good, even though the fat content in a single deep-fried radish pastry from New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant probably throws any dietary guideline right out the window.

We've been to this restaurant so many times in the past that we pretty much bypassed the menu all-together. The first plate of Pan Fried Pork Buns we ordered arrived at our table almost instantaneously. That, and the fact that they weren't piping hot inside made us suspect that these were probably left over from an earlier cooked batch. Not that there was anything wrong with them...it's just that it would've been nicer knowing they were made to order. Still, they were wonderfully crusty on the bottom, and the meat filling was tender and flavoursome as always. We ordered another two plates to take away and have for breakfast the next day.

Next to arrive was the Drunken Chicken - tender, juicy chicken pieces soaked in shaoxing wine. Our designated driver refused to touch this dish in case it gave a positive reading on a RBT, lol :D Oh well, more for me!

The Pork Xiao Long Bao was filled with yummilicious juices. Personally, I never understood the point of going to Ding Tai Fung. Get your (cheap!) xiao long bao fix here instead!

We ordered the preserved egg and lean meat congee for our designated driver. It's the family comfort food :D

The second of our cold dishes was the Shanghai-style deep fried fish soaked in herb, spice and dark soy sauce. Quite a mouthful, but very delicious, especially paired with the congee!

The Seafood Combination on Stir Fried Noodle seemed to cause our waitress no small amount of consternation, since she came back to our table no less than three times confirming various aspects of the dish - what kind of noodles did we want? stir fried or deep fried? with this sauce or that sauce? Anyway, we managed to get there in the end. The noodles were only okay; not something we'd order the next time.

The last item to arrive were those deep fried radish pastries I talked about earlier. Why is it that I always go for the unhealthiest thing on the menu? These were absolutely addictive. It took some serious self-control not to eat more than one.

And that, my friends, is how fast food should be done!

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant

273 Liverpool Road, Ashfield NSW 2131

Phone: (02) 9797 7284