Home cooked comfort

My friends have been complaining that I haven't updated my blog for awhile. I guess I've been really lazy and basically just enjoying home time since I've been back from Houston. Plus I've also been busy planning my Europe trip! Yes that's right! Europe is on babyyyyyyyyy!!! I've booked our tickets and our tour, just need to sort out additional accommodation and transport for all the other free time in between. I can't wait for a proper holiday!

In the meantime, I've been at home cooking up a storm whenever I get a chance. Basically I want to dose up on homecooked comfort food every time I look at the food I ate in Houston.

Malay Chicken curry and rice

Combination Bugolgi

Easy to make. Get any amount of chicken, beef, lamb and pork, marinate in premade bottled bugolgi sauce. Stir fry quickly with onions, carrots and more sauce.

Stir fry garlic veggies

One of the things I missed the most when I was in Houston, veggies! The minute I got home, I stir fried a huge plate of shanghai bok choy and brocolli with plenty of garlic and a little oyster sauce. Really light and refreshing.

Homemade BBQ Pork

We couldn't get any decent chinese food in Houston, so I whipped this up for a bit of home comfort. 2 mins to put the marinade together, leave in the fridge overnight and roast. Can it get any easier than that? Recipe can be found here.

Min Chee

Inspired by TPF. I love this dish! Take some beef or pork mince and brown in a pan. And I mean REALLY brown in the pan. Add garlic, diced onion, potato and water. The water will lift all the lovely brown stuff from the bottom of the pan. Add oyster sauce, soya sauce and sugar to taste. Let it simmer til the potato and soft adn the sauce thickens (because the potato will start to break down). Eat with a spoon with or without rice.

Extra garlicky king prawns with choy sum and broccoli

Pork bone and watercress soup

I remembered one night we were all sitting around the office in Houston, 2am in the morning when we start discussing how miserable we were. And how we would kill for some home cooking. Specifically mum's soup! Every asian loves the soup mum makes. We were all craving pork bone and watercress soup. When I got back to Sydney, my whole family was on holidays leaving me home alone. Since mum wasn't around to make me soup, I had to make it myself! Comfort in a bowl.

"Sand Ginger" steamed chicken

Not sure what the herb is called, but its literal translation is "Sand Ginger". Its a common spice that is found in salt baked chicken. I covered the chicken with heaps of sand ginger and salt. Let it sit for a few hours before steaming. Pour the chicken juice all over boiled rice and consume. Yum!

Beef and capsicum in blackbean sauce

Stir fried bean sprouts

I didn't just miss home cooking, but also good quality junk food! Actually, non-liquid yellow paint like cheese would be a good start. And after all my junk food eating in Houston, I reckon I could whip up a mean burger.

SMJ Extravaganza!

For something a little different, I did a cheddar cheese stuffed all beef patty. Big hunk of cheese in the middle of my beef patty. You have to be super careful biting into the burger to make sure you don't get burnt by molten melted oozey cheese! Didn't make it easy to eat when I put bacon, eggs, lettuce and tomato into the burger as well.

Innards - Super oozey egg yolk

MmMmmm Cheesey...

I've also been hunting for a jaffle maker. Not the dodgy sandwich makers that try to cut your toasted sandwiches in half. I'm talking about the good old square pocket jaffle maker. I finally found one made by Breville! Damn I missed having a jaffle maker! I went and started experimenting with all different types of fillings. Ham, tomato, cheese, baked beans. But my favourite combo so far is my ham, cheese and egg jaffle.

A whole raw egg is cracked onto the bread, cover with ham and cheese and cook in the jaffle maker. Its best to use room temperature eggs, otherwise leave it cooking for a few cycles. Perfectly runny egg yolks......MmMmmm....

With winter hitting us full blast the other week, I've been sick as a dog. To make myself feel better, I've been having wonton noodle soup for lunch almost every day. The best thing to make me feel better when sick. I am also currently on a mission to find the best wonton noodle soup in the city. But why wait for the best wonton when you can make it? So I crashed a friends place to make a huge wonton and dumpling feast!


Left (Yellow): Homemade chicken and mushroom wonton
Right (White): Store bought pork and chives dumplings and seafood dumplings.

Homemade pork and veggie gyoza

Bottoms up!

The gyoza was super easy to make! I made a simple filling of pork, diced veggies, mushroom and black fungus. Wrap in gow gee wrapper and pan fry with a bit of water. I made a simple dipping sauce of soya sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.

