Squishies and I share a fatal weakness for dumplings, especially on Mondays – our old schedule used to be to hit up the gym for an hour then reward ourselves with a dash over to Chinatown for our dumpling fix (yes, I know that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever). With our gym closing down we [...]

Every now and then, a new restaurant opens in Cabramatta. Being a local, immediate doubts are cast over it. Will it succeed? Or will it end up being just another average restaurant? You see, regular visitors of Cabramatta are extremely loyal to their local eating holes. It’s not enough to be a jack of all [...]

Mate : ” Hey mate, wanna catch up for dinner at this really good Northern Chinese place in Ashfield ? I’ve been going to them for years in the Dixon St food court but they recently opened up a shop in Ashfield” Me : ” Damn another dumplings place in Ashfield ?? Yeah sounds awesome [...]

My Thuan is located at the corner of the perennially busy artery that is John Street and Hill Street. The service is slightly better than your average Chinese restaurant and a lot more attentive too.

What is with the unpredictable Sydney weather lately ? On one day you’ll get cool’ish 19 degree days and on another you will have a 36 degree scorcher. With such fluctuating temperatures comes with fluctuating food choices. Do I fire up the bbq and knock down a few cold ones or do I warm up with a hotpot ? For Teresa’s farewell recently, we chose the latter.

With the festive season creeping onto me, I’ve been hitting the cheap eats lately. I went through a stage of visiting quite a few restaurants where I would walk away with a full stomach from a degustation but an empty wallet. In times of eating on a budget, one can always rely on the humble dumpling house.

Some people can’t get through the morning without a cup of coffee, but for me it’s tea. It starts innocently enough with a simple black, then irish… english, green, white, peach?! Having enjoyed a few of the more traditional High Tea offerings around Sydney I couldn’t but jump at the chance to see how a Chinese High Tea would differ from its western cousin.

Sam one day sent me a link to the Mahjong Room, asking if I was interested in playing Mahjong whilst having lunch. For most of the time, anything involving food piques my interest, but it was the thought of playing Mahjong while eating (for some reason) that really intrigued me.

Seriously, I refuse to pay a premium price for my beloved dumplings. While Din Tai Fung has grace, class and attentive customer service, Ashfield’s small and dodgy looking establishments make it close enough to being the dumpling capital of Sydney, if not Australia. Keep in mind, it’s the great tasting dumplings at a fraction of the price of Din Tai Fung which makes me coming back for more at either Shanghai Night, or New Shanghai.

Having tried the one in Yagoona previously which resulted in utter dissapointment, I was a little apprehensive about Beverly Hill’s. However, upon arrival to the restaurant, witnessing the restaurant filled to full capacity albeit on a week night, the hustle and bustle from the waiters combined with the buzzing chatting from the patrons assured me that this would be a different experience.

Bloggers unite Being relatively new to the Food Blog scene, we were a bit overwhelmed when we were invited by Christie from Fig&Cherry to the Sydney Food Bloggers meet at East Ocean Restaurant. I saw the invite list and thought perhaps we were a bit out of our depth to be in such company with established [...]

One of my first tastes of Xiao Long Bao was at a Yum Cha restaurant in the hustle and bustle of Shenzhen, China and then followed by a few in Shanghai. After the experience of slurping away at the concentrated soup then eating the pork mince encassed in a translucent flour skin I was amazed at how such a simple piece of food could pack so much flavour. Ever since the unveilling of Din Tai Fung (DTF) in Sydney, it appears that most people, fazed and intrigued by the Taipei restaurant chain that popularised Xiao Long Bao has flocked to it. However, what most people don’t realise is that, long before the new kids on the block dominated the scene, Ashfield was destination of choice, notably dumplings and Xiao Long Bao.