Soya stir fried wontons

I made extra wontons with the chicken and mushroom and also the pork and veggie filling. Once boiled, these were quickly stir fried with dark soy and a little sesame oil. This was a dish my parents used to always make me when I helped out at the restaurant. Its been a good 8 years since I've eaten it, but its just as good as I remembered!

Shanghai Nights, Ashfield - The Super post

So after my last visit to New Shanghai, I had a debate with my friend as to which restaurant is better. After much debate, the only conclusion we came to, was to go back to Shanghai Nights and try the same dishes again to do a proper comparison. Poor us, having to go taste test again ;)

Daikon radish buns

The lovely waitress at Shanghai Nights recommended that I try their daikon buns. Since the daikon is in season, they've made a new bun with grated daikon, chinese sausage and dried shrimp. I actually really really liked this bun. I think I'm so used to Shanghai buns always containing meat, that the daikon radish version is really refreshing. Although it was also very filling, we took 2 of the buns home.

Xiao Long Bao

I think these were slightly better than the New Shanghai version. Just slightly, I would've been happy to get a steamer full of these from either restaurant.

Hokkien Fried Rice

Cold windy weather calls for comforting, saucy fried rice. Mix everything together before eating. Its like the chinese version of mac and cheese in winter.

Pan fried pork buns

This was the dish that had us coming back for another taste test. I think my preference is still New Shanghai, where the buns are much lighter and fluffier, whilst these are slightly thicker. The base is also "crunchy" at Shanghai Nights whilst its "crispy" at New Shanghai. My friend still prefers the Shanghai Nights version.

Salt and pepper pork ribs

These pork ribs were super meaty and juicey. It wasn't as salty as I would've liked it, but I think if I had these on its own without all the pork buns and vinegar, my taste buds would've had a party.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup

I haven't ordered this dish in atleast 5-6 years, and it tasted almost as good as I remembered. I love the crunch of the pickled vegetables against the soft beef that's been stewing for ages.

Pork and crab roe steamed buns

Din Tai Fung was the first time I've had pork and crab roe steamed buns. I liked it, but I had nothing to compare it to. I found the ones at Shanghai Night much tastier, AND you can see the crab roe!

Innards!

How perfect is this picture? The big chunky crab roe in the centre of the pork filling, sitting in a pool of juice wrapped in the thin dough. MmMMmm

Pan fried pork and coriander dumplings

I loved how the dough is just as thin on these dumplings as their other ones. The filling had a bit too much coriander for my liking (And I LOVE coriander). But once you douse it in vinegar, it balanced out really well.

So after all that taste testing, what was the conclusion? There were dishes we love from both Shanghai Nights and New Shanghai. The only way to end our argument was to agree that we'll alternate the restaurants every time we visit. The get the best of both worlds ;)

Shanghai Night
(Directly opposite Ashfield Mall)
275 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield 2131

Ph: 9798 8437

New Shanghai - Ashfield

After having Din Tai Fung and Shanghai Nights dumplings one after another, it was only fair to compare the food with New Shanghai. Its been a while since I've been to New Shanghai as I always go next door to Shanghai Nights. This is mainly because I know the waitress there and I've always eaten there as a kid. I went a few times when New Shanghai renovated, but its been about a year since I've been.

Walking in, half of the restaurant was empty, yet we've been placed on the table right next to the fish tank where we had to squeeeeeeze right in. But it was a small price to pay for the food we were about to get.

Xiao Long Bao - Steamed mini pork dumplings

These were really flavoursome. Compared to Din Tai Fung, the dumpling skin was thicker and had a rougher texture, but was still thin enough for you to see the soup within. However, the pork filling was much tastier than the ones at Din Tai Fung. After eating a few of these, you get that lip smacking gelatinous porky goodness coating your lips.

Shanghai handmade noodles

This is one of my favourite stir fried noodles, so we had to order this as a benchmark. This was a lighter version compared to Shanghai Nights, but still delicious. I would probably go to Shanghai Nights if I'm after a richer noodle, and New Shanghai for a lighter version in summer.

Steamed pork and coriander dumplings

Unlike the steamed pork dumplings, these weren't filled with soup. This is a much more common type of dumplings you find in most shops. Infact, this is what we make at home. The filling was a combination of pork mince, coriander and finely minced ginger. Really nice when dipped in the black vinegar.

Pan fried pork buns

These...these were da bomb! New Shanghai has got to make the best pan fried pork buns in Sydney. The base was ultra ultra crispy, whilst the rest of the bun was super soft and fluffy. Most places either have a soggy base or a really hard base but making the rest of the buns a bit tougher. These were PERFECT. And I haven't gotten to the filling yet. Hidden inside these babies, is a huge spoonful of broth. Sometimes, the buns go soggy because all the soup is absorbed by the bun. These ones however, even when they've been sitting there for 10mins were full of a wonderful rich and porky soup. Infact, this was how much soup was in there:

MmMmM porky goodness!

Conclusion? New Shanghai for the best pan fried pork buns!

New Shanghai
273 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield, NSW, 2131
Ph: 9797 7284

Din Tai Fung - World Square

I got a message from my friend a while back saying Din Tai Fung is open and World Square, followed by a 15min conversation as to how much she loved the food when she was in Taiwan. My brother in law also tried to take me to Din Tai Fung when I was in Singapore, but the line was massive so we went somewhere else instead.

I decided to take my parents out for dinner last night, as its rare that I don't have volleyball on Mondays. I met up with them at World Square after work and quickly grabbed a table at Din Tai Fung. Even on a Monday night, the restaurant quickly filled up by about 6:30pm.

I love the feature wall of bamboo steamers

The thing you notice immediately when you walk in is the huge number of employees. We tried to count how many employees were actually working there, but there were so many we kept losing count. There were about 15 people making dumplings in one kitchen, easily another 10 people cooking in the other kitchen, countless number of waiter/waitresses roaming the floor and more people behind a service counter. We estimated anywhere between 40-60 people working there.

Super power steamers

Browsing the menu, my dad commented how the prices aren't too bad. In fact, he used the word "cheap".

Cold tofu with pork floss and century egg

Tofu, to me, comes in 2 kinds. Firm and rough, but strong soya bean taste. Or soft and silky, but lacking any taste of soya beans. This tofu however, had the best of both worlds. The tofu was firm but silky and tasted strongly of aromatic soya beans. It wouldn't surprise me if they made their own tofu? Anyone know?

This was easily our favourite dish of the night. In fact, my mum made this exact dish for dinner tonight. If only we could get the same type of tofu.

Crab roe dumplings

I've never had this before, so I don't know how it compares to other ones. The most impressive thing about the Din Tai Fung dumplings are the dumpling wrappers. If you look closely at the photos, the dark patches on the dumplings is actually the soup inside. The wrapper is so thin, that you can see the soup, but thick enough for it not to burst. I've been to other restaurants where the wrappers are almost twice the thickness but still burst when you pick them up.

Fried pork chop

I was shocked when this was brought out. For about $9, you expect more than ONE pork chop. It was lightly dusted in 5 spice powder before being fried. The pork chop was quite tender, but it was small and thin enough for just a few mouthfuls.

Xiao Long Bao - Pork Dumplings

These are the traditional steamed pork dumplings you find in all Shanghainese restaurants. They were noticeably smaller than those you get at Shanghai Nights. Again, the super thin translucent dumpling wrappers that show the pocket of soup inside. Whilst the dumpling wrapper was superb and out of this world, I much prefer the filling of Shanghai Nights.

Beef noodle soup

A lovely hearty Taiwanese beef noodle soup. The beef was so tender it practically fell apart, but it was the soup that made this dish.

Ja Jiang Mien

I could not believe the size of this when it came out. It was easily 1/2 the size of what we got at Shanghai Nights. I couldn't tell if I liked this dish or not since there was barely enough to go around, let alone taste the real flavours.

Seeing how small the portions were, I ordered 2 pork and vegetable steamed buns. This took about 15-20mins to arrive as they're steamed fresh to order. The waitress also kindly offered to cut it up for us as we were sharing the 2 buns between 3 people.

Pork and vegetable steamed bun

I don't know about you, I certainly can't see any pork in the filling let alone taste it. In fact, I found this quite bland. I ended up pouring dark vinegar all over the bun.

Taro dumplings

My mum loves taro, so I ordered a serve of the taro dumplings for dessert. These were really nice and a great way to finish the meal. I just wished there was more.

Overall, I found the food to be really expensive for the size of the portions. The total bill for 3 people came to $85 (Tea costs $2 per person). My Dad's jaw dropped when the saw the bill. He quickly retracted the "cheap" word he used earlier. Whilst the individual dishes seem "cheap", because of the size of the servings, you end up ordering twice as much as you normally would. Hence the $85 price tag.

This is a huge difference compared to Shanghai Nights, were we usually spend a maximum of $35 and have leftovers to take home. The servings are significantly smaller than what I am used to from any of the Shanghainese restaurants in Ashfield. I guess they had to shrink the size and up the price to pay for the huge amounts of employees working there.

I must admit, the service was fantastic. Every waitress who walked by our table, had a quick check/glance at our order and chased up anything that hadn't arrived yet. And when our steamed buns took longer than usual to come out, they kept coming back to give us updates as to when they would be ready.

Leaving the restaurant, we stood outside watching them make the dumplings. This is when we noticed that they had two people dedicated to rolling the wrappers, two people dedicated to putting the filling on the wrappers and two people dedicated to wrapping the dumplings. This was just for the Xiao Long Bao. They had another 6-8 people making the other dumplings, dim sims and buns.

Din Tai Fung
Shop 11. 04 Lvl 1
World Square Shopping Centre
644 George St
Sydney 2000

Ph: 9264 6010

Shanghai Night revisited...many times

I've been living in Ashfield for 20 years this year. In the past 20 years, I would probably go out for Shanghainese food about 1-2 times a year, if even that. Usually its because friends would want to go, or we want to go out for a quick, cheap family dinner. In the last year, I've been going for Shanghai food a lot more as my friends want to go more often. This means I don't have to wait a whole year to go to Shanghai Night!

Before I go on, let me say this was eaten over a few meals, not all in one go!

San jin bao - Pan fried pork buns

One of my absolute favourites and guaranteed to satisfy the biggest appetite. The buns have a crispy, crunchy bottom that is golden brown. The top is soft and fluffy. Inside this magical creature is a pork filling swimming in a luscious rich soup.

To eat this, and any of their other dumplings, pick up with your chopsticks and rest in the soup spoon. Take a small bite to release the scorching hot steam and carefully suck out all the soup. Dip, or do what I do, pour vinegar into the cavity before trying to shovel the whole thing in your mouth. No need to be neat and dainty here!

Pan fried pork dumplings

These are a must order every time I go. Just like the pan fried pork buns, the bottoms are lovely and crunchy whilst the top is soft and chewy. The filling is the same as the buns, which means there is a steaming hot pocket of soup in these lovely darlings.

Hokkien Fried Rice

Yeah yeah, order hokkien fried rice in a Shanghainese place, but this is one of my favourite dishes. The toppings are a bit tight for what they charge, but every now and then, they will load it up with heaps of chicken, scallops, prawns and squid.

Green bean starch sheet with pork and cucumber

One of the many specials written on the wall. There is a vegetarian version in the menu which I have yet to try. This is a really nice refreshing summer dish. The noodles, or should I say starch sheets, are cold, slippery and chewy. This is topped with cold crunchy cucumber and carrots, stir fried pork, seasame with a light tangy soya sauce dressing.

Stir fried new year cakes Shanghai Style

Considering I always get the Stir fried Shanghai handmade noodles, I opted to try the new year cakes instead. This was a bit bland compared to the noodle version. The new year cakes are chewy and starchy, making it hard to absorb the sauce. I asked for a dish of chilli garlic sauce and mixed that in, which made it a wonderful dish.

Wonton soup

I always see people order their wonton soup, and wonton is one of my favourite things! (A lot of things are my favourite things) I've practically gone through and tried every type of wonton on their menu. All VERY VERY good. And cheap!

Shanghai vegetable fried rice

This was a bit of a disappointing dish. I was expecting a traditional dry fried rice with a strong "wok hei" (breath of the wok), but instead, this was wet and sloppy. Half of the dish consisted of chopped up shanghai bok choy, making the fried rice really wet. They were also really tight on the pork and chinese sausages. What you see in the photo, is literally what we got. If we were lucky, there might have been another 2-3 cubes of meat buried in that.

Ja Jiang Mien

There is a lovely waitress there that always remember me and my brother even though we visit so infrequently. When I used to go with my brother and his girlfriend (now wife), we always order the Ja Jiang Mien. EXCEPT, we ALWAYS get it confused with the Dan Dan Mien. Dan Dan Mien is essentially the same thing, stir fried chilli mince on noodles. But instead of thin noodles, you get thick hand made noodles. So every time we went, we had to ask her which one had the thin noodles. Its taken a few years, but I'm slowly learning.

Ja Jiang Mien all mixed up

From memory, the Ja Jiang Mien used to come with shredded cucumber to add crunch, but that was missing the last time I went there.

The servings here are huge and the prices very decent. 2 serves of dumplings and 2 noodle/rice dishes can easily feed 2-3 REALLY hungry people with leftovers. Most times I've gone, 4 dishes will cost me around $25-$35. A bargain if you ask me.

Shanghai Night
(Directly opposite Ashfield Mall)
275 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield 2131

Ph: 9798 8